Okay, I had an infection with a batch of wine. It was a waxy buildup, and I
finally ended up tossing the wine. (sigh) Tears the heart to do that,
but...

Anyway, when I emptied the wine I found waxy patches in large areas inside
the carboy, and the same in another carboy I had earlier used to rack the
wine. I've hot-water rinsed them, sanitized them, and scrubbed with a
carboy brush numerous times, but the stuff is still there. The carboy brush
simply scratched through the buildup in thin stripes, one for each bristle.
I don't dare put wine in the two affected carboys, and I hate to ditch them.
Any cleaning ideas that may help? How do I get rid of this residue so the
carboys will be safe to use again?

I do not know what you mean by waxy build-up? Is the build up soft or hard?
In my case, I used CLR (calcium remover). I sprayed the inside of the
carboy with CLR and wait for a few hours. Then I scrub the inside of the
carboy with a brush until the marks are gone. After that I rinse several
time, sanitized and rinse again. Before use I sanitize and rinse again.
Other times when calcium remover is not working I have used automobile tire
cleaner soap. I spray the inside of the carboy, wait for about 5 - 10
minutes, scrub, rinse and sanitize.


"Matthew Givens" > wrote in message
...
> Okay, I had an infection with a batch of wine. It was a waxy buildup, and
> I finally ended up tossing the wine. (sigh) Tears the heart to do that,
> but...
>
> Anyway, when I emptied the wine I found waxy patches in large areas inside
> the carboy, and the same in another carboy I had earlier used to rack the
> wine. I've hot-water rinsed them, sanitized them, and scrubbed with a
> carboy brush numerous times, but the stuff is still there. The carboy
> brush simply scratched through the buildup in thin stripes, one for each
> bristle. I don't dare put wine in the two affected carboys, and I hate to
> ditch them. Any cleaning ideas that may help? How do I get rid of this
> residue so the carboys will be safe to use again?
>
>
>

Do you have access to an air compressor and a spray nozzel? You could
slip (such as) an engine spray nozzel down in there and with a little
water jet them off.

I wonder if spraying steam in from a carpet cleaner or a shark or
whatever the little handheld steamer is called.

Oxiclean has worked on everything I've had to clean out of a carboy.

Andy

When carboys are store wet and empty for a long time they will develop
calcium water stains inside. Subject the hardness of your water the removal
of these stain is tough. These calcium stains will in turn attract wine
sedimentation. The only way I was able to remove these stain patches was
with CLR (used to remove calcium deposits). Now when my carboys are not in
use I make sure that they are dried and sealed.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Do you have access to an air compressor and a spray nozzel? You could
> slip (such as) an engine spray nozzel down in there and with a little
> water jet them off.
>
> I wonder if spraying steam in from a carpet cleaner or a shark or
> whatever the little handheld steamer is called.
>

Try a 10% bleach solution. Mix up a quart or so and just swirl it
around the carboy and let it sit for 10 minutes. That sounded like
mycoderma but I can't say for sure. Get it out before you reuse them
especially since you don't know what it is.

If that does not remove it maybe fill it with hot water as a 10% bleach
solution. That kills most anything, it's just 10% household bleach and
90% tap water, nothing special.

Joe

I use vinegar for all our calcium buildups at home. More obnoxious
smelling tho....

never use vinegar anywhere near wine in any way shape or form, unless
you want to start MAKING vinegar.

treetoad wrote:
> never use vinegar anywhere near wine in any way shape or form, unless
> you want to start MAKING vinegar.
>
Good advice if one uses cider or wine vinegars, etc., but ordinary
white vinegar is made by diluting pure acetic acid. I doubt there's any
acetobacter present in the cheap stuff. Residual taste might be an issue
if one is careless about rinsing, though.

--
Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

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treetoad wrote:

> never use vinegar anywhere near wine in any way shape or form, unless
> you want to start MAKING vinegar.
>
Sterile vinegar ain't gonna make vinegar.. acetobacter makes vinegar.
lolol

The wine was infected with what is described as "Fowers of Wine' on jack
keller's website. A waxy film covered the surface of the wine and, as I
discovered when I tossed it, also coated areas inside the carboy. My
wine-making has come to a halt, as I can't use these two carboys until I'm
sure I won't infect what I put in it.

I'll try a bleach solution this weekend.



> wrote in message
...
>I do not know what you mean by waxy build-up? Is the build up soft or
>hard?
> In my case, I used CLR (calcium remover). I sprayed the inside of the
> carboy with CLR and wait for a few hours. Then I scrub the inside of the
> carboy with a brush until the marks are gone. After that I rinse several
> time, sanitized and rinse again. Before use I sanitize and rinse again.
> Other times when calcium remover is not working I have used automobile
> tire cleaner soap. I spray the inside of the carboy, wait for about 5 -
> 10 minutes, scrub, rinse and sanitize.
>
>
> "Matthew Givens" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Okay, I had an infection with a batch of wine. It was a waxy buildup,
>> and I finally ended up tossing the wine. (sigh) Tears the heart to do
>> that, but...
>>
>> Anyway, when I emptied the wine I found waxy patches in large areas
>> inside the carboy, and the same in another carboy I had earlier used to
>> rack the wine. I've hot-water rinsed them, sanitized them, and scrubbed
>> with a carboy brush numerous times, but the stuff is still there. The
>> carboy brush simply scratched through the buildup in thin stripes, one
>> for each bristle. I don't dare put wine in the two affected carboys, and
>> I hate to ditch them. Any cleaning ideas that may help? How do I get rid
>> of this residue so the carboys will be safe to use again?
>>
>>
>>
>
>

Matthew,
It will work. Flowers of Wine is Mycoderma. I had a minor infection
abot 10 years ago because I did not have good seals on my carboys. The
mold lines on the air locks were not removed and caused a slight seal
leak. I used bleach and never had a problem.

Joe.