Was thinking of buying a few Better Bottles. How difficult are they to clean post fermentation? One place I looked said you shouldn't heat them past 125 deg F. Do they clean better than glass or HDPE buckets? How are you folks cleaning them? Thanks.
I use a carboy cleaner. Here's a link: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-carboy-cleaner.html?gclid=CJaNjuDx47wCFa9j7AodkgYA5g Solid product but I rarely need to use it as I ferment almost exclusively in buckets.
I would assume being plastic that you can't doing any kind of mechanical scrub, so PBW it is. Frankly I've never considered plastic fermentors, with the exception being a bucket for dry hopping; it's just easier to add / remove hops from a bucket over a carboy. However, with the new design Big Mount Bubbler, I'd toss all my plastic in a second.
They're great and easy to clean. Just give it a hot water and Oxy soak, over night works like a charm. If it doesn't break up all the crud from the krausen then drop a washcloth in there with the last pint of fluid after you empty the rest, then swirl the cloth back and forth to rub it off. Give it nice warm rinse just like with glass, then let it dry. I have 8 of them, 4 6gallon and 4 5 gallon. Long term aging, primary, dry hopping, sours, whatever.
+1 to oxiclean. And to be safe use 100-115f degree water. I cracked two better bottles using hot ass water (130-140f?). Expensive mistake.
Oxyclean and warm water works for me as well. It is awesome to be able to hold the bottle upside down in one hand and just spray everything out (try that with a carboy )
Matt, on the Better Bottle website you can ‘click’ on the Technical Tab and then ‘click’ on the Wash/Rinse tab for detailed information on how to clean a Better Bottle. The conclusion: “Conclusion: BetterBottle recommends using enzyme-enhanced neutral detergents for washing BetterBottle carboys and fittings. If you use other types of washing agents, be sure to dilute them in a bucket to the concentrations recommended by their manufacturers for routine cleaning and minimize the exposure of your equipment. Higher concentrations and long contact times should not be necessary and will likely shorten the useful life of your equipment.” Cheers!
