Home > Blog > Carboy Cleaning Tablets product review
Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets
Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets

Carboy Cleaning Tablets product review

Carboy full of Belgian Dubbel
Carboy full of Belgian Dubbel

I recently received some Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets to try whilst homebrewing and thought I would post an article about my initial experience.

This product is manufactured by Craft Meister National Chemicals Inc and sold as a plastic tub of 30 tablets, retailing at $10-12 per tub. They can be used for cleaning both kegs and carboys.

Directions

Stir lightly to dissolve. Use brush or repeat for stubborn soils. Safe for use on glass, plastic, and stainless steel.

Empty carboy ready for cleaning
Empty carboy ready for cleaning

Keg cleaning:

  • Fill keg with HOT water.
  • Add 1 tablet per 3 gallons of water.
  • Soak for at least 60 minutes.
  • Rinse thoroughly, then sanitize.

Carboy cleaning:

  • Fill carboy with HOT water.
  • Add 2 tablets per 3 gallons of water.
  • For heavy soils, use 1 extra tablet per carboy.
  • Soak for at least 60 minutes.
  • Rinse thoroughly, then sanitize.

Product test

Dried yeast & foam
Dried yeast & foam

I recently brewed a 5 gallon batch of Belgian Dubbel and was ready to move it from the primary to secondary fermenter so had a glass carboy in need of cleaning.

Usually my beers have a very active fermentation due to pitching a healthy yeast starter so instead of air locks I normally fit a blow-off tube that goes into a jar or bottle of water. This means that as well as the carboy being soiled with dried on yeast and foam so is the inside of the blow-off tube.

Tub containing 30 tablets
Tub containing 30 tablets

My usual approach for cleaning is to use a carboy brush (90 degree head), hot water and liquid dish soap (washing up liquid). I have always managed to get carboys cleaned but the dried on yeast and foam can be quite stubborn at times.

Per the instructions I filled the carboy with hot water and added 2 tablets then left it to soak for an hour. Once the time was up I then used the cleaning brush and found that the dried on yeast and foam came off very easily with next to no effort.

Carboy & brush after soaking
Carboy & brush after soaking

I then decided to empty the cleaning solution into the sink, which had the plug in, to soak the blow-off tube and see if the tablets would also clean this. Meanwhile I rinsed the carboy and found no remaining soil.

After leaving the blow-off tube to soak I found that it did not have the same effect as with the carboy so resorted to using an alternative more caustic solution that did the job.

Verdict

These cleaning tablets are definitely effective at loosening dried on yeast and foam left in a carboy that results from brewing and can make the whole cleaning process effortless.

Clean carboy
Clean carboy

A downside is that you have to fill the whole carboy with 5 gallons of hot water in order to make contact with the soiled area at the top near the neck as opposed to filling it with around 1 gallon plus soap then using the brush to clean – this does however require more effort.

Using 2 tablets per carboy means around $0.70 – $0.80 per carboy which is not that expensive but is much more than a bottle of liquid dish soap.

I have yet to try this product with a keg but have no reason to doubt that it will be just as effective.

My overall verdict is that these Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets provide an easy alternative for effectively cleaning kegs and carboys with tough trub and dried on yeast and foam.

BSG HandcraftI would like to extend my sincere thanks to BSG Handcraft for sending me the Keg & Carboy Cleaning Tablets by Craft Meister to try. BSG Handcraft can be found here:

www.bsghandcraft.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *