Stains in the fermentor

[barleypopmaker]

I have kind of a weird situation. Yesterday, I noticed that in my glass primary, I have some sort of staining. It almost looks like rust. I keep my carboy's clean and wash them out immediately after I bottle the beer. I also wash it out before I sanitize it. I use a carboy brush. The spots are real small and I don't know if they were there the whole time or not. But they are about this big . Some are slightly larger, but for the most part they are the size of the period. Could they be imperfections in the glass itself? When I say it looks like rust, it looks like someone took a chip of rust off an old car and stuck it to the inside of my carboy. The second question is if I sanitized the carboy will this even matter if I can't get them out? I sanitize using the Iodine sanitizer, which at first I thought the spots may have been residue, but I can't scrub them out with the brush, and they look solid, not like dried iodine.

[fuji6100]

You may need a good cleaner to get them out, since iodaphor sanitizes but does nothing to help clean. Also, spots of solid material may harbor bacteria that the iodaphor can't get too.

You can try soaking in PBW (my first choice) or b-brite or some of the other cleaning agents discussed on this board.

They are probably wort proteins or "beer stone" that form frequently on brewing and dispensing equptment. Its a real pain to get off once by scrubbing alone.

[barleypopmaker]

Thanks for the info. I will give that a try.

[Douglas]

This may not be the cause but...

I have seen tiny brownish stains if I use way too much iodophor (usually when sanitizing test tubes). If you let it sit long enough, the iodophor will precipitate out of solution. Usually it falls to the bottom, but if you have pitting or an uneven surface it can deposit there as well.

I use rubbing alcohol (70%) and a whole lot of shakin' to re-dissolve the iodophor. YMMV

- Doug

[barleypopmaker]

Originally posted by fuji6100
You may need a good cleaner to get them out, since iodaphor sanitizes but does nothing to help clean. Also, spots of solid material may harbor bacteria that the iodaphor can't get too.

You can try soaking in PBW (my first choice) or b-brite or some of the other cleaning agents discussed on this board.

They are probably wort proteins or "beer stone" that form frequently on brewing and dispensing equptment. Its a real pain to get off once by scrubbing alone.

That got it clean. Thanks for the help.

Douglas, thanks for the info. I will keep that in mind in case I run into this again.