Effervescent Denture Cleaner for Decanters

For those with a short attention span: it does work, just not in one application. For those who like pictures and some substance, read on!

Our red wine decanter was starting to get some purplish burgundy film and splotches on it in that would NOT come off using a glass / bottle brush. They’re a little hard to see at first:

So during my round of errands today, I made sure to snag some store brand denture cleaner. Hey, I couldn’t let a 15% off coupon go to waste!

Here’s the fizzy goodness in action from two tablets. You can see the stains at the bottom much better in this picture:

After it stopped fizzing (15 minutes according to the box) I ran a soft bristled bottle brush inside and thoroughly rinsed it out. I repeated the process 3 times. The stuff did a really good job considering I hadn’t cleaned this decanter in over 2 years. I think I need a skinnier and longer brush to get down the thin side, but all in all it works pretty damn good. Might do one more round after buying that thinner brush.

One tip: do NOT get the flavored / scented version. While you may want your dentures and breath to be minty fresh, I don’t think you want to add anything to your wine.

I’ve used those a great many times. They help, but my decanter that is stained never gets fully cleaned, no matter how many times and how long I let it sit. So it has its limits.

Cleaning and drying decanters is such a PITA, I find myself using them less and less in recent years.

+1 to both. I also use white vinegar and hot water sometimes.

If you have a local home brewing or winemaking shop go in and ask for some sodium percarbonate. Or you can find it online form various winemaking supply places. We use it in the winery as our cleaner for tanks and beakers/pitchers and pretty much everything. Just a couple tablespoons and fill your decanter with warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes then scrub with your brush. It does a great job of getting rid of wine stains but works much better before things have dried. If you have time when you finish the wine to give it a quick rinse with this you most likely won’t need to do any scrubbing. I’d also recommend a quick citric acid rinse to neutralize the percarbonate. That should also be available from wherever you obtain the percarbonate. Definitely a little bit or work but should leave things nice and shiny again.

These things, hot water and a few minutes swishing them around. Use them on our coffee pot too.

I have always been a little spooked by the use of glass marbles or metal bb’s to clean a decanter.

I entirely ditched using a standard decanter because cleaning was such a PITA. Now, I think I may have to get a new one!

Why? I guess you could always bury something in your backyard and chant under a full moon but these mini alien spacecraft thingies really work.

Use Oxyclean with hot water for heavily stained decanters. Swish it around, and let stand overnight. Make sure to rinse thoroughly. Final rinse with distilled water so you don’t have to towel dry. Lots of steps but will make using decanters not so much of a chore to maintain!

Caveat: Be extra cautious, as Oxyclean is slippery!

I have a few glasses with such “indelible” marks…probably left a couple of days with a few drops of wine in them. May give some of the above suggestions a try!

The metal UFO mini-bb things look kinda cool.

Just did a small amount of water in the bottom of the decanter with 2 more tablets, then leaned the decanter backwards a bit to get a concentrated cleaning on the portion that the brush can’t reach. Worked just fine. Now I’m cleaning the Riedel and Speigelau glasses from last weeks face-off test.

Can’t beat this CVS stuff for only $4.

I like a dirty decanter. Those stains were earned. Proud of them.

Oxyclean(dissolved) and those metal balls You just have to make sure it is well rinsed but this is the same concept as the denture tabs. Works better.

I have to tell you however I don’t do any of this any more.
I just leave them the way they are rinsing with water. They look ok and are functional.

“Seasoned”, eh? Just like the grill and frying pan.

I actually just use my Cascade extra action dishwashing powder and water and just let it sit over night. actually seems to work fine, but I only use standard glass cheapo decanters as I otherwise don’t get the point.

Bleach works great. I bet you already have it in the cabinet, too.

Agree.

I have to say that the best thing I’ve used, and use currently, is the dishwasher. I realize that’s not an option for many decanter shapes, like the one in the original post, but with the Erlenmeyer flask type of decanters I use, the dishwasher is the absolute best. I’ll put the decanter over a couple of the dishwasher pegs, then make a little cage around it using some flexible stem holders made to hold wine glasses in the dishwasher. The little cage holds it tightly upright, and the decanter gets washed enough on the inside to get it spotless.

This is a pretty easy and effective way to clean decanters. Buy Mister Clean Magic Erasers - cut in half or quarters. Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the decanter and drop the eraser in. Use a wooden spoon to put pressure on the sponge and drag along the bottom of the decanter. Remove eraser and rinse thoroughly. Works great on decanters and stems too!

To people who are hypersensitive to chlorine, this will drive their nose up a wall.