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July 18, 2018 5:30 AM

What's the best way to get beer smell out of a suitcase? Not asking for any particular reason.
posted by Tehhund to Travel & Transportation (19 answers total)

Baking soda?
posted by ubiquity at 6:22 AM on July 18, 2018

Fire. Or maybe vinegar.
posted by nosila at 6:40 AM on July 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had friends who had a major beer spillage in their car and they used coffee grounds, which did help.
posted by leesh at 6:48 AM on July 18, 2018

I'd probably take it to a dry cleaner and let them figure it out. Unless your suitcase was a junker already.
posted by Temeraria at 6:48 AM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'd literally submerge the whole thing in a bathtub of soap and water, dry in the sun, and then leave a whole bunch of coffee grounds in there for as long as possible. And yes, the soap and water might do some damage, but I'd take the risk myself. The smell of stale beer residue would be a hard no for me.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 7:51 AM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

The beer dried in there, and I fear you'll need water to carry it away again: I don't think that a dry approach (e.g., baking soda or coffee grounds) will work. But once it's been soaked and then dried out, putting cheap coffee grounds in there for a while is probably a good idea.

Are there any parts of the bag that seem likely to be damaged by immersion for a while?

And is it a good-quality bag? Have you asked the manufacturer?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:31 AM on July 18, 2018

What material is the suitcase? I had a can of Modern Times burst when I dropped my nylon bag recently and it wasn't convenient for me to stop and clean it, other than to sop up what I could with napkins. To my surprise the smell almost completely went away on its own after a couple of days. I think for a synthetic material, plain soap and water be more than sufficient.
posted by exogenous at 8:31 AM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

(Reviewing the original AskMe, I see now that no one explicitly said to put each container in a large Zip-Loc bag, then wrap it in padding, then encase that in another, larger Zip-Loc bag. MetaFilter's boozy readers regret the error.)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:32 AM on July 18, 2018 [10 favorites]

(Also, I am so, so sorry: the airport Walk Of Shame, suitcase visibly stained, dripping, and stinking of beer, must have been harsh.)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:34 AM on July 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

yeah if you just need to get rid of the smell and not the staining, washing down with soap and water and then putting the thing out in the sunlight for a couple days should probably do the trick.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:11 AM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

also RIP dear spotted cow.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:12 AM on July 18, 2018 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, hosing it down inside and out and pointing a fan at it for 48 hours didn't help much so I'm going to start trying soap, vinegar, etc. The good news: the suitcase was dry enough that I didn't even realize there was a problem until I got home and opened it, so no walk of shame for me. And all the Spotted Cow arrived intact (a different beer exploded) so it was 50% less tragic than losing Spotted Cow.
posted by Tehhund at 10:19 AM on July 18, 2018 [10 favorites]

Here's some tips from Jolie Kerr
posted by radioamy at 10:48 AM on July 18, 2018

I have an old suitcase that has a perdurable mildew smell, and I took it outside to sunblast it. I did this for ten minutes but then it clouded over and it's been raining ever since, so I can't tell you whether it works. Obviously it will, and obviously what works on mildew will work on beer. If it ever stops raining I'll try again and report.

I also heard you're supposed to fill it with crumpled newspaper and repeat until the smell is gone.
posted by Don Pepino at 10:53 AM on July 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Fels-Naptha soap might work. It's gotten some things clean that I never thought would be ungrungy again.
posted by Lexica at 1:00 PM on July 18, 2018

Kitty litter should absorb the moisture, helping to pull down the smell.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:21 PM on July 18, 2018

I'd go with repeated soaping and rinsing rather than a single soak. Take a firm brush to it. Drink a beer in between cycles so you remember why it's all worth it.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:27 PM on July 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had a cat pee incident then a shampoo bottle explosion within a month of each other a couple of years ago. I took them outside and washed with the hose. I used vinegar with the cat pee, but nothing with the shampoo except lots and lots of water. Suitcase dried out in the sun and was fine both times.
posted by kjs4 at 5:51 PM on July 18, 2018

Response by poster: Update: I got lazy and just bought Tide-scented Febreeze, and it worked perfectly. Sure the bag smells like Tide now, but the beer smell is completely gone (not just masked, gone)!
posted by Tehhund at 4:42 AM on July 20, 2018