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The Pol · 05-30-2009, 03:13 PM

I JUST switched over to an off brand OxyClean in place of PBW. I put about 6 gallons of 190F solution in my fermentor (2 scoops of Oxy) and within one hour the nasty krausen ring is gone. Awesome stuff.

**jason.mundy** · 05-30-2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minky

Hey Pol,
This is a quote from the Brewery Cleaning and Sanitizing info on the Five Star website:
"Sanitizers Will NOT WORK in presence of alkali cleaners."

I don't know what cleaners besides PBW are alkaline, but a good rinse is probably always a good idea.

This is a good reason to rinse with a mixture of vinegar and water before you sanitize. The vinegar neutralizes the base in the soap.

**JPicasso** · 06-01-2009, 01:17 PM

Vinegar is made by the acetobacter (sp?) bug.
I don't know if a bottle of vinegar from the store would contain any of this,
but no way I'm using vinegar on my stuff. Even if my starsan procedure is top-rate,
why knowingly expose your equipment.

**jason.mundy** · 06-01-2009, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPicasso

Vinegar is made by the acetobacter (sp?) bug.
I don't know if a bottle of vinegar from the store would contain any of this,
but no way I'm using vinegar on my stuff. Even if my starsan procedure is top-rate,
why knowingly expose your equipment.

I should have qualified vinegar as "White distilled vinegar". I am confident that the acetobacter is gone after the distilling process. And like you say, I follow up with StarSan.

I've not had any problems with it. I guess your mileage may vary.

Minky · 06-28-2009, 07:56 PM

OMG,
Billy Mays DIED!!

grlz · 06-28-2009, 10:53 PM

thats crazy. ill miss his yelling. i was just talking about him and that shamwow guy yesterday.

**HBHoss** · 06-29-2009, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minky

OMG,
Billy Mays DIED!!

I heard that too. I guess he was involved in a small plane accident and suffered a head injury but died in his sleep. 50 yrs old.

**Homercidal** · 06-29-2009, 02:51 PM

I've used PBW a couple of times and Oxiclean a time or two for some basic cleaning chores, but this weekend was the first time I ever tried cleaning a carboy with it.

My carboy had a light film on the inside from the last secondary use and I thought it was a good time to try the PBW/Oxyclean that I've heard about.

I filled the carboy up into the neck with PBW and let sit overnight. Next day there was a lot of orange gunk floating in the neck. I drained the PBW and rinsed well, and that sucker was shiny clean!!

I then got out some oxiclean and washed some bottles and a couple of vases that had massive amounts of gunk on them. They only sat a couple of hours, but with a light wipe with a dishrag they too came out shiny!

My understanding is that PBW is basically Sodium Metasilicate and phosphates and surfacants, according to their MSDS.

Oxiclean is Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Percarbonate. One of those is also the same stuff as Arm and Hammer Soda Wash.

You may feel the need to rinse with an acid wash after using PBW or Oxiclean, and Starsan would do the trick. I would assume that once you use the Star-san to rinse the Oxi, then the Star-san woudl not be reusable and would not be considered a sanitizer during the rinsing process, and the alkalinity of the Oxi/PBW would ruin it.

I would always sanitize again just before using the container anyway.