oxyclean vs pbw

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irishwater

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I just want to know the difference if any? I have a huge pail of oxyclean from Sam's for my clothes, and if it is the same or just as good as pbw. I will use that.
Thank you for your info
 
I have never used PBW, but I use oxyclean for cleaning nearly everything in my brewery. From kettles to carboys to bottles and everything in between. It always works well and I have never had a problem with it. My .02
 
Personally, I've found that oxyclean is a little harder to rinse off than PBW. I like using the PBW on all my stainless and will use the oxyclean on glass. YMMV.
 
I use oxy-clean free (no added scent) but I like Bar Keepers Friend for Stainless steel both of them are cheaper than PBW.
 
I'd been using "oxyclean free" for about a year and just used PBW for the first time recently. I was very impressed with the PBW and probably won't ever use oxyclean again. PBW rinses easily and quickly, plus it removed some kettle stains that had been there for a long time which oxy had no effect on, but it took one overnight soak of PBW and the kettle looked as good as new. This has just been my personal experience, but I think PBW is worth the price (in fact, I just ordered 8 lbs of it).
 
Oxiclean can eat stainless, so I try to avoid using it on stainless unless I have to, and when I do it's for only short soaks (<30 mins). Definitely get the oxiclean FREE, which doesn't have perfume and crap in it. BKF works miracles on stainless when scrubbing, I have no idea if it is useful for soaking to get grime off. I have just recently picked up some UBC (Austin Homebrew's answer to PBW), and so far I like it but I'm on the fence. It seems to rinse easier than oxiclean, and does a good job, and I really like the idea of being able to use it for long soaks on stainless steel, but it's still expensive... I know, in the grand scheme of things, it's far from being the most expensive part of my brewing process, but I still can't shake that nagging feeling of $$ every time I scoop out a bunch of it. Although it's probably a little too spendy to become my regular cleaning agent, I may stick to using it exclusively on stainless steel and copper and other things that oxiclean isn't nice to.
 
I was told that PBW is great - it eats beer-stone - and that most people use it much more than they need to. Hot water and a cheaper cleanser with a PBW wash/soak every 4-5 batches while using Star-San for sanitization was highly recommended to me.

Haven't done it yet - been coasting along with what I have.
 
Oxyclean is Sodium Percarbonate with detergent added (which is why it is hard to rinse). Really, get the cheap "Oxygen Cleaner" from the grocery store. It works by breaking down into hydrogen peroxide in the water.
 
PBW works great, but it's ridiculously expensive. Sun oxygen cleaner is like a buck a pound and works pretty well.
 
Oxiclean can eat stainless, so I try to avoid using it on stainless unless I have to, and when I do it's for only short soaks (<30 mins). Definitely get the oxiclean FREE, which doesn't have perfume and crap in it. BKF works miracles on stainless when scrubbing, I have no idea if it is useful for soaking to get grime off. I have just recently picked up some UBC (Austin Homebrew's answer to PBW), and so far I like it but I'm on the fence. It seems to rinse easier than oxiclean, and does a good job, and I really like the idea of being able to use it for long soaks on stainless steel, but it's still expensive... I know, in the grand scheme of things, it's far from being the most expensive part of my brewing process, but I still can't shake that nagging feeling of $$ every time I scoop out a bunch of it. Although it's probably a little too spendy to become my regular cleaning agent, I may stick to using it exclusively on stainless steel and copper and other things that oxiclean isn't nice to.

That is why I will not longer use it in my kegs Ever again. I can strech PBW for a long time rack from keg to keg or carboy to carboy.
 
I am a PBW guy. PBW has a chelating aid so it does not contribute to scale/beerstone like oxy clean does. Of course, you can follow oxy clean with a separate sequestering agent, but that is not doing much for the cheapness or easiness.

Qualitatively speaking I think half strength PBW cleans better than oxy clean and it is possible to buy PBW in bulk (look for a group buy). Consider those factors before deciding that oxy clean is cheaper, it isn't for me.
 


Keep in mind most Trisodium Phosphaste, at least what is sold in the US, is actually Sodium Carbonate due the ban on phosphates since the 1990's. It really is nothing more then a surfactant. It is known to corrode metal and damage grout.

As a cleaner Sodium Percarbonate by itself works fine. It really does not need TSP to work. The only thing adding TSP does it make it work faster.
 
Keep in mind most Trisodium Phosphaste, at least what is sold in the US, is actually Sodium Carbonate due the ban on phosphates since the 1990's. It really is nothing more then a surfactant. It is known to corrode metal and damage grout.

As a cleaner Sodium Percarbonate by itself works fine. It really does not need TSP to work. The only thing adding TSP does it make it work faster.

This is true... but only soft metals. The TSP you get at the store still has true TSP in it but it is "cut" as it were. You can combine both TSP and cheap sodium percarbonates.

I was actually wrong, PBW contains 30% sodium metasilicate which is the surfactant and softens all water to make it work better. BTW... if you buy TSP from the hardware store it is super cheap and works great.
 
I was told that PBW is great - it eats beer-stone - and that most people use it much more than they need to. Hot water and a cheaper cleanser with a PBW wash/soak every 4-5 batches while using Star-San for sanitization was highly recommended to me.

Haven't done it yet - been coasting along with what I have.

PBW is a cleaner; Star San is a sanitizer. I use both for their respective applications. I tried Oxi-Clean, but with our super-hard well water it's a no-go for soaking glass. It will deposit a white film if soaked for more than a half hour, which must then be removed by an acid rinse (white vinegar or Star San). I therefore use PBW, works just fine. I could always buy the RO water to use with Oxi-Clean, but that wipes out the savings.
I think you'll be fine using Oxi-Clean for your application, depending on your water supply, just be sure, as mentioned in previous posts, that you rinse thoroughly.
 
PBW is a cleaner; Star San is a sanitizer. I use both for their respective applications. I tried Oxi-Clean, but with our super-hard well water it's a no-go for soaking glass. It will deposit a white film if soaked for more than a half hour, which must then be removed by an acid rinse (white vinegar or Star San). I therefore use PBW, works just fine. I could always buy the RO water to use with Oxi-Clean, but that wipes out the savings.
I think you'll be fine using Oxi-Clean for your application, depending on your water supply, just be sure, as mentioned in previous posts, that you rinse thoroughly.

Adding sodium carbonate will soften the water and eliminate the white film. It's sold around here as Arm & Hammer Super Wasing Soda.

Beach
 
To bring up an old thread. Anyone had any issues with pitting in plastic when using PBW? The top of my better bottle is covered in tiny pits, and i have to believe its from soaking in PBW upsidedown overnight to try and remove the krausen gunk.
 
To bring up an old thread. Anyone had any issues with pitting in plastic when using PBW? The top of my better bottle is covered in tiny pits, and i have to believe its from soaking in PBW upsidedown overnight to try and remove the krausen gunk.

That's quite possible. PBW has been know to attack the bonding agent used to attach Teflon to pans, so it's not a stretch to believe that it might destroy PET plastic, but I can't find any link doing a search for sodium metasilicate/PET interaction. Was there any orange peel/oil involved by chance?

Edit: Nevermind concerning the orange oil. PET plastics are not broken down by d-limonene. See if vinegar gets rid of the "pits", as they might just be mineral deposits.
 
They are def. pits, and they only appeared after i let the carboy soak upsidedown overnight in PBW. I was under the impression that this stuff wasnt supposed to harm plastic?
 
They are def. pits, and they only appeared after i let the carboy soak upsidedown overnight in PBW. I was under the impression that this stuff wasnt supposed to harm plastic?

It's not supposed to harm plastic and even says so on the BB website. Is it possible you used a higher concentration or it wasn't completely dissolved? That would cause it. I have never had to soak longer than 1-2 hours though to get rid of all the junk. I just use warm to hot water and let it sit for 30 minutes, then agitate and invert, another 30 min to hour agitate again and usually it is clean by then. If not I let it sit for 30 more minutes and by then it has always been clean.
 
Saniclean...its the cleaning version of starsan...I have no idea why people dont use this or talk about it. Its fantastic! I can do a 15 minute soak in saniclean followed by starsan and be good as new in under an hour. I use oxyclean on my carboys but saniclean on all my other equipment. No foam either!

I do this soak pre and post-brew...even as I approach 50 brews my pots are spotless on the inside, only a soft sponge to clean off with.
 
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