Removing Oxiclean white residue from glass??

Hi,

I'm very disappointing with Oxiclean right now.

I soaked my new 6.5 gal glass carboy in a < 1/3 strength solution of oxiclean overnight. I rinsed and rinsed and nothing is getting out the white caked on residue. This is a residue that many could overlook but once the inside gets dry and you are in the right lighting, it's all over the damn inside of the carboy. My water is not hard. Spraying water is not getting rid of it.

I took a carboy brush to it and it's STILL not getting of that residue.. I can see some brush 'scratches' in the white reside but it's caked on.

This was a NEW glass carboy that were mirror perfect. I only cleaned them because I noticed a faint odor.

And this is supposed to be a cleaner? I'm just amazed.

Anyhow, is there anything I can do to get ride of the white residue? I really need to finish a brew today and this is the thing that is holding me back right now.

(Any other recommendations to use something outside of PBW and Oxiclean would be beneficial as I would not like to use this again in the future. It's a bit over the top that this happened considering my water and the steps that i followed)

Thanks for any suggestions.

Toss some white vinegar in there and it will take it off. Star San, being an acid, will also take it off.

Starsan will get it out, I gave up on oxiclean for this very reason

jspence1 said:

Starsan will get it out, I gave up on oxiclean for this very reason

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Thanks for the responses. I can see how a lot of people wouldn't really notice it.

I know this sounds crazy but my dish soap works very well on my glasses and seems to get things squeeky clean. It does not have a harsh smell or anti-spot formula like the dish washer detergents do.

What about just using my dish soap before the brew and rinsing?

TheCookieMonster said:

What about just using my dish soap before the brew and rinsing?

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Just because you can't see the residue from dish soap doesn't mean it's not there. Dish soap residue will kill the head on your beer.

What is a < 1/3 strength solution of Oxyclean? You may be using too much of it. I use one scoop for a 6.5 gallon carboy and even that's probably more than necessary for thorough cleaning. As others mentioned, rinse the carboy out will full strength white vinegar or a solution of Star San. The acid in either should dissolve the residue. Put some in the carboy (maybe a quart or so) and slosh it around to completely wet the interior. Give it some time to work and repeat the sloshing now and then. Finally, rinse it out well and then fill it with hot tap water overnight before draining. I never dry my carboys. Instead, I just leave some Star San in them and cover the opening with foil or plastic wrap. I rinse and sanitize them again just prior to use.

if your water is anything like mine, no matter how small of an amount of oxiclean you use, you will get residue. I typically just soak mine in a light oxiclean solution then after i get them cleaned up (except for the residue) i throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with about half a cup of vinegar. The vinegar will remove the oxiclean in a half hour or so.

IMO opinion, soaking anything in oxi for 24 hours is over kill. I have yet to not be pleased with results in under an hour (wow, that's horrible sentence structure!)

Mista_Sparkle said:

if your water is anything like mine, no matter how small of an amount of oxiclean you use, you will get residue. I typically just soak mine in a light oxiclean solution then after i get them cleaned up (except for the residue) i throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with about half a cup of vinegar. The vinegar will remove the oxiclean in a half hour or so.

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Is the residue caused by hard water in your location? Do you have to do anything special to your water in order to use it for brewing? I'm happy I don't have to deal with hard water.

AZ_IPA said:

IMO opinion, soaking anything in oxi for 24 hours is over kill. I have yet to not be pleased with results in under an hour (wow, that's horrible sentence structure!)

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I agree, unless the equipment is unusually cruddy, the Oxyclean works relatively fast. I give them a long soak mostly because I fill them and forget about them until the following day or sometimes longer. IOW, I don't worry about how long they soak as it doesn't seem to make any difference regarding the residue so long as the Oxyclean is rinsed off before it dries on the glass.

Was the oxi solution cold?

I've never had anything that won't come out in one hour come out in 24. Meaning, if it doesn't clean early, you're gonna need something else....

What you are seeing is most likely minerals that have precipitated from your water, not oxi-clean. Rinse with Star-san and you should be good to go. No worries.

Catt22 said:

Is the residue caused by hard water in your location? Do you have to do anything special to your water in order to use it for brewing? I'm happy I don't have to deal with hard water.

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my water is terribly hard. If I add anything to it, stuff will precipitate out, I can even get stuff to precipitate out with star san. I just use it as is though and get decent beer out of it.

Don't give up on the Oxyclean just yet.
As others have posted, 24-hours is a long time. Anything over 2 hours is asking for a film.
And as Killian hinted to, a cold solution is the worst. Hot water will keep the minerals and oxy in suspension. Start hot, and rinse with hot water before the solution has a chance to cool. Also not a bad idea to go with the OxyFree, no perfumes, clorine or other additives.

It's a pretty common reaction to oxyclean and the minerals in some folks water. It's so common we even have a name for it on here, "scale." Nothing to be disappointed about. If you had looked you would have seen lots of threads on it (just like those in the similar threads box below) and would have seen that the best way to get rid of it is with, like others have said, a weak acid such as vinegar, lemon juice or the most common, Starsan.

When I am processing bottles I fill the left side of my sink with some starsan and water and after giving them a thorough rinse with my jet bottle washer to rinse off the oxyclean, I dunk them in for a couple minutes. But note, I do NOT count that as a bottle sanitizing step (I don't even know if the starsn loses it's efficacy dissolving the oxy-scale) and still sanitize on bottling day.

Revvy said:

It's a pretty common reaction to oxyclean and the minerals in some folks water. It's so common we even have a name for it on here, "scale." Nothing to be disappointed about. If you had looked you would have seen lots of threads on it (just like those in the similar threads box below) and would have seen that the best way to get rid of it is with, like others have said, a weak acid such as vinegar, lemon juice or the most common, Starsan.

When I am processing bottles I fill the left side of my sink with some starsan and water and after giving them a thorough rinse with my jet bottle washer to rinse off the oxyclean, I dunk them in for a couple minutes. But note, I do NOT count that as a bottle sanitizing step (I don't even know if the starsn loses it's efficacy dissolving the oxy-scale) and still sanitize on bottling day.

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Ditto. When cleaning bottles, I soak overnight in Oxy, then rinse real quick with water and then a spray with Starsan before I put them, upside down, in a box for storage. We have pretty hard water, but I noticed much less residue after I realized that I was using way too much oxy.

Mongo64 said:

What you are seeing is most likely minerals that have precipitated from your water, not oxi-clean

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Yes through the use of oxi clean.

Damn I've been a victim of brew lore so many times.

I have been soaking in star san now for about 20 minutes and it is doing NOTHING. It's removing nothing.

I'm going to try vinigar next. Odd though.. isn't vinegar higher in acidity than star san?

I can't believe this is happening. Lesson learned with oxi clean (and brew lore).

Ya know.. Oxi clean.. the 'great brewers cleaner'. It's meant for removing stains from clothing. That's what it seems to be meant for. I have PBW and will use that until I can get rid of both of them.

That garbage has CAKED on a white all over the inside of my NEW carboy! If you use plastic buckets you'll never notice it or if you are in the wrong lighting.

Damn.. guys.. I've been burned SO MANY times by brew lore.

My gut tells me to stick with bleach and dish soap - the two most common cleaners available. I'll investigate the dish soap thing.

MartyB said:

Don't give up on the Oxyclean just yet.
As others have posted, 24-hours is a long time. Anything over 2 hours is asking for a film.
And as Killian hinted to, a cold solution is the worst. Hot water will keep the minerals and oxy in suspension. Start hot, and rinse with hot water before the solution has a chance to cool. Also not a bad idea to go with the OxyFree, no perfumes, clorine or other additives.

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I used 125 degree hot tap water. I left it over night due to reading so many other people that do it.

I think a lot of the people aren't seeing the caking to be honest.

I'm going to stay far away from this product.

What cleans glass best? Very, very simple answer:

Elbow grease and dish soap.

Dish soap being anti-spotting films is brew lore at this point. Let's be honest about that. I wash my glasses with soap and get insane head retention and lacing.

I'm going to contact Dawn and ask for information on this as Jamil and Palmer said it's ONLY dish washer machine detergent that contains that.

most likely if you used water that hot, as it cooled, it forced the oxiclean and other minerals out of solution. vinegar will clear it up, but you may need quite a bit if theres a lot of scale and stuff

TheCookieMonster said:

Ya know.. Oxi clean.. the 'great brewers cleaner'. It's meant for removing stains from clothing. That's what it seems to be meant for. I have PBW and will use that until I can get rid of both of them.

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PBW, Oxiclean, and one-step are all sodium perchlorate cleaners. However, PBW has an added surfactant that helps perchlorate stay in suspension in cool water (the surfactant is sodium metasilicate aka waterglass, and makes up 30% of the PBW by weight), and can also help clean in all the usual surfactant ways.

Oxiclean is fine with a little care: make sure it's mixed in hot water and then emptied and rinsed before it cools (when it cools, you can get white precipitants). About 1/2 scoop per 5 gallons is plenty (even a little less if you have soft water); use too much and you'll saturate the water and get more precipitation.

I am so good at making mistakes then reading what would have prevented them after the fact. I used oxiclean with the "grout" instructions in cold water and soaked overnight. It left that nasty white residue, but thanks to this thread, vinegar (I did 2c/5gal) did the trick (It's cheaper than starsan)

I have had no luck with StarSan

Tried white vinegar? Or any vinegar, I suppose...

Cheers!

Dade0 said:

I have had no luck with StarSan

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Did you do standard dillution? I usually don't measure when I'm mixing a small amount purely to reduce scale, so it's a stronger solution.

Though you may have minerality different from mine where it does work.

Just bumping this and will report back on the oxiclean scale on my carboy later after trying vinegar. I was going to brew a mead tonight, but will wait another day after it soaks. I haven't had luck with starsan dissolving the scale, and starsan can leave it s own film on bottles if left for days in a bucket.

Also, I did get some info off this thread also, but mostly the same stuff, they just note the scale is likely calcium carbonate.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=6667.0

fwiw, the vinegar will likely remove the scale in minutes, you may not have to delay your next brew

Cheers!

fwiw, my own residue problems resisted vinegar. Even muriatic acid was less than 100% effective. My water is quite low in minerals. This residue problem is new for me, which makes me wonder whether Oxiclean might have changed formulation in the past year or so. In any event, I'm going to have to change how I clean my glass fermenters to avoid this.