What to do when you Oxiclean too much

I bought a spare keg a couple months ago and was prepping it to use it. So I put some Oxiclean in it. And forgot about it.

This week I opened it up and poured out the water in it, only to find a rough surface inside. Apparently the Oxiclean started forming crystal stalactites, and they wouldn't dissolve in clean water.

I was worried that I had ruined the keg, but after doing some reading I added 2 cups of vinegar to 5 gallons water and in the morning the keg was like new!

So the bottom line is, don't leave Oxiclean in stuff for 2 months or you'll start to get crystal formations. And if you do: vinegar and water will clean that right up.

Pretty common.


To get rid of the "scale," the residue from oxyclean, you use a weak acid solution, Starsan works great, but you can also use a dillution of either vinegar or lemon juice in water.

When I am processing my bottles I fill one sink with whatever weak acid I use, soak my bottles inside and out with them for a couple minutes and re-rinse.

If you use starsan in this way, it DOESN"T COUNT as a sanitization step....at tleast I don't think of it that way, I still sanitize them on bottling day.

Revvy said:

If you use starsan in this way, it DOESN"T COUNT as a sanitization step....at tleast I don't think of it that way, I still sanitize them on bottling day.

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That's a good idea in general (not to hijack the thread or anything). If the starsan dries, I don't consider it sanitized anymore and will spray them down right before use. It's only sanitized as long as it's wet.

according tp 5*, it leaves an acid layer on the article. but 5gal is a year supply so better safe than sick.

With our extremely hard well water, Oxi-Clean is guaranteed to leave a film on bottles or etc. if left to soak for longer than 20 minutes or so. The alternatives are to buy RO water and use that, or just employ a different product. I use PBW, which contains ingredients that prevent this from happening. As has been mentioned, if you get such a film, just use white vinegar.

I used to get the scale when using Oxiclean because I was filling the bucket with hard water directly from my outside faucet. The vinegar & water trick worked well back then.

I now fill the oxiclean bucket inside where the water has gone through the water softener and I do not get the scale residue anymore.

Thanks for the tip! I had 2 carboys I thought were ruined. I thouht I would never get the crystalized oxyclean out. Gonna try this out tomorrow! What is the science behind the vinegar takin care of it?

ReverendTenHigh said:

Thanks for the tip! I had 2 carboys I thought were ruined. I thouht I would never get the crystalized oxyclean out. Gonna try this out tomorrow! What is the science behind the vinegar takin care of it?

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Vinegar is acetic acid. The mineral deposits are soluble in acid so they dissolve.

ChshreCat said:

That's a good idea in general (not to hijack the thread or anything). If the starsan dries, I don't consider it sanitized anymore and will spray them down right before use. It's only sanitized as long as it's wet.

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the small amount of residue starsan leaves behind when the water evaporates from the mix will continue to kill bacteria. i wouldnt rinse a container with starsan, let it dry and leave it open for a long time.

but when i clean a carboy, rinse it with starsan and store it upside down, i do consider the inside sanitary even after it dries as long as nothing has touched the surface. if it were a bucket and it was left rightside up with the top open, i would re-sanitize to get the dust and whatever probably settled on it out.

Vinegar is acetic acid. The mineral deposits are soluble in acid so they dissolve.

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I was kinda lookin for something a bit more technical