OXI Clean

Hey all

I'm sure it's been mentioned here before, but i was wondering if you can use Oxi Clean for your cleaning needs. Please let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks for the help.

Jason

Oxi Clean FREE is probably the cleaner of choice around here.

Lots of us use it. There's also a generic version available at Wal-Mart (or so I hear). Go for the "free" version since it lacks fragrance. Oxi does a great job cleaning the inside of my better bottle primary, even when the gunk is dried and crusty.

Definatly use the the Oxy "free" be careful with the amount you use. I recently had a couple of beers ruined by using too much. Just be modest with the use and don't be like me and dump a full cup in to clean things. This being said all cleaners should be used in moderation....just a tip from my mistakes.

+1 on everything that's been said so far.

I switched from Bleach to Oxy Free and the difference is amazing! You think bleach is like the "king of cleaners", but for homebrewers, it's more like a queen, no.... make it a jack.

I use oxyclean for everything but my aluminium boil pot. My limited understanding is it removes the natural coating, so I just hand wash it with a green pad. On my stainless steal, plastic, and glass I use it as it seems to be the best and cheapest cleaner I have found. Just be certain to rinse out the containers completely, I do three rinses with just a little hot water.

How much do you put in per gallon? I have heard various opinions on this.

On a dirty nasty primary carboy I use a scoop, roughly 1/4 cup (40 ml?) for 5 gal of warm water. If it looks clean I use around 1/8 cup. The big thing is to rinse it very well.

another trick worth mentioning is that 1/2 cup of vinegar in the dishwasher when you sanitize cuts through the white haze inside the bottles if you accidentally get some in there while delabeling.

BrianP said:

Lots of us use it. There's also a generic version available at Wal-Mart (or so I hear). Go for the "free" version since it lacks fragrance. Oxi does a great job cleaning the inside of my better bottle primary, even when the gunk is dried and crusty.

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The Wal-Mart brand is called Sun Oxygen Cleaner and when I got it last was 1/5th the cost of oxyclean per ounce. It comes with out fragrance. It works well in other non-beer applications, like getting stains out of your shirt when you spill that stout on it...

Jimbob said:

Definatly use the the Oxy "free" be careful with the amount you use. I recently had a couple of beers ruined by using too much. Just be modest with the use and don't be like me and dump a full cup in to clean things. This being said all cleaners should be used in moderation....just a tip from my mistakes.

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How did it ruin your beer? My understanding is that Oxy clean is used for cleaning, but a no-rinse product should be used for sanitizing after cleaning. Sanitizing should rinse off any cleaner leftover.

Yes I use the knock-off Sun Oxygen Cleaner, but I get it from Dollar General around here. It is $5 for a 6 pound tub, and only had 2 ingredients, and no fragrance, works wonders.

This is a very timely thread as I was just having the same question. I'm pretty new to home brewing and currently use dish soap because I just haven't bought anything else.

So do you just soak and rinse for a normal cleaning, and only scrub if there is something visible that doesn't come off?

I almost spent a crap load of money at my LHBS on some PBW last week. I never thought of Oxyclean, but it seems to be a general consensus that it is better and cheaper than PBW.

I don't know if it's better but it is definitely way cheaper and gets the job done.

Coastarine said:

How did it ruin your beer? My understanding is that Oxy clean is used for cleaning, but a no-rinse product should be used for sanitizing after cleaning. Sanitizing should rinse off any cleaner leftover.

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I would have thought so too. I will say that this is only a theory as I have two batches that have an astringent and soapy flavors. After talking to some folks at the local HS, that was their theory as well. Any thoughts?

I buy pure sodium percarbonate. It is the active ingredient in Oxi Clean. You can order it from online chemical places. That way there are no additives, fragrances etc... It might be a little more than the generic stuff, but it is cheaper than Oxi for sure.

Jonnio said:

I buy pure sodium percarbonate. It is the active ingredient in Oxi Clean. You can order it from online chemical places. That way there are no additives, fragrances etc... It might be a little more than the generic stuff, but it is cheaper than Oxi for sure.

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You should use a tiny bit of soda ash with pure percarbonate, it boosts the pH and really gets the oxygen working.

I love my oxy clean its the lazy man cleaner...
I use it on my fermentors, bottles everything

Dr Vorlauf said:

You should use a tiny bit of soda ash with pure percarbonate, it boosts the pH and really gets the oxygen working.

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Thanks for the tip, I will give that a shot

rudy0498 said:

This is a very timely thread as I was just having the same question. I'm pretty new to home brewing and currently use dish soap because I just haven't bought anything else.

So do you just soak and rinse for a normal cleaning, and only scrub if there is something visible that doesn't come off?

I almost spent a crap load of money at my LHBS on some PBW last week. I never thought of Oxyclean, but it seems to be a general consensus that it is better and cheaper than PBW.

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PBW is the same thing as oxyclean. At least, it uses the same active ingredients. I think PBW is higher concentrate though.

That being said, you have it down. Oxyclean will float most crud off of what you're soaking, and if you need to give it a little scrub, no harm no foul.

I just used it Sunday for the first time, and managed to float off 90% of the krausen ring that had hardened on my brew bucket.

Dr Vorlauf said:

You should use a tiny bit of soda ash with pure percarbonate, it boosts the pH and really gets the oxygen working.

Click to expand...

Jonnio said:

Thanks for the tip, I will give that a shot

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I know this thread is old, but I wanted to follow up from Dr Vorlauf's recommendation. If you use pure percarbonate you have GOT to go get some soda ash (commonly found as washing soda in your grocery). It is super cheap and has allowed me to cut by probably 60% the amount of percarbonate I use. It really is a winner.

I just lost a bunch of bottlea. Couldn't figure out what was going on.. but then it dawned on me... FREAK OUT! Oxi Clean was actually eating the bottles... Actually eating away gloss. It was etching the glass like acid. I also had some of the wired quick pop offs in the water to and let me tell you it really went nuts on the wire! Took the outer coat completely off. I'm not going to use oxi clean on glass no more. Only on stainless and plastic.

If your oxiclean solution is etching glass then you are mixing it far,far too strong.

OK, I am reluctant to jump in as many may see me as having an 'agenda' so I will do the Hawaii Five-O "Just the Facts, Maam, just the facts". The product under discussion is a fine alkali product with limitations. For beer cleaning the main challenge is it has no chelators. Chelators are chemicals which pull mineral soils into solution and keep them there. Over time if this product is all you use you WILL develop beer stone (same reason only 90% of your krausen ring came off).

In defense of our product, it was stated that "PBW is the same thing as oxyclean." No, it is not. Actually the chronology is the other way around although the comparison is still weak. Originally developed for a regional brewery whose name you would immediately know, PBW was the FIRST powdered cleaner able to harness Oxygen as a solvent without being corrosive. PBW carries numerous US Patents which still protect its unique formulation. PBW was built specifically for the brewer and is not something brought into brewing but originally marketed for your laundry.

Let me share a relevant email I got from a gent I met at the Oakland AHA NHC. I usually blot out the name of the other product, as you have seen this elsewhere, but will leave it in here in light of this discussion:

From: Denny Conn
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:32 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: You got me!

Hi all,

I met Jim at the recent NHC in Oakland and he gave me a great explanation of the benefits of PBW. I'd used PBW many years ago, but over the last 6-7 years I had switched to Oxiclean as my sole cleaner for my homebrewery. I was very happy with the performance of Oxiclean and didn't feel that I could justify the extra expense of PBW for my hobby. Jim encouraged me to try cleaning stuff with PBW that had been cleaned in Oxiclean previously. I did that recently and I have to tell you that I'm amazed and pleased with the results! In particular, there was one beer line I had that had heavy beerstone in it, to the point that I no longer used it. Repeated Oxiclean soaks hadn't cleaned it, nor had other cleaners I'd tried. After a 2 hour soak in PBW, the line was completely clean and has gone back into use! I use buckets for fermenters, and they all looked clean to me, but when I recleaned them with PBW I was amazed to see how brown the water I used was after cleaning!

I just had to let you guys know that I'm now a confirmed PBW user and I plan to let anyone who asks know about my experiences. Thanks for all of your great poducts.

-------------->Denny Conn