Oxiclean on Stainless I DARE you to prove me wrong

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ekjohns

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I was cleaning a corny with about 1/2 scoop of oxiclean in 5 gal of hard tap water from the bath tub. I was planning on letting it sit for 30 min then washing it out but got distracted and 3 days pasted with it sitting in there. Finally remembered it and dumped it out and washed the keg. Concerned that the oxiclean may be bad for stainless steel I hit the forums to see what people had to say. Seems like there is a split decission. Some say it is 100% safe even for long soaks, some say it will pit and tarnish the stainless steel.

To go a little deeper lets dive into what oxiclean really is (MSDS):

Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda or soda ash) - used as a water softener at high concentrations in stainless steel water tanks, not going to pit stainless but will precipitate out metals in water.

Sodium carbonate Peroxyhydrate: Breaks down to produce Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) which further becomes 02 and H2. H202 is can be stored for years in SS tanks and only at VERY high concentrations and temperature does H202 cause harm to SS, not going to pit SS at the concentrations in oxiclean.

Ethoxylated Alcohol C12-C16 used as a surfactant and has oxidation qualities but is harmless to SS in the quantities in oxiclean.

Now lets look at the properties of SS that make it rust resistant. Stainless steel's corrosion resistance is due to a thin, chromium-rich, transparent oxide film on the surface. This protective film develops when more than 10.5 percent of chromium is present in the alloy and when the gas or liquid environment the stainless steel is exposed to provide oxygen to its surface. Therefore oxidation should help preserve the properties of SS. Bleach however is terrible for SS as the Chloride ions attach the oxide film allowing for corrosion. Oxiclean veristile does not contain Chlorine.

In my case I have some mineral build up which was most likely precipitated from the hard water and Sodium carbonate. I have not had a chance to acid wash this corrosion away but I see no signs of corrosion or pitting.

A couple of side notes most cleaners such as oxiclean and even bleach loose their harmful properties after 24 hrs. If you dont believe me take some bleach and dilute it to 10% in tap water. Wait 24 hours and smell it and try using it on something with a pH indicator. It will not have anywhere near the affectivness as fresh dilute bleach. Some people have stated that they ruined a stainless steel bowl and the like with concentrated oxiclean which may have been an old formulation containing chlorine. It is also possible it was a cheap bowl and wasnt true high quality stainless steel like our expenisve used cornies

As always I am open to debate and would like to see some well built "no your wrong" comments.
 
I don't know about stainless but I can verify oxiclean and aluminum don't like each other very much.
 
I have left oxi/based cleaners in my kegs for weeks with no noticeable damage. I can’t see or feel any pits. It does react with some of my cheap SS parts such as T's and clamps and such. But at the correct dilution level I don’t think it will damage kegs or pots. But what do I know. :drunk:
 
I run oxy through my rims system when I need that real clean feeling. You know, when I'm not feeling quite so fresh down there, below my false bottom. It's like a big hot ****** for my brewery. I run it up to 150-160f while running through the system. Works great!!!
 
I use it on my corny's all the time.. works like a charm. When I got them they were in pretty bad shape, and oxy cleaned them up REAL nice.
 
I left a mix of PBW and oxyclean in a Sanke keg for about a week (maybe more) before running the keg cleaner through it... There was some build-up that I just wanted to get out of the keg before I used it for the first time. Keg looks nice and clean inside now, without any extra junk in it... I'm actually planning on giving my corny keg a nice long soak with some PBW to get some discoloration out before I use it again. I'll let it soak for a few days and then run the cleaner inside... Should get rid of that spot of whatever it is... It's smooth, so I don't think it's harmful stuff...

Either way, I do think that PBW/oxyclean is perfectly safe in the concentrations WE use them at on stainless... Obviously, you don't want to use them on soft metals (as already mentioned)...
 
i left oxyclean soak in my ss kettle once for about a week.

the handle rivets became all pitted and eroded.
 
i left oxyclean soak in my ss kettle once for about a week.

the handle rivets became all pitted and eroded.

Guess those rivets were aluminum, or a softer metal...

To clean a SS kettle, I'd use something like Bar Keepers Friend... That way, you can put it away a lot sooner. Plus, not need to worry about anything odd happening to the kettle... :D
 
djsethall said:
I run oxy through my rims system when I need that real clean feeling. You know, when I'm not feeling quite so fresh down there, below my false bottom. It's like a big hot ****** for my brewery. I run it up to 150-160f while running through the system. Works great!!!

Ha!
 
This protective film develops when more than 10.5 percent of chromium is present in the alloy and when the gas or liquid environment the stainless steel is exposed to provide oxygen to its surface. Therefore oxidation should help preserve the properties of SS.

Very interesting that you mention this -- I often use one side of my SS double sink to soak bottles in, and there were a couple of little rusty spots that had developed (before I began using Oxiclean for my bottle-soaks). I kind of figured I'd have to keep an eye on those spots, because steel + oxidation = more rust, right? Well, those spots actually went away and haven't come back. I didn't think much about it until you posted this tidbit of info. Very interesting.
 
Very interesting that you mention this -- I often use one side of my SS double sink to soak bottles in, and there were a couple of little rusty spots that had developed (before I began using Oxiclean for my bottle-soaks). I kind of figured I'd have to keep an eye on those spots, because steel + oxidation = more rust, right? Well, those spots actually went away and haven't come back. I didn't think much about it until you posted this tidbit of info. Very interesting.

Is this after you began cleaning the bottles with oxiclean in that sink?
 
Today I dumped 2 kegs that had Sun Oxygen Cleaner (1 scoop/5 gallons) in them for 8 months and at first I thought they were damaged. The surfaces inside the kegs and the diptubes felt rough to my fingers like there was some micro-pitting going on. I took a plastic scrubby to them and it removed all of the roughness with ease. Nice and smooth now. It may be that the ingredients precipitated out and/or crystalized on the surfaces but I'm happy to report with a rinse and very little scrub they are as good as they ever were.
 
I've found oxiclean to be an amazing cleaner even when not using as much as recommended. I bearly use a table spoon for 5 gallons of water and have great results soaking everything. The only time I actually use a full scoop is when filling the rubbermaid container I clean bottles in.
 
Good to hear about oxyclean being effective, can be a real bargain (compared to the brewery-specific cleaners out there), especially in the value-tub size found at the 'dollar' store. I usually use barkeeper's friend for all stainless related scouring needs- super cheap and super strong. i too have noticed the cheap 'stainless' metalwares rusting, some of them disturbingly so. never a corny keg though. oh boy, the far east can clone nike shoes, prada handbags and now, stainless! looks like stainless, feels like stainess, rusts like iron :(
 
Today I dumped 2 kegs that had Sun Oxygen Cleaner (1 scoop/5 gallons) in them for 8 months and at first I thought they were damaged. The surfaces inside the kegs and the diptubes felt rough to my fingers like there was some micro-pitting going on. I took a plastic scrubby to them and it removed all of the roughness with ease. Nice and smooth now. It may be that the ingredients precipitated out and/or crystalized on the surfaces but I'm happy to report with a rinse and very little scrub they are as good as they ever were.

it was probably metals that had precepitated out. Oxiclean will do this. If you put tap water and oxiclean and leave it in a plastic tub you will see after awhile all the metals drop out and give the plastic a rough touch. Wipe it off and its nice a smooth
 
I had 2 kegs that were in an oxi bath for 3 -4 months. I had forgotten about them, and didn't need them.

Anyway, two weekends ago I got around to chaecking them out. I was concerned they were ruined. Nope, looked good as new. I gave them a thourough rinse, and have them soaking in just plain water now. But rest assured, they will go back into rotation shortly.

No worries.
 
Bernie Brewer- some people can be grammar/spelling nazis- at least you're having fun with it :)

EDIT: i mean- at leest your having fun with it !
 
just my 2 cents here. i dont know why people are concerned about oxiclean harming SS. you can use it in regular and high efficiency washers and (if im correct) a lot of the high efficiency washers have stainless wash drums (at least mine does). just me applying my common sense to my limited brewing knowledge. lol
 
Yeah.. Wished I'd read this thread about 1 hour sooner. Finished brewing and figured I soak my 40 qt. al. pot in Oxiclean while I finishing up primary stuff. Came back up and found lotsa foam in the pot. Too much foam. My brew pot looked like is was brand new (sorta). Conditioning it (again) right now...
 
I run oxy through my rims system when I need that real clean feeling. You know, when I'm not feeling quite so fresh down there, below my false bottom. It's like a big hot ****** for my brewery. I run it up to 150-160f while running through the system. Works great!!!

Epic..
 
I run oxy through my rims system when I need that real clean feeling. You know, when I'm not feeling quite so fresh down there, below my false bottom. It's like a big hot ****** for my brewery. I run it up to 150-160f while running through the system. Works great!!!

I'm always as carefree as a Summer Eve when my tunny is freshly *****ed with oxy-clean.
 
I don't know if this helps at all, but I think the dilution level on the Oxyclean package is way off. I use about a quarter or less of the stated amount of Oxyclean for the same amount of water. I get great clean results with less rinsing. It's cheaper too.
 
I don't know if this helps at all, but I think the dilution level on the Oxyclean package is way off. I use about a quarter or less of the stated amount of Oxyclean for the same amount of water. I get great clean results with less rinsing. It's cheaper too.

They're assuming a worst case scenario, aka really extreme water chemistry. You can get away with using less laundry detergent as well, which has the added benefit of making your clothes last longer.
 
Love oxy.
I fill to the top(and press poppet valve to get it in the diptube. Then flush, rinse with water and flush, then starsan shake and flush.

I have a keg that has been filled with Oxy for over a month. I'll keg this weekend and update if I have any issues. I don't think it will be a problem.
 
I recently just had the same issue. I scared myself thinking I ruined two kegs and the long shafts, which I had soaking in the kegs as well. I pulled out the shafts and ran the green side of a sponge on them and it started to come off. A little elbow grease and the shafts came clean. I tried the same thing on the kegs. I could feel where I scrubbed vertically was smooth, and where I missed still felt pitted. I am sure that whatever is in the oxy-clean crystalized and stuck to the sides. The bottom collected more, and I was able to clean it all off with a plastic putty knife,as to not scratch the keg.

**Edit:
I had some lingering buildup at the bottom with the odd contours. They were hard to scrape at the correct angles and whatnot. I used a little white vinegar with water(about 60:40 respectively) and let it sit for about two hours and I didn't even have to scrub and it came out perfectly cleaned.

Hope it helps!

Nick
 
So for those that are using Oxiclean, for 5 gallons water, how much do you use for dirty carboys? Or kegs? Or cleaning bottles?


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
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