Oxi Clean to water ratio - Did my brewing book go overboard?

[Canadian_Brewer]

Hi,

In "How to Brew" by John Palmer - he suggests using 1 table spoon per gallon of sodium percarbonate (Oxi Clean). Yet after doing a search here on the forum, it seems many of you use 1/8 of a scoop to 1 full scoop of Oxi Clean per 5 gallons. There appears to be no consensus. Should I follow Palmer or popular opinion which seems to be using less amounts.


I am also not sure of how much "a scoop" is, it would be helpful if you can give me advice in terms of table spoons or what not.

Thanks a lot!

 

[elkshadow]

You don't really have to mix it exactly. The package it comes in gives 4 different mixing ratios. If I'm soaking a bucket, I use about a third of a scoop. If I'm soaking the labels off bottles, I use enough to sprinkle some in each bottle then fill the bucket with water. This is in the category of things to not worry about.

 

[Canadian_Brewer]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I guess I'll just use 1/3 as you suggested to a full "scoop" depending on what mood I am in.

With Iodophor however, I get the impression I have to be more accurate.

My bottle suggests I use 1ml/liter, so 19 L/5 gallons, or 1.3 tbspoon/5 gallons. However popular opinion here uses less, at 14 ml/5 gallons or 1 tbspoon per gallon.

 

[mike_in_ak]

Yeah the OC is just cleansing/desoiler/label peeler. So it probably doesn't end up mattering that much if you're using it for those purposes.

Vs sanitizer, which needs to have the correct mixture/dilution/composition to sanitize as intended.

Unless you're using OC to sanitize, like you would One Step, in which case I don't know. I don't even know if people do that, but I would guess some do.

 

[Maplehead74]

Use the label rate for your sanitizer .

I personally use Star San and PBW . I have tried other stuff and find these two products best for me.
You can use ( te-use) Star San repeatedly if you brew often enough , but I don't . It's not very expensive compared to other parts of the hobby and can make or break your beer, so I just use a fresh batch with every brew day .


http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/breweries/homebrewing/products/

Cheers

 

[Maplehead74]

Sorry that was reuse not te-use.

 

[Canadian_Brewer]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes I feel the "smart" thing to do is to say what my bottle tells me. But then I can't help but think maybe that's too much, because a lot of the experienced people tell me otherwise (14 ml/5 gallons or 19 liters)

 

[jrgroucho]

I tend to use OxiClean in the ratio of about 2ish scoops (which is nearly half a cup) to 5 gallons of water. Hot water. I mean really hot water, the hotter the better. I really don't think about it much as it's pretty cheap. I fall into elkshadow's camp as it's not something to really worry about. The important thing is to make sure it is rinsed extremely well. Other than that OxiClean is the least of my brewing worries...

 

[kh54s10]

I feel the ratio for cleaning is not very critical. The ratios for sanitizers is. If you do not mix sanitizers to the proper amounts they might not be doing the job.

I use Oxyclean for cleaning at about 1/3 scoop. I use Starsan for sanitizing and mix to the recommendation on the packaging.

 

[Clonefan94]

I usually adjust my cleaners based on soil on the item I'm cleaning. I'm pretty good about getting everything cleaned off pretty well right after use. So, I don't get much grime sitting on stuff. In that case, I usually mix my cleaners a little lighter than the package says. Enough to "wet" the water and allow me to give the item a good once over. I will have kegs that sit though. I just leave them pressurized with the CO2 they had in them, then when needed, give them a clean. These sometimes will have some yeast caked on the bottome of the keg. I mix my cleaner full strength for thos type of times and let it sit. It does a nice job of dissolving stuff to reduce the elbow grease I need to really clean it. This actually goes for my boil pot as well. Every couple of brews I mix up a "hot" batch of cleaner and let it sit in my boil pot, just to make sure there is nothing there to leave any flavor.

As others have said though, don't be lax at all with sanitizer ratios. It has to be mixed precise. I usually buy a 5 gallon jug of distilled water, measure out exactly 5 gallons, then mix my starsan with that. I've found it stays good for quite a while doing it that way. I just always check the PH before use.