Casutic

I found this the other day at the local farm and fleet. Roebic® Heavy Duty Crystal Drain Opener. It is 100% NaOH. Also I think you can get it at lowes.
It is also especially good at removing organic material such as anything in a carboy after fermentation. It tears through yeast residue like nothing I've ever seen.
It is also really good at removing beer stone(or just cleaning SS in general) if anyone else has some of that building in their corny's.
It also dissolves bottle labels.

I go for a 2% solution which should be ~2.5oz/gal

$7.99 for 2lbs, it's half the price of pbw and a lot more corrosive.
Do NOT use this on your aluminum pot. You should probably also wear gloves when working with it.

Figured I pass along the find, as I didn't realize caustic soda was so easy to come by anymore. But if you are unfamiliar with it, you might consider reading the MSDS before using it.

Be very careful when handling caustic soda because it can cause a nasty burn.

I kept a bottle of Iodophor close by when CIPing tanks and the brewhouse. Almost always managed to get some on me when draining the pump or swapping elbows on the brewing platform. The brewer got some on himself when performing a DO test after bottling and showed me how to always keep a bottle of Iodophor handy. We had them spaced all over the brewery and refilled them every day or two. Find a good pair of chemical resistant gloves and safety glasses.

Sawdustguy said:

Be very careful when handling caustic soda because it can cause a nasty burn.

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+1 It is very dangerous. If you chose to mix it with water, ALWAYS add the caustic to the water and if it is hot water be even more careful it can 'jump' back out.

I would consider caustic very much a last choice option in cleaning my brewing equipment.

This might be something I'll try next time.

I got a 1/2G of "Cipton" from my LHBS...it works great at eating all the leftovers in my carboys.

SourHopHead said:

I kept a bottle of Iodophor close by when CIPing tanks and the brewhouse. Almost always managed to get some on me when draining the pump or swapping elbows on the brewing platform. The brewer got some on himself when performing a DO test after bottling and showed me how to always keep a bottle of Iodophor handy. We had them spaced all over the brewery and refilled them every day or two. Find a good pair of chemical resistant gloves and safety glasses.

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How does Iodophor specifically help if you get splashed with caustic? Do you just pour it over the exposed area? Concentrated or diluted?

Edcculus said:

How does Iodophor specifically help if you get splashed with caustic? Do you just pour it over the exposed area? Concentrated or diluted?

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Vinegar is a common household item that is recommended for treating caustic burns. You need something to neutralize the alkalinity.

Caustic may not be for everyone, but it's not bad if you realize it can burn you and wear gloves and glasses when dealing with it. And also that adding NaOH to water is an exothermic reaction. That's one reason I said, maybe you should read the MSDS before using it.

This was my first time using it to clean a carboy, but it worked so damn well there was no need to get the carboy brush out. I figured since I found it relatively cheap and it works, other homebrewers would be interested.

I used to work in a lab and the rule was the only thing that you ever used to neutralize a caustic or acid burn was WATER, and lots of it. If you attempt to use anything else it is easy to over correct and thus cause more damage.

We used KOH flakes dissolved in ethanol to clean our glassware. It would remove anything with a 12 hour soak, no pre-clean needed. One day I wasn't wearing elbow length gloves when I went to remove something and got a single drop on my arm. I didn't notice it until it had burned well into my skin. I still have a strange perfectly round scar on my arm where it burned me. Caustic is dangerous stuff. Ethalated caustic is a bit worse. You won't see me keeping it around the house. Too great of a risk of a niece or nephew getting into it.

z987k said:

Vinegar is a common household item that is recommended for treating caustic burns. You need something to neutralize the alkalinity.

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Would Star San work to neutralize? When I take the pH of a freshly made batch with RO water it's as acidic as vinegar.