PBW Longevity

I'm considering using PBW to wash my beer glasses instead of washing them in the dishwasher and catching the dry cycle to rinse them out with Star San.

Can I make a small mix in a jar and keep it on the counter with a sponge to wash out my glasses? How long would a bit of it last? Does it degrade quickly or, like Star San, will it keep for a long time?

Does anyone else do this?

Does anyone use Oxyclean like this?

 

just wondering why you would need to sanitize beer glasses. as by the time it reaches a glass theres no need to worry about any infection because your drinking it at that time

 

I just run my beer glasses through the dishwasher. I can't conceive of a reason to sanitize them.

 

I'm using my sanitizer to rinse off anything from the soap. It'll hurt head retention I'm told.

 

I'm looking to skip the dishwasher. I want to just hand wash and set on a rack to dry.

 

Check this out:

http://www.micromatic.com/Templates/static/images/1851/Beer_Clean_3_pg.pdf

Of course we're not all going to have motorized brushes and full bar cleaning sinks in our homes, but it's a good reference. I actually (*gasp*) put my beer glasses in the dishwasher, but ALWAYS thoroughly rinse with water before filling a glass. I get good head retention and lacing my my glasses.

I'll agree with Jim, there's no reason to sanitize your glass. PBW is good for what it does, but be sure to rinse it with water after use, per the instructions on the package. A quick salt scrub should work well if you have glasses soiled with surfactants or other cleaners.

 

Just put more dextrose in when you bottle! You'll get a huge foamy head!
If you want your beer to taste beer, trying playing hockey before you drink it or have you in-laws over for dinner.

 

I thought I was fussy.

I use regular blue Dawn liquid detergent, on a soft sponge with no abrasive back. I wash, rinse in copious tap water, then rinse in RO water to avoid water spotting, then air dry.

I have never had a problem with head retention due to dish soap.

 

I take my glasses from the dishwasher and put them in the cupboard, and fill with beer when I feel thirsty. I get lacing all the way to the bottom of the glass. No fuss, no muss.

 

Hmmm… I suppose I ought to try using my glasses straight out of the dishwasher then.

Many, many moons ago I had terrible troubles with both head retention and lacing. One of the problems I was told was likely to washing my gear and glasses with dish soap. I had also began using 1 lb of wheat DME in all of my beer. I've since stopped doing that and haven't had issues. But I have been using carapils.

 

The op wasn't talking about sanitizing them. He was questioning PBW's longevity as compared to Starsan. I think washing them with PBW after rinsing out beer residue would be fine as long as you rinse them in warm water afterwards.

 

That's precisely what I meant Union! Not worried about the sanitization of my glasses (that's why I washed them in the dishwasher), but removing any residue from the soap as I heard it kills head retention, which I've had a problem with in the beginning.

 

You could do that,or negate the dishwasher & just rinse/PBW scrub/warm rinse to clean them. It'd actually be faster by hand rather than dishwasher.

 

That's why I was asking. I want to forgo the dishwasher, especially trying to catch the dry cycle before it cooked the glasses. Quite hot to hold for a moment!

But I want/need for the PBW to be good for an extended period of time as I'll only be washing a few glasses a week unless I have beer drinking company.

 

I mix PBW in one gallon SunnyD jugs,as the plastic from the juice jugs is heavier & lasts longer. 1.5ozs PBW to a gallon of water. I use as needed,tossing the dirty used stuff. If it's not dirty appearing,you could use a funnel (I have a short wide mouth radiator funnel) & coffee filters to clean it up for storage.

 

So how long does your mix last before you need to toss it?

I wouldn't think that a well rinsed beer glass would dirty up the mix would it?

 

That's why I recommended to rinse the residue out of the glasses first. Then get the filmy leftovers with the PBW solution & hot rinse again. The PBW would tend to stay cleaner. I have extra jugs I use for filtering my Starsan & PBW over the course of two months usuage on average.

 

I've put a 2 oz package of PBW into my cart. Gonna mix a very small amount (maybe a pint or quart) and keep it in a jar on the counter. Light doesn't mess with it does it?

 

2ozs is plenty for a gallon,a bit too strong for a pint or quart. As I stated earlier,I use 1.5 ozs PBW to a gallon jug of water. I don't think light messes with it much. The SunnyD jugs I use are milky colored plastic kept under my fermenter stand.

 

I'd only use part of it at a time. Scale back such as with Star San.

 

If you read the instructions on the jar,they have different weights of PBW to clean different things. 1-1.5 ounces per gallon is normal. 2ozs would be for heavier cleaning. But not out of line for average cleaning.

 

PBW is expensive.
If my beer glasses go through the dishwasher, I rinse with cold tap water and they go in dry rack.
Otherwise I hand wash. No issues.

 

I don't use the stuff to make your glasses come out crystal clear (can't recall the stuff…. I give a quick hand wash with liquid dish soap (Dawn) and then run them through the dishwasher on the short cycle with the same liquid dish soap (2-3 drops) as regular dishwashing detergent makes a big mess it seems (residue).

In light of this just don't bother messing with the glasses? I think I'll just have to try this and see. Maybe my head retention issues were something else.

 

PBW has 4% oxygen, according to the website. That part would go away in a few hours. The MSDS says “SILICATES, PHOSPHATES, AND SURFACTANTS” and lists 30% sodium metasilicate. There is some sort of chelator. All that would be pretty stable.

So, yeah, you can do it, but it’s not ideal. I don’t get what you’re trying to achieve. I use two or three gallons of hot water in the sink with about one tablespoon of PBW. Is that too much trouble?

Soap, actually detergent, is not bad by itself, but is bad in conjunction with fat. It makes a nearly insoluble precipitate that sticks to the microscopic pits in the surface of the glass. When that happens you need to scrub it out with a mild abrasive like baking soda. It will take a few washings to get it beer clean.

Once you get them clean, always wash your beer glasses by themselves. If there’s lipstick on the glass, it’s a good idea to wipe it off before you wash the glass.

 

Well,actually,...it's an enzyme in the dish soap that makes the water sheet off rather than spotting that messes with head retention.

 

I'm wanting to wash my beer glasses in a way that I won't be harming the presentation (head retention and lacing qualities) of my beer.

I've been washing them in the dishwasher then upon the dry cycle, pulling them and washing them with a sponge I have in a small jar of Star San I keep just for this purpose. Then finishing up the dry cycle.

But I don't care for having to keep an eye on the dishwasher and doing it in this manner. If PBW will last a long time in a mix in a jar then I'd prefer to just rinse thoroughly as I do then hand wash with PBW, rinse, and set out to air dry.

I also have Oxyclean for removing labels and wondered if people just do that, though I have very hard water, which might not be such a good idea to use...

 

Here is how I clean my glasses. Put a tiny pinch of oxy clean into each glass, scrub with a bottle brush and HOT water.( I use one for baby bottle's that has a sponge on the end.) Then I rinse well with hot water. I then let them dry. Once dry I dip them in a bowl of star San and let dry. The reason I sanitize them is because oxy clean has not antibacterial like dish soap.

 

Starsan can also be used to get that crusty stuff from hard water to come off from what others have noticed on here. I've got soft water,so it isn't a problem for me.

 

Star san is very cheap when you consider the dilution.
Another thing that works well is citric acid, available in most home brew shops. This keeps indefinitely in a spray bottle.
A commercial product you put in your dishwasher is lemishine. It does wonders for removing hard water spots. It saved my washer, seriously. It's probably just citric acid, but I don't know. Avoid rinse agents.
I've also put citric acid in the dishwasher with great results.

The only reason I hand wash is because my beer glasses are the nicest in the house. Wine glasses be damned. The impact of hard water and dishwashers on my household glasses is obvious.

 

So I recently tried just washing my glass in the dishwasher and it did seem to take just a touch of my head retention away, but not enough so that I'll concern myself with it anymore.

I've since taken PBW out of my cart as Oxyclean seems to work just fine for me.