Cleaning Solutions?

[ToddStark]

Hey folks,

I started off using an Oxygen Cleanser, http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWERS-EDGE-OXYGEN-CLEANSER-P3402.aspx, with my equipment and it seems to work really well. Now I am trying to make sure I am getting the best deal financially speaking. I use this stuff for cleaning all my brewing equipment and a lot of recycled bottles that need labels removed.

From your experiences, would you say all Oxygen cleaners are basically the same or have you found some to be above the rest?

 

[kombat]

In my experience, PBW is the king of the hill. That stuff will clean ANYTHING. Just don't use it to soak anything with aluminum in it (but that's true of any oxygen-based cleaner).

I've found a close second is OxyClean Free. To take it a step further, I've even started composing my own imitation PBW using this recipe, but I'm in Canada, so I can use real TSP instead of the TSP/90 substitute. In my experience, this also works excellently, and is more cost-effective than using name-brand PBW.

 

[IslandLizard]

+1^ (Homemade) PBW is the best for heavy duty brewery cleaning. For the rest, I use Washing Soda, at $4 for 4#.

OxiClean and generic "Oxi" products are way overrated IMO, as is everything else that is Seen on TV. Once the oxygen dissipates, not sure what function it really has, except for chlorine-free bleaching, what's left over is... Washing Soda!

The name brand OxiClean contains the most of its "O2 active ingredient" Sodium Percarbonate, around 60% IIRC. All generics contain a lower %. The balance in all those products is... washing soda!

 

[andy6026]

Agreed on PBW. I used to use just regular dish detergent and then one day I went to clean a carboy I had left with gunk in it. Multiple washings with dish detergent didn't remove it. One quick blast of PBW and it was spotless.

 

[ToddStark]

Thank you for your input. Sounds like PBW is the king and that others are not really using anything else except for maybe homemade versions of PBW.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thank you for your input. Sounds like PBW is the king and that others are not really using anything else except for maybe homemade versions of PBW.

Not quite. There are many threads on preferences for cleaners around the (home) brewery.

Although PBW is indeed King, many do use Oxiclean or a generic where the pricier PBW is overkill. I can't be the only one in brew town who swears by cheap washing soda (Sodium Carbonate) aka "Laundry Booster." Washing soda is the same as Oxiclean but doesn't give off O2. All are odorless of course.

 

[balrog]

2 part THIS
1 parts THAT

TSP/90 is Sodium Metasilicate, which is 30% of the makeup of PBW
If you are doing a 2/1 blend of Oxyclean/Sodium Metasilicate, you are pretty close to PBW

 

[ncbrewer]

There are lots of us who use Oxi Clean or generics. I'm completely satisfied with it, but pretty much never have a really tough cleaning problem. My tubing is rinsed well with hot water as soon as I've transferred - same with bottles. Fermenter bucket is the toughest, with the kraeusen ring dried on, but I clean all visible gunk with hot water using the heel of my hand before soaking in Oxi Clean. I think it depends on your cleaning regimen.

 

[Revvy]

There are lots of us who use Oxi Clean or generics. I'm completely satisfied with it, but pretty much never have a really tough cleaning problem. My tubing is rinsed well with hot water as soon as I've transferred - same with bottles. Fermenter bucket is the toughest, with the kraeusen ring dried on, but I clean all visible gunk with hot water using the heel of my hand before soaking in Oxi Clean. I think it depends on your cleaning regimen.

Me too... I've been using Oxyclean or generic oxyclean for as long as I've been brewing, and never had issues worth complaining about. I've used PBW on occasion, but honestly for me, generic oxycleaner is much cheaper.

We all like what we like, and it all works.

*shrug*

 

[Revvy]

+1^ (Homemade) PBW is the best for heavy duty brewery cleaning. For the rest, I use Washing Soda, at $4 for 4#.

OxiClean and generic "Oxi" products are way overrated IMO, as is everything else that is Seen on TV. Once the oxygen dissipates, not sure what function it really has, except for chlorine-free bleaching, what's left over is... Washing Soda!

The name brand OxiClean contains the most of its "O2 active ingredient" Sodium Percarbonate, around 60% IIRC. All generics contain a lower %. The balance in all those products is... washing soda!

What washing soda do you use?

 

[IslandLizard]

What washing soda do you use?

Arm & Hammer.

Although our mothers and grandmothers used washing soda abundantly, it is much harder to find nowadays. It's simple, too much of a base product, not "high tech" with a fancy label and a list of ingredients that's hard to pronounce. I found more working class neighborhood grocery stores tend to carry it. And Ace hardware has/had it in our area. It's great for cleaning glassware and bottles too, a good degreaser.

Don't get me wrong, I like the O2 "action" when I recirculate really hot (homemade) PBW through the pump and plate chiller. However, the O2 dissipates rather quickly, so we're left with a watery solution containing 70% washing soda and 30% metasilicate, which is also a really good cleaner.

 

[balrog]

However, the O2 dissipates rather quickly, so we're left with a watery solution containing 70% washing soda and 30% metasilicate, which is also a really good cleaner.

This. Cannot be overstated. THe warm soak in freshly made percarbonate does amazing things to removing organics but you've got 20-30min tops and any O2 action is finished. Not that longer soak in the remaining solution won't still do very clean things for you, but the O2 action on organics is gone.

 

[IslandLizard]

Hey folks,

I started off using an Oxygen Cleanser, http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWERS-EDGE-OXYGEN-CLEANSER-P3402.aspx, with my equipment and it seems to work really well. Now I am trying to make sure I am getting the best deal financially speaking. I use this stuff for cleaning all my brewing equipment and a lot of recycled bottles that need labels removed.

From your experiences, would you say all Oxygen cleaners are basically the same or have you found some to be above the rest?

It looks like that William's product is a PBW substitute. It has the same ingredients, although there are no percentages listed. From the reviews it behaves similarly and is priced a bit nicer. PBW carries premium pricing, around $8 a pound or more, unless you buy a bulk 50# pail in a group buy, then it drops to around $4 a pound. And that's as good as it gets. This is the reason many of us compound it ourselves for around $2.50-3.00 a pound.

If you don't need the O2 bubbles, and the solution is not really dirty it can be reused. I soak my washed hop bags in it and even give them a used PBW boil once in a while. They turn white again. It's the metasilicate component that provides the horsepower.