Cleaning with Oxyclean

[jc4466]

So I had several kegs to clean before I went on vacation. I let them soak overnight with an oxy clean and water solution. They are all 5 gallon corny kegs. The next day I cleaned them, emptied them out and finished rinsing them until they were sparkly clean. The problem is I had forgotten one, so after being allowed to sit in an Oxy clean solution for about two weeks. I got crystallized material stuck to the bottom and upper wall of the keg. I'm trying to figure out a way to remove these without damaging the stainless steel. Has this happened to anyone before? Any ideas or recommendations?

 

[oakbarn]

Star San. Soak it in Star San solution. I did this to my conical and was sick until I found how easy it was to fix.

 

[jc4466]

Awesome I'll give that a try. Any idea why that works? I think Oxyclean is a base could it be that Star San is acidic? What are the crystals that formed... Are they the sodium carbonate? Sorry for overwhelming you with questions I'm just curious as to the chemistry behind the answer.

 

[d3track]

Yup, it's acid, vinegar can work too

 

[kh54s10]

Oxyclean is an oxygen based cleaner.

Sodium Percarbonate: Sodium percarbonate forms a white, crystalline-like powder that's used in many industrial cleaning products. It's made up of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. Sodium percarbonate is actually very environmentally friendly, since it breaks down into elements naturally occurring in nature.
Soda Ash: Also called sodium carbonate, soda ash or washing soda has a long history as a cleaning product. It's extracted from plant ashes, with mostly wood used in today's modern manufacturing to make soda ash. It can also be produced from common table salt. It's very useful for removing grease, oil and alcohol stains.
Detergents: Detergents in OxClean whisk away dirt once it's loosened by the other ingredients.
Water: Water forms a liquid to penetrate cloth and help the product smooth over various surfaces.

Starsan is an acid based sanitizer.

It appears that oxyclean reacts differently based on your water chemistry. I have never gotten any hard deposits no matter how long I let it sit.

The same with Starsan. Many describe it being good until it goes cloudy. Mine never goes cloudy. I check the pH with strips to see that it is still acidic. If so I keep using it even if it has been around a while. No problems thus far.

 

[Natdavis777]

Ive never let my kegs sit that long in oxyclean to get any deposits. Just let them sit full of the solution for an hour, rinse, then refill with star san solution until ready to use. Give a wash with a wire brush and hot water, and maybe some acid to see if that solves the problem.

 

[ThreeDogsNE]

I filled my Cornie kegs full of an OxyClean solution, then could not get back to them for a couple of weeks, as life took me in different directions. They have a white ring in them, but it clears away readily with StarSan by filling them, inserting the lid, and then just flipping them over for an hour or so. I was going to use vinegar, but that would add a step for vinegar, and a step for rinsing before sanitizing. 5 gallons of RO water and one ounce of StarSan was cheaper, and leaves me with sanitized kegs ready for filling.

 

[wtaylor3]

I once forgot about a BB full of oxyclean and water for weeks, when I finally discovered my mistake I couldn't believe how clean it was. This fermenter had been rinsed and then filled with the mixture however there was still some yeast cake residue and krausen ring in it and it was spotless simply rinsed and sanitized although I do realize we're talking plastic vs steel

 

[iijakii]

Have you considered using more oxyclean? No stain or residue can stand up to the power of oxygen!

 

[Bellybuster]

Those crystals happen in hot tubs too when the ph gets too high. Scares the crap out of you. They are hard as rock. Lowering the ph puts it all back in solution.