Oxi Clean for Homebrewing?

[ba-brewer]

I use a far more scientific approach when using my oxy clean free. I fill my carboy half full of hot water, use about half a scoop of the measuring tool that comes with it. Shake the crap out of it, use my carboy brush to scrub the sides, rinse with hot water at least 3 times or until there are no more sudsy bubbles while filling the carboy, let air dry, cover the carboy mouth with a stopper and let sit in my storage area until brew day.

I do something similar with my carboys, but because they are plastic I dont use a brush. I fill with enough hot water that when I turn it upside down into a small bucket of water the oxyclean liquid is above the krausen ring. I let it sit overnight then rinse. Usually the ring is gone by the next morning. I also use just enough oxyclean to just cover the bottom of the scoop even when I am soaking big buckets. The small amount still works just fine and it seem to rinse off easier.

 

[rhys333]

Are there any reports of changes to walmart brand oxi-clean? I use this to clean bottles and I'm experiencing problems with the box I recently purchased. The crystals have recrystalized on the bottom of all my bottles, and I'm having a hell of a time getting it off! Bottling on hold while I attempt a hot water soak to get this crap off! Its doing the opposite of what its supposed to do. Anyone else?

Okay, I'm pretty sure at this point that Walmart Oxi clean formula HAS changed. It does the opposite of what it used to do. I used it to soak 25 bottles last night and this morning I have hard crystals stuck to the bottoms of ALL bottles that cannot be removed, except with a bottle brush attached to a drill. I'm not a happy brewer atm.

My advice to all is to stop using this product as a pbw substitute. It no longer works.

 

[TheMadKing]

Okay, I'm pretty sure at this point that Walmart Oxi clean formula HAS changed. It does the opposite of what it used to do. I used it to soak 25 bottles last night and this morning I have hard crystals stuck to the bottoms of ALL bottles that cannot be removed, except with a bottle brush attached to a drill. I'm not a happy brewer atm.

My advice to all is to stop using this product as a pbw substitute. It no longer works.

Did you put the powder directly in the bottles? Or did you soak them in a premade solution. Also, if you rinsed your bottles thoroughly after you used them, there's no need to use oxy clean.

The purpose of pbw and oxiclean is as an alkaline cleaner to remove stuck on organic matter. I just rinse my bottles well and then dunk them in star san immediately before I fill them, never had an issue.

 

[rhys333]

Did you put the powder directly in the bottles? Or did you soak them in a premade solution. Also, if you rinsed your bottles thoroughly after you used them, there's no need to use oxy clean.

The purpose of pbw and oxiclean is as an alkaline cleaner to remove stuck on organic matter. I just rinse my bottles well and then dunk them in star san immediately before I fill them, never had an issue.

I made an oxi solution in the sink, ensuring all the crystals are disolved as I always have done before. Basically, the chemicals precipitated overnight and formed a hard crust on the bottom of each bottle.

I triple rinse bottles right after pouring, but I use a lot of low floc strains (kolsch, saison) that leave a residue no matter what. Whenever I do, an oxi soak is necessary.

I have to assume at this point that they've altered the product. It came in a new container the last time I purchased some, and I'm guessing packaging isnt the only change.

 

[wormraper]

use the LA's Awesome stuff that you can get from most 99cent stores or dollar trees. stuff is GREAT and I've been using it for years

 

[oakbarn]

You could likely use Star San to get rid of the crystals. I know it gets rid of the chalky residue.

 

[rhys333]

Yeah, they really buggered the walmart stuff up. It even left a crusty film on the sink I mixed it in. Seriously doubting if I even want to use it for laundry at this point!

 

[Toga]

this is a really old thread....

The crystallization and clinging to the side of everything can be caused by hard water. I have really hard water and if I run out of salt in my softener many cleaning detergents give this result. I had it happen last week with oxyclean, cascade dishwasher detergent, and even pbw.

For cheap oxygen cleaner the Sun brand works great as does the Kroger store brand.

The other option is to simply buy Oxyclean. Costco runs a sale about ever 3 months on a huge box for around $10. The huge box works out to be way cheaper than buying any of the off brands in smaller quantities.

 

[govner1]

Point of order - sodium percarbonate (aka sodium carbonate peroxide) -- the "Oxy" part of Oxy-Clean -- produces hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water, which is absolutely a sanitizing agent.

If you were to wash your equipment with nothing but oxyclean and hot water, and rinse with hot tap water (twice) immediately prior to use, your chances of infection would be pretty low.

But a no-rinse sanitizer such as star-san or one-step or to a lesser extent iodophor (which evaporates) has the advantage of not requiring a rinse stage after which the surface is potentially vulnerable to reinfection.

Medieval monks who's idea of sanitation was pouring the chamber pot out the window successfully made beer for hundreds of years.

That said, yes, I use star-san. I also use home-made PBW to wash stuff, and i soak glass and plastic in a 50ppm bleach solution when not in use, if it's small enough to fit in the bucket.

One-Step is a cleaner & not a sanitizer.
I use B-Brite for cleaning & StarSan for sanitizing.
I also flush my lines & pump w/ SaniClean at the end of a brew day.

 

[akthor]

I use oxi clean free or whatever the name of the scent free stuff is. I'll use no name stuff for laundry or regular cleaning but for my beer stuff I get the name brand.

 

[rhys333]

I use oxi clean free or whatever the name of the scent free stuff is. I'll use no name stuff for laundry or regular cleaning but for my beer stuff I get the name brand.

I like that you have your priorities in the right order.

 

[soccerdad]

I see no picture.

See this thread for oxy with adjustments as a PBW replica ... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467655

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

I find you really have to rinse a few times to get the residue and white film thats left behind off. And COLD water works best.

 

[violinguy]

Newb question
Isn't oxy-clean pretty much the same as 1-step? If "clean" oxy-clean can be used instead of 1-step for cleaning (still use star-san for sanitizing), it's a cheaper option yes?

 

[soccerdad]

1 Step says 'contains sodium percarbonate'. It does not say 100% s-p, but it lists no other ingredients, so it probably is. Other oxy cleaners may contain both sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate. Name brand Oxy-Clean, as far as I know is 100% sodium percarbonte. Short answer - yes. Unscented oxy is the same thing as 1 Step at a lower price.

 

[soccerdad]

Picture does not show for me. Is it unscented? Does it contain sodium percarbonate and maybe sodium carbonate with no other ingredients?

 

[Dhm8484]

I used it for my first two batches, didn't have a problem with taste but it felt no matter how much i rinsed I still got the whitish resin left on things. I just bought some 1 step now

 

[tzaccario]

I use oxy as part of my label removing step. An oxy-clean and hot water bath makes the labels (most) just fall right off. After that they get stored until its time to go through the dishwasher (clean) and sanitizing step (star san).

 

[The_Bishop]

Using a dishwasher to clean bottles doesn't work so well. With the mouth of the bottle being so small, very little of the spray actually makes it into the bottles. Also, there's usually food residue of some kind left in there, as well as rinse aid and the residual dishwasher detergent.

 

[Kerrbrewer]

I made a batch of the homemade pbw this week. It was a 5:3:2 ratio of all oxi laundry booster free: TSP 90: 7th generation dish detergent. I put labeled bottles and some bottles that I thought were goners for sure. Most of the bottles that were really dirty were pretty clean, and all labels were falling off. I have pretty hard water here 330+ ppm and soaking in oxi alone left the chalk haze. This stuff only left some water spots. Way better than previous attempts with other products.

 

[Dhm8484]

That's the way my water is here, have a well and it's pretty hard I'm looking at getting a house softener system in the spring

 

[Atlmustang]

Hmm....Perhaps I am missing something. I have brewed about 10 batches of beer and I simply use hot water and a brush to clean the buckets when I am done racking the beer from the bucket to the keg. Then when it's time to refill them with wort, I pull them from storage, rinse them and fill them with starsan solution. That cleans things up pretty darn well for me. I keep a sink full of Starsan that I put all of my hoses etc into right after racking so as to not allow beer to sit in the hoses any longer than necessary. I then run hot water through the hoses, taps, etc to clean.

I just don't like the idea of using any detergents in my gear odor free or not. Hot water and not allowing buckets to sit around dirty works so far. As far I can tell my beer has not suffered. I mean, there was a time when detergents were not available for brewing and hot water was the only means for cleaning.

 

[ncbrewer]

Hmm....Perhaps I am missing something. I have brewed about 10 batches of beer and I simply use hot water and a brush to clean the buckets when I am done racking the beer from the bucket to the keg.

I cleaned everything with just hot water for about a year, and never had any problems. I didn't want any PBW or Oxi Clean taste in my beer. I went back to using Oxi because I felt like it was insurance against grime remaining in the equipment. From what I've read on this forum, I think the vast majority use a cleaner in addition to hot water, but it seems to be a matter of personal preference.

 

[rhys333]

Buckets I clean like anything else. Hot water, dish soap, brush. The bottles are the only things that periodically get the oxi treatment.