Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP)

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fretman124

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Apparently TSP is no longer environmentally correct. Nobody around here sells it anymore. There is a substitute called TSP/90 that is a liquid. A 5 lb box of powder TSP would last me several months and cost about 9 bucks. This new liquid crap says a whole container will make 2.5 gallons of solution at a cost of 10 bucks, so it will cost me 20 bucks to clean 1 carboy.

I liked the powder TSP because it was a one rinse cleaner that usually didn't require any scrubbing. And, as stated above, a box would last me several months, cleaning carboy's 20-25 times for 9 bucks.

What to use now? Needs to be cheap and not require a ton of rinsing. And while I don't pour my motor oil down the storm drain, I'm not the most environmentally caring guy in the world
 
oxyclean. Half a scoop in a carboy, add the hottest tap water till full. Let sit for an hour. Rinse like crazy and examine carefully to be sure everything's gone. BTW I'm sure there will be one or two people insisting that they got infections due to the lack of scrubbing in this procedure but I assure you there are thousands who have great success with it. I prefer to NOT scrub because I don't want to scratch anything. Oxyclean can be found in the laudary isle of your grocery store.
 
I switched from TSP to oxyclean to generic oxygen cleaner called "sun oxygen stain remover" from walmart. Each has worked as well or better than its predecessor.
 
I have mostly switched from TSP to Oxyclean, too. For the most part, oxyclean is cheaper and easier to use, and it actually requires LESS rinsing than TSP in my opinion.

If you are still set on TSP, look for a product called Diversol or SparkleBrite. It is unmistakably a bright pink powder, and essentially it is just chlorinated TSP. Nasty stuff, but it cleans and sanitizes well.
 
Diversol...I've been trying to think of that name for a long time.

I use it to clean all my equipment, and it's pretty much scrub free, but can I use it in my cornies (seeing as how it's chlorinated?).
Is it SS & chlorine that produces some kind of lethal brewer-killing gas?

Kevin
(not a chemist)
 
Sodium percarbonate (OxyClean Free) is an excellent cleaner/scrubber, but *will not* necessarily kill wild yeasts. The percarbonate reacts with the water to form a weak hydrogen peroxide and the sodium carbonate decreases the pH to destabilize the peroxide. The peroxide formed will help liberate organic soils from your equipment, but you must use star-san, iodophor, etc. for sanitizing afterward if you want to be sure that it's free of contamination.

It does remove soot from kettles very nicely. :D
 
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