I got a sample of this with my new spike kettle. It worked good and after reading up on it I like the idea of it compared to oxy type cleaners. But at their dose of 1 oz per gallon, its way too expensive. I see craftmeisters products are getting love but at 2-3 $ to clean a 5 gallon keg I don’t think I’m sold. Am I missing something?
I use oxyclean for everyday cleaning and PBW for kegs. As my water is crazy hard and I want the extra assurance of a clean rinse. PBW is expensive as well, but I only make it 1-2 gallons at a time and clean multiple kegs using a pump. $1 to clean 2-4 kegs is fine with me.
I use nothing but Craftmeister. The alkaline cleaner works better with cold water than PBW works with hot water. Here’s a comparison we did, complete with pics…Craftmeister Cleaners – The Picturing – Carboy Test | Experimental Brewing . Not only does it clean better, but it rinses more easily than PBW or Oxiclean.
That stuff is awesome, but I use way less than 1 oz. per gallon.
So do I
Denny, Having seen that comparison before, I now have a question for you. Is this how you normally clean your equipment, with just an extended soak, or do you use some kind of agitation or scrubbing? If scrubbing, I’m sure even the most frugal of us could use lees cleaner in a smaller volume of water to get the job done
Have you used it on stainless? I tried the samples I got a NHC but was honestly less than impressed… I feel like I did something wrong. It wasn’t worse than pbw but seemed to have trouble dissolving in lukewarm water and left the same amount of crust on my stainless fermenter.
How do the two different Craftmeister products compare?
Depends. Fermenters I wipe lightly sponge (advantage of buckets!) to get heavy build up off before I fill them with water and let them soak. The only reason I do that is so all that crap I wipe off isn’t floating in the water (icky!). My kettle will get an overnight soak with the alkaline, then wiped lightly with sponge or paper towels. But I never do any heavy scrubbing.
Yep, many times. Worked great for me.
The Oxygen is pretty much like PBW or Oxiclean, but it dissolves better than either. The alkaline is really strong and works great even with cold water. In hot water it’s amazing.
Between buckets and kettles, do you use over the other for either, or are they essentially interchangeable?
I generally use the Oxy for fermenters because they don’t need as much oomph. I use the alkaline for my converted keg kettle, or for the corny I use to boil in with my Zymatic. Heavy grime.
How much are you guys using?
1/2-3/4 as much as recommended. Although I up that when I haven’t cleaned my kettle in a year! 
I’ve never used it. I’ve been making my own pbwish cleaner 20# at a time. If it works better, I need to try it. I almost never soak anything.
I used their craftmeister carboy cleaning tabs (1 per 3 gallons) and they were a waste of time on stuck on krausen. It sat for an hour as directed and didn’t get it all off. I use PET carboys so I cannot use a brush. But when I use PBW and hot water and let it soak for 30-60 minutes it always works.
…but do you pay for it or is it a gift from a sponsor of your show? I am not questioning your integrity, just need to be clear if the cost to a regular Joe is worth the improvement. If the cost is free then there’s no comparison. But if you’ve bought and used both and choose the expense for the improvement then that means more.
I might have to try some kind of CIP. I may not have used enough, given that my fermenter is 15 gal.
Yes, they do supply me. But before that I bought PBW. Craftmeister cleaners are more effective for a
ittle bit less money. One cool thing about Craftmeister is their refill program, where you can get a discount on a refill at your LHBS. AFAIK, PBW doesn’t do that.