I have seen many Youtube vids where they use Oxiclean to clean buckets, Kegs and so on. Is there any difference? I can get Oxiclean at the local market whereas I have to go a fair distance to get PBW. I am sure there is a price difference as well, but I have not confirmed it. Any input is always welcome. RR
Oxiclean works at a lower price, way lower if you use generic.
Awesome, thanks. What would be the generic name? LOL. I am really stupid on this stuff.
I’ve found pbw to be a little more effective, but oxiclean still works fine.
Oxiclean works…takes a lot of rinsing. PBW works better. Craftmeister kicks both their butts.
I’ve used Oxyclean for years. I always look for the box labeled “Free”… free of scent and dyes.
Awesome, thanks. I still have enough PBW for one more cleaning. Gonna do both buckets and keg in my new self made keg and bucket washer. LOL. It looks horrible, but does the trick, I think. LOL
I use Oxi Versatile. No problems.
FWIW, here’s a comparison of PBW and Craftmeister alkaline. https://www.experimentalbrew.com/blogs/drew/craftmeister-cleaners-picturing-carboy-test
Awesome read, and to be honest, I am thinking of their tablet form in 3 gallons of hot water. I have rigged up a bucket and keg washer that I can pump 3 gallons thru pretty effectively. Would that be good to do for their recommended soak time? I am in California, so conserving water is a big deal here.
This may sound silly to some folks, but I rinse out my vessels really well and then put them through cleaning (like you I have a homemade cleaning bucket system). So it’s rinse until all residue is gone, then cleaner bucket then rinse and sanitize. I can keep cleanser solution for a long time and use it multiple times, before dumping it.
Not silly at all. If you don’t get the stuck-on residue off first you can’t clean the surface underneath that it stuck to.
I want to add something here. Although I am not fully knowledgeable on how Oxyclean handles organic contaminants, an alkaline cleaner like Craftmeister or PBW will more readily kill any organic compounds (like bacteria). Actually the best alkaline cleaner is caustic but it is dangerous to use in a homebrewing environment and can cause burns if not handled and mixed properly. Given that, the two popular alkaline products do a good job with these organics. If you want to be more cost effective, find a dairy supply store near you like Tractor Supply and purchase the cleaner that is used on dairy equipment. This works very well and cleans up glassware and stainless steel nicely. I bought a 40 lb bucket of the stuff from a local supplier that sells and installs bulk milk tanks a couple years ago and use it to clean my bottles before competitions (I don’t use glass carboys anymore). IIRC, I paid less than $50 for it and it will last me many years.
As a reminder, alkaline cleaners will not remove beer stone in kegs and fermenting vessels as beer stone is not organic. You need an acid wash to accomplish this.
I prefer the powder to the tablets. The binder in the tablets makes it harder to rinse. And I’d rather pay for cleaning ingredients than inert binder.
I had good results with Craftmeister in cold water.
My only gripe is lots of shops don’t carry it, and it’s cost especially compared to generic Oxiclean.
Something with oxi or oxy in the name. I used to get it at the Dollar Tree when I lived in Vancouver, but stopped using it when they switched to the perfumed kind.
Plain old-fashioned trisodium phosphate (TSP) kicks all their butts! :) Yes, it has a downside, but a little a goes a long way (i.e., we are not taking a bath in it). A 4.5 pound box of Savogran TSP costs around $12.00 and will easily last a year of brewing if a brewer does not use it with a heavy hand. TSP is manufactured using sodium carbonate, phosphoric acid, and sodium hydroxide. Sodium carbonate, a.k.a. washing soda, is at the heart of pretty much all of the alkaline cleaners used today. Oxyclean uses sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate, which itself is a mixture of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide. PBW is basically Oxyclean with the addition of sodium metasilicate. Sodium metasilicate is part of most fake TSPs (a.k.a. phosphate-free TSP, which is kind of misnomer). Savogran makes two different TSP products. The box labeled “TSP” is the real deal. The box labeled “TSP-PF” is not real TSP.
Here is the safety data sheet for Savogran TSP: https://savogran.com/pdfs/TSP_MS.pdf
The primary ingredient is this product is trisodium phosphate dodecahydrate with sodium sesquicarbonate playing a supporting role.
Here is the safety datasheet for TSP-PF: https://savogran.com/pdfs/TSP_PF_MS.pdf
The primary ingredient in this product is sodium sesquicarbonate with sodium metasilicate playing a very small supporting role. TSP-PF is almost literally their TSP product minus the trisodium phosphate.
I’m a Craft Meister Alkaline Brewery Wash puppet. I had stains in my fermenter that only came out once I used it. I had issues with PBW dissolving all the way. I never noticed a difference between Oxyclean and PBW.
Cool. Thank you for the reply. So, in your opinion, the Alkaline product is the better to use? I like that it says it will work in cold as well as hot water, that for some reason is a nice feature. If I can put it thru my bucket washer and not use so much water I would be stocked. I can order it online or order it for pickup at Morebeer, heck, that will give me a reason to look around. LOL.
I used to use that to cut thru glossy paint before repainting rooms. That is about all I know of it.