I can’t figure out why I’m consistently getting a white residue on my equipment (kegs, plastic hoses) that I soak in Oxyclean. After a hot water rinse, I’m now forced to douche everything with vinegar/water to remove the white film. My only suspicion is that overnight soaking is the culprit, i.e., too long. How long do you soak your equipment in Oxyclean?`
I never go more than about 3 hours. Also, your water can make a difference. Is it pretty hard?
I soak with oxyclean no longer than a few minutes. IMO it’s not really an extended “soaking” product. It performs best with agitation and very hot water.
but not too hot - if you go over 150df, it will cause a white film to form even if only soaking for 1-2 min.
I never considered using Oxy clean to clean any of my brewing equipment. I usb PBW Keg Wash and Star San.
Is Oxyclean considered an acceptable substitute?
Heck, yes. It’s essentially the same as PBW, but not identical. I’ve used Oxyclean for the bulk of my brewery cleaning for 13 years.
My intention is to only soak my Better Bottles with Oxyclean for 30-60 minutes, but it ends up being 4-7 days because I forget, get lazy, or just plain don’t want to do it right away. When I do clean, I dump most of it out, shake the h3ll out of it, then rinse with hot tap water to clean it out. No real problems with film.
I believe the guy from 5 Star said on Brew Strong that PBW has a chelator, where Oxyclean does not. So there is less chance of hard water scale build up or something like that.
I think I need to relisten to that episode.
You’re correct. I use Oxiclean most of the time and about every 3 cleanings I use PBW to remove the tough organic stuff.
Like euge I use oxyclean to clean then immediately rinse, I never let it soak for more than a few minutes unless its something that is seriously stained like my gold coffee filter, which i’ll let sit for a few hours or overnight depending how bad it is.
BTW, if you have a dollar store near you they sell a small bucket of an oxyclean knockoff, saves a ton of money.
Tony
What I’ve been doing lately for the hard to remove/inaccessible crud on my plastic and glass is to use sodium hydroxide. I don’t have any PBW but do have a #10 tub of lye. It’ll remove stains and residue. This does soak for a while. Overnight works well.
When you say oxyclean do you mean oxyclean free? I was always told that regular oxyclean had perfume in it?
Yeah, the “free” is the best for just that reason
OK. Considering this, I’ll stick with PBW.
Safeway sells a percarbonate cleanser (Oxyclean knockoff) that appears to have no perfumes and is very inexpensive. I have tubs of it all over the house, and one set aside for brewing. I do let bottles sit in it sometimes for weeks in a Homer bucket and they seem fine. Plastic tubing, on the other hand, clouds up quickly.
I use OxiClean with water that has been run through an ion replacement system (water “softener”). It seems to eliminate the need for a chelator, I assume because the sodium that replaces the calcium in the softener’s resin bed forms salts that don’t stick the way calcium carbonate does. I’m no chemistry expert! But I can say that I never have a problem with inorganic buildup on my equipment, even after soaking in OxiClean solution for long periods.
Either one. I use the Versatile and always have. There is no scent from it.
There is to me, which is why when OxiClean Free became unavailable in this area, I stopped buying Oxiclean. It’s a soapy-perfumey odor. Every nose is sui generis…
I agree that Versatile does have a scent to it. But I’ve never noticed it carry over to any of my beers. Usually I can’t detect it on the equipment right after cleaning if I’ve rinsed it well.
Thanks for clarifying what I meant to say. There is certainly no “Oxiclean aroma” that ends up in my beers.