PBW way better than OxiClean

[Setesh]

I have been using OxiClean to clean out my carboys for a long time now. Fill it up, let it soak a bit and knock everything off with a carboy brush. Well, I picked up a couple of 6 gallon better bottles to try as primaries due to the lighter weight. After transferring a porter which had been in one for 4 weeks I went to clean it and immediately ran into problems.
Since I couldn't use a brush on it I couldn't get the krausen off. I tried the washcloth trick and swirling but most of the krausen wouldn't budge. I tried soaking with OxiClean and hot water overnight and got a little more off. I soaked it for 3 days and got most of it off but had all but given up on the better bottle. After telling my story to the local brew shop owner I picked up some PBW.
I filled the BB with warm water, added the PBW and left it overnight. Holy crap! This stuff is amazing! In the morning the krausen ring was completely gone, I didn't even have to touch it with the washcloth again.
I'm going to have a another one to transfer this weekend and will report back with the results, but so far I think the OxiClean can stay in the laundry room from now on.

 

[Weezy]

Better bottle+oxy clean+straight hot tap water has always worked fine for me :/

 

[kh54s10]

If Oxyclean does not work for you PBW may be your answer but the Oxyclean and washcloth method works great for me and it far less expensive.

 

[Setesh]

If Oxyclean does not work for you PBW may be your answer but the Oxyclean and washcloth method works great for me and it far less expensive.

I promise I gave that the best try possible. I used scalding hot water and must have swirled the washcloth around 200 times but wasn't getting anywhere. How long do you leave your beers in primary?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I promise I gave that the best try possible. I used scalding hot water and must have swirled the washcloth around 200 times but wasn't getting anywhere. How long do you leave your beers in primary?

1 measure of oxy-clean + fill it with warmish water and let it soak for a few days, no more krausen.

I've taken to REUSING the same oxy-clean'ed water from a carboy to the next, sometimes adding more oxy-clean (just doing my part for water preservation, ya know). Still works great.

MC

 

[bizarrojosh]

If for some reason you ever need to use oxyclean again, you may need to add more of it to the solution. It sounds as if there wasn't enough in the bottle to work away at the residue. PBW is amazing though so there's that, too.

 

[kh54s10]

I promise I gave that the best try possible. I used scalding hot water and must have swirled the washcloth around 200 times but wasn't getting anywhere. How long do you leave your beers in primary?

I leave almost all my beers in primary for 3 weeks. Often life gets in the way, or I get lazy and 3 leads to 4 and once to 8. I use hot tap water that is not so hot by the time I get 5 gallons with about 1/3 scoop of Oxyclean. Overnight most of the krausen has fallen to the bottom. The washcloth easily takes care of the rest. The key is letting it sit long enough to soften all the dried krausen.

2 years and 37 brews and I am half way through my second package of Oxyclean. Total expenditure approximately $14

 

[Setesh]

I leave almost all my beers in primary for 3 weeks. Often life gets in the way, or I get lazy and 3 leads to 4 and once to 8. I use hot tap water that is not so hot by the time I get 5 gallons with about 1/3 scoop of Oxyclean. Overnight most of the krausen has fallen to the bottom. The washcloth easily takes care of the rest. The key is letting it sit long enough to soften all the dried krausen.

2 years and 37 brews and I am half way through my second package of Oxyclean. Total expenditure approximately $14

I'm definitely with you on the price, the PBW was 26 for a tub about the same size as a tub of oxiclean. I really want to try a head to head comparison now. On my next batch I think I will pitch my yeast, shake well and then split into two better bottles. After fermentation I can do a head to head OxiClean vs PBW. I'll take pictures and report the findings.

 

[BigFloyd]

Another solution is to make the DIY version of PBW.

Mix dry in a bucket 2 parts Oxyclean (or Sun Cleaner) with 1 part TSP or substitute TSP (found in the hardware store paint dept). It cleans very well and is a whole lot less expensive than PBW.

 

[Setesh]

Another solution is to make the DIY version of PBW.

Mix dry in a bucket 2 parts Oxyclean (or Sun Cleaner) with 1 part TSP or substitute TSP (found in the hardware store paint dept). It cleans very well and is a whole lot less expensive than PBW.

Ironically I already had a tub of TSP so I could have made my own.

 

[geckholm]

Another solution is to make the DIY version of PBW.

Mix dry in a bucket 2 parts Oxyclean (or Sun Cleaner) with 1 part TSP or substitute TSP (found in the hardware store paint dept). It cleans very well and is a whole lot less expensive than PBW.

Exactly what I do too. Works great.

 

[Holy_Hops]

FWIW - there's a great blog out there by a guy here on the boards & he did a write up on DIY PBW using Oxyclean. It's worth a shot - the stuff works fantastic.

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/11/super-charge-your-oxiclean.html

 

[kev]

Great thread & link. I was wondering if anyone tried to add citric acid to the mix? If so how much and what were your results?

 

[Setesh]

Great thread & link. I was wondering if anyone tried to add citric acid to the mix? If so how much and what were your results?

I haven't. When I run out of PBW I may give the link that Holy_Hops posted a try, but I'm pretty sold on PBW. I have tested oxiclean against PBW several more times since this post but I haven't done a direct "head to head" because I used different beers every time. I hadn't posted my results because of this, but WTH, here goes.
Again, I've done this several times since my last post. When I brew I brew three batches at a time. Each time I went to clean my Better Bottles I would fill one with Oxiclean and the other two with PBW. Last time was a stout, a blonde, and blue moon clone. I put oxi clean in the blue moon BB and PBW in the others. All were filled with hot water. It is dramatic how much faster and better PBW works for me. The PBW BBs were clean in <2 hours without me touching them. The oxiclen BB still had gunk attached 24 hours later that wouldn't come off with a rag when swirled. To me having my equipment cleaned the same day and so completely is worth the extra price. I would rather not leave chemicals in my BBs all night if I don't have to. Glass I wouldn't worry about, but plastic makes me nervous to keep exposed to stuff I don't want to drink for that long. There is also the confidence factor. I know that PBW is going to clean my keg/carboy/dip tube etc completely, I won't have bits remaining to screw me over. That confidence is worth the extra price to me as well.

Others out there have great luck with Oxiclean and hot water. I say more power to them. Use the cheap stuff if it works for you. For me and my water it doesn't work nearly as well, so I will use PBW.

 

[Randy_Bugger]

I agree PBW is a better cleaner than Oxyclean, but Oxyclean is fine most of the time. So far the only time I have to use PBW is to dissolve cooked wort off the side of a glass flask. Oxyclean works fine for everything else.

I just bought some Sun Oxygen from Walmart. It's supposed to be like Oxyclean, but it doesn't make suds, so it isn't really the same. I hope it works because it's only $5 for 8lbs.

 

[kev]

The article states that the one ingredient missing is a chelator or something like that. That's why it ( the mixture of the two cleansers oxy and the other one) doesn't rinse too well and can leave water marks. Then someone posted below the article that if you add citric acid to the mix it will rinse clean with no water marks. I think that PBW is better than oxyclean alone. I have the two cleansers I just haven't mixed them and tried it out. I do have some citric acid but I didn't want to add it unless I knew how much to add. With my luck I'd really screw things up.
Cheers
Kev

 

[scottland]

I'll chime in. Yes PBW is definitely better. It was literally formulated to clean brewing materials.

With that said a 70/30 mixture of oxyclean and sodium metasilicate plus a tiny drop of dish soap gets me 90% there.

I find it cleans as well as PBW, but since our water is JC hard here in Phoenix, it will leave scale if it soaks too long (over 12hours.)

If you're cheap like me, and you don't mind a little extra work, the DIY PBW is a pretty passable alternative.

 

[ShinyBuddha]

+1 for PBW.

Tried Oxyclean but didn't do nearly as good a job as PBW. Of course you could use the DIY version and save yourself around $10 over the span of 10 batches if it works as well. Haven't tried the Oxy+TSP trick but if it works, it works, and in the long run you'll save some money.

 

[BigFloyd]

I just bought some Sun Oxygen from Walmart. It's supposed to be like Oxyclean, but it doesn't make suds, so it isn't really the same. I hope it works because it's only $5 for 8lbs.

I use Sun mixed 2:1 with TSP (get it in the paint dept at Lowes). It works great.

 

[kh54s10]

Just cleaned my Better Bottle. It soaked for 3 days with 1/3 scoop of Oxyclean, a little laziness here. I rinsed, more water and a washcloth, rinsed well and done. About 2 minutes!

Filling it with water is what takes the longest!

 

[Wynne-R]

I use a bit of both, 3-4 grams/gal of each. PBW has the chelator, so I use it first. When it’s mostly dissolved, I add cheap generic Oxiclean.

It works better than either by itself, and it saves me a little money.

 

[peterj]

I'll chime in. Yes PBW is definitely better. It was literally formulated to clean brewing materials.

With that said a 70/30 mixture of oxyclean and sodium metasilicate plus a tiny drop of dish soap gets me 90% there.

I find it cleans as well as PBW, but since our water is JC hard here in Phoenix, it will leave scale if it soaks too long (over 12hours.)

If you're cheap like me, and you don't mind a little extra work, the DIY PBW is a pretty passable alternative.

I use the DIY PBW as well. 70% Oxyclean (well generic brand actually) and 30% TSP/90. It's always worked perfectly to clean my Better Bottle fermenter. I've never used PBW, but I don't think I'll try it since it's so cheap to make this stuff and it works perfectly well. I usually save my old star san and use that to rinse the Oxyclean out. The acidity should remove all of the hard water deposits. I also rinse 3 times with hot tap water.

 

[Randy_Bugger]

The Sun Oxygen Walmart stuff left a gritty film on the inside of my plastic bucket the first time I used it. I used Oxiclean to remove the grit.

Not too sure about the Sun Oxygen. I suppose we can use it for laundry.