cleaning barrell

[buster]

ok what is the most effective\safe cleaner to use.i use met.sulphate to do keg and bottles rince with boiling water.i just think there is better and cheap????.whats is common with homebrews.thanks to all.

[Oliver]

Hi Buster,

Just to clarify, sodium met is a sanitiser, not a cleaner. It's also nasty stuff!

For cleaning, I use sodium percarbonate, which goes by the names Napisan and Oxyper, among others. It's no-rinse and does a great job at removing crusty stuff and even stuff you don't know is there. Do a search for oxyper on the forum.

For sanitising I use idophor, which is an iodine-based sanitiser and also no-rinse when used at the recommended dilution.

I think you'll find that this combination is fairly common with homebrewers.

Cheers,

Oliver

[barrelboy]

Don't get me wrong, but when it comes to brew cleaning low cost is not the only factor however Oliver, is there any particular reason you choose Napisan to White King?
Cheers BB

[buster]

what was oliver answer,do you use bleach? any issues,cold or hot make any difference,you rince?

[buster]

Hi Buster,

Just to clarify, sodium met is a sanitiser, not a cleaner. It's also nasty stuff!

For cleaning, I use sodium percarbonate, which goes by the names Napisan and Oxyper, among others. It's no-rinse and does a great job at removing crusty stuff and even stuff you don't know is there. Do a search for oxyper on the forum.

For sanitising I use idophor, which is an iodine-based sanitiser and also no-rinse when used at the recommended dilution.

I think you'll find that this combination is fairly common with homebrewers.

Cheers,

Oliver

its buster.what about the soapy suds,i rinsed with boiling water?

[Oliver]

... is there any particular reason you choose Napisan to White King?

Napisan contains sodium percarbonate, which is a cleaner and helps get the crud off equipment. White King (I assume you're talking about the bleach?) is a sanitiser, not a cleaner. Both are used by many homebrewers.

If you're asking about Napisan v White King "laundry whiteners" that contain sodium percarbonate, then it doesn't matter which one you use, as long as it is unscented.

I use sodium percarbonate in the form of Oxyper, which I get from the homebrew shop.

But you need to do both: clean and sanitise.

I hope this clears things up.

Cheers,

Oliver

[barrelboy]

Interesting with White King as you are right, it is foremost a sanitizer but the premium strength does claim to " remove stubborn stains, remove mould and scum, remove difficult stains, remove moss and grime". My experience with it supports the claim and find it does a good job. Its regularly on special for $1.87 for 2.5 litres making it a cheap alternative. Food for thought I guess.
Cheers BB

[Oliver]

Hi BB,

My only comment about the "premium strength" White King is that I wonder what they add to make it "premium strength" and be able to remove all those nasties. Is there any indication on the label?

The reason that I like sodium percarbonate/Napisan/oxyper for cleaning and idophor for sanitising is that they do their work then break down naturally into harmless chemicals, without rinsing.

Chlorine has a boiling point below 0C so provided it's rinsed and left it, too, should leave no residue.

Which may be more than we can say for the "premium" White King

Cheers,

Oliver

[barrelboy]

Ta Oliver, the no rinse factor sure has merit and the white king must be rinsed well.White King Premium ingredients - sodium hypochlorite 42g/lt, sodium hydroxide 9g/lt. What that means is a mystery at the moment.
BB

[barrelboy]

First one commonly known as bleach, the other caustic soda.
BB

[barrelboy]

Oliver and others, I'm confused (and haven't had a drink yet). If you look napisan up in search some rinse some don't so is it a true non rinse or as you have to sanitize you would rinse anyway. Its not a big deal but if storing bottles etc for future use a non rinse would be handy. In any event I've bought the product to try rather than White King.
Cheers BB

[buster]

i found after using napisan i had suds in the bottles so i rinsed them out with boiling water.idopher how and where can you get it.thanks

[squirt in the turns]

I would always rinse after cleaning with Napisan, etc. Oliver, I've never heard of it being used as a no-rinse cleaner, and as barrelboy points out, after cleaning, you'll generally be sanitising anyway, so why would you not rinse in between?

The label on PBW (sodium percarbonate + surfactant and some other stuff) instructs you to rinse with water at the same temperature as the initial cleaning solution. I would assume that this would apply to all sodium percarbonate cleaners.

Buster, you can get iodophor from Craftbrewer or Grain and Grape. They both also stock PBW, and Starsan, which is preferred by many as a no-rinse sanitiser as it needs a shorter contact time iodophor.

[Oliver]

Hi guys,

Check out this thread, which deals with sodium percarbonate in detail, including whether it's no-rinse: http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... =2&t=10377

In my case I would sanitise after using the sodium percarbonate so stricly I am rinsing (with the idophor solution, which I don't rinse).

What you need to be careful of in all of this is that the products you're using (White Kink, Napisan, etc) don't contain other, unlisted ingredients such as surfactants or perfumes, which will not do good things for your beer. At all.

Cheers,

Oliver

[squirt in the turns]

Cheers Oliver, interesting stuff. Looks to me like sodium percarbonate is only no rinse if it's 100% pure. I think the concentration in unscented Napisan is less than 40%. The product label on Beerberry's sodium perc says rinse with boiling water, so like PBW maybe it isn't 100%. I wouldn't no-rinse any of those products. Oxyper must be the exception.

As I use Starsan, one concern I would have is that residual sodium percarbonate could raise the PH on the Starsan solution to the point where it is no longer effective.