# Mixing Caustic For Cleaning



## katzke (30/7/08)

I did some searching and found several answers. They range from about 30 grams of powder to 30L water, add tablespoon of Caustic to 15L, mix up 250g in 12L, 10 grams per L.

I need to clean some nasty corny kegs and can only get dry 100% lye or sodium hydroxide. How should I mix it to best use? I plan on using hot water. How hot should it bee?


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## ausdb (30/7/08)

katzke said:


> I did some searching and found several answers. They range from about 30 grams of powder to 30L water, add tablespoon of Caustic to 15L, mix up 250g in 12L, 10 grams per L.
> 
> I need to clean some nasty corny kegs and can only get dry 100% lye or sodium hydroxide. How should I mix it to best use? I plan on using hot water. How hot should it bee?


Caustic works well around the 60-70C mark, a 2% solution is normal brewery cleaning strength as well so 200g in 10L of water gives you 2%

HOT CAUSTIC is NASTY STUFF

DO WEAR EYE PROTECTION 

DO WEAR LONG GLOVES, the big red/green chemical proof ones

DONT WEAR LATEX GLOVES they melt h34r:

DONT ADD Caustic to HOT WATER, mix it with some cold water then add it to the remainder of your hot water as it gives off heat on its own when added to water.


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## Adamt (30/7/08)

...and add caustic to water, not the other way around!


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## Thirsty Boy (30/7/08)

What ausdb said - caustic has a beautiful affinity for the particular fats contained in the human body and especially the stuff in your eyeballs. Lye powder can be particularly problematic because it can "puff" up when you are handling it. When it hits a wet surface like the inside of your nose or your eyeballs......

A splash of 70C 2% caustic to your eyes - and if you do all the right 1st aid things really really fast, and are pretty lucky, you might retain some vision.

Use it, it'll work well - just be careful and take more care to protect yourself than the most you think you actually need.

TB


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## matti (30/7/08)

> How hot should it bee?


83 degrees or there about.


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## ausdb (30/7/08)

Thirsty Boy said:


> What ausdb said - caustic has a beautiful affinity for the particular fats contained in the human body and especially the stuff in your eyeballs. Lye powder can be particularly problematic because it can "puff" up when you are handling it. When it hits a wet surface like the inside of your nose or your eyeballs......
> 
> A splash of 70C 2% caustic to your eyes - and if you do all the right 1st aid things really really fast, and are pretty lucky, you might retain some vision.
> 
> ...


Yeah TB I don't know how to stress this enough.
My comment about not using latex gloves was learn't from painful experience when I was giving a set of keg poppets a good seeing to with some warmed up caustic a while back (they are out of realy old firestone kegs and are now made from unobtanium). I normally wear the big elbow length gloves I was suggesting but didn't have enough dexterity to hold the poppets and scrub at them so decided to put a pair of the disposable latext gloves on instead. Bad Bad move after about 10 minutes my hands started to feel like they were burning and all greasy/sweaty inside the gloves. I took them off (the latex gloves fell apart) and my hands had the soapy feeling which no amount of water seemed to be able to wash off as the caustic was in fact dissolving me  it had even started to soften up my fingernails.

After about an hour of running my hands under cold water the burning had subsided to the point where I didn't think I needed to drive myself to the hospital. My hands were not the same for about a month later.

Lesson learnt even more respect is given now.


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## Barramundi (30/7/08)

i find by adding cold water with the caustic it actually heats it self anyway ,,, btw where ya from katzke ? i use about 30gms to 30 litres when cleaning fermenters and the like ...


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## katzke (31/7/08)

Barramundi said:


> i find by adding cold water with the caustic it actually heats it self anyway ,,, btw where ya from katzke ? i use about 30gms to 30 litres when cleaning fermenters and the like ...



Just updated my profile. I am from the land of milk the honey. Or liberal tax everything Oregon in the USA.

Only thing going for us is the high number of craft brewers.

Thanks to everyone for the help. Only plan on using caustic once. It is nasty stuff but needed in this case.


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## Barramundi (31/7/08)

oh ... i was gonna say i have some cip caustic you could have had to do the job but given your current location its probably not finacally feasible....


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## SpillsMostOfIt (31/7/08)

ausdb said:


> I took them off (the latex gloves fell apart) and my hands had the soapy feeling which no amount of water seemed to be able to wash off as the caustic was in fact dissolving me  it had even started to soften up my fingernails.



As well as working on your skin and nails, the caustic was turning the fats and oils in your skin into soap. The process is called saponification.

Caustic deserves a great deal of respect, in my view.


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## tdh (31/7/08)

I always have a bucket of 1% citric acid or phosphoric acid standing nearby. It means I can neutralise a caustic splash rapidly.

I rarely use caustic now, only on mega stubborn grime. Am a big user of SPC and Proxitane.

tdh




ausdb said:


> Yeah TB I don't know how to stress this enough.
> My comment about not using latex gloves was learn't from painful experience when I was giving a set of keg poppets a good seeing to with some warmed up caustic a while back (they are out of realy old firestone kegs and are now made from unobtanium). I normally wear the big elbow length gloves I was suggesting but didn't have enough dexterity to hold the poppets and scrub at them so decided to put a pair of the disposable latext gloves on instead. Bad Bad move after about 10 minutes my hands started to feel like they were burning and all greasy/sweaty inside the gloves. I took them off (the latex gloves fell apart) and my hands had the soapy feeling which no amount of water seemed to be able to wash off as the caustic was in fact dissolving me  it had even started to soften up my fingernails.
> 
> After about an hour of running my hands under cold water the burning had subsided to the point where I didn't think I needed to drive myself to the hospital. My hands were not the same for about a month later.
> ...


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## ausdb (31/7/08)

tdh said:


> I always have a bucket of 1% citric acid or phosphoric acid standing nearby. It means I can neutralise a caustic splash rapidly.
> I rarely use caustic now, only on mega stubborn grime. Am a big user of SPC and Proxitane.
> tdh


Thats a good point I must admit to throwing a heap of vinegar on my hands at the time as I was in the kitchen (and yes the sink came up squeaky clean afterwards).

Getting a bit OT here but to tdh what sort of strength do you use the SPC, our brewclub has just done a bulk buy and I am going to start using it as my primary cleaner.
Also what dilution and contact time do you work on for proxitane, everything I read gives me conflicitng information and is it correct that there is no surfactant in it so you have to either fully fill the vessel with it or keep spraying it around to keep it in contact?


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## tdh (31/7/08)

ausdb said:


> Thats a good point I must admit to throwing a heap of vinegar on my hands at the time as I was in the kitchen (and yes the sink came up squeaky clean afterwards).
> 
> Getting a bit OT here but to tdh what sort of strength do you use the SPC, our brewclub has just done a bulk buy and I am going to start using it as my primary cleaner.
> Also what dilution and contact time do you work on for proxitane, everything I read gives me conflicitng information and is it correct that there is no surfactant in it so you have to either fully fill the vessel with it or keep spraying it around to keep it in contact?





Oxyper at 1-3% in hot water.

Proxitane at 1% in cold water for 15 minutes. In a brewery I've continuously pumped through the sprayball, at home I shake the vessel.

tdh


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