Bought some Soda Crystals to aid in cleaning my fermenter (as advised by DaaB)
How much is good to use for cleaning a 5 Gallon Carboy?
Soda Crystals
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PieOPah
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norman
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oxford brewer
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Cleaning my brewing vessels,i always used washing up liquid until last week when i found out that we had a packet of soda crystals(kept under the sink with all the other cleaning products...dont know what they are really.....wife uses them thoughDaaB wrote:It all depends on how dried on the crud is. I use anywhere up to 1 generous tbs per liter of warm water and give it a full soak for a few hours or even over night. Other times i'll just fill it (a 1gal carbouy) up with a couple of litres and a couple of teaspoons of crystals and just give it a shake. Its mainly just down to experimenting. I think you'll be pleasantly supprised how effective they are particularly as they are so cheap.
) so tonight i used them to clean my fermenter and in about an hour it has taken all the dried crud off really well 
.I think the packet cost about 85p for 1kg...good value!!!!
Colin
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bod
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Andy
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Seconded. I had quite a build up of the furry trub type stuff on my boiler element after the last brew. A dose of citric acid soon sorted it and cleaned up the element nicely.DaaB wrote:They work to a certain extent but no where near as good as citric acid. At the end of the day once you've wiped away the soft trubby sort of stuff that can collect on the element you really need an acid to descale the element.
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PieOPah
How much citric acid do you guys use? Generally I have put in enough water to just cover my elements and add about a teaspoon worth.
After a 20 minute boil I need to scrub the elements to clean them but they do clean much easier than without.
The first time I had to clean the element (before knowing about citric acid), there was a thick black crust (I think some of the malt extract had burned to the element so got a really crap boil) It too me about an hour.
Now, I give the element a clean after every brew to stop a build up. If more citric acid will make this easier, then I'll use more....
After a 20 minute boil I need to scrub the elements to clean them but they do clean much easier than without.
The first time I had to clean the element (before knowing about citric acid), there was a thick black crust (I think some of the malt extract had burned to the element so got a really crap boil) It too me about an hour.
Now, I give the element a clean after every brew to stop a build up. If more citric acid will make this easier, then I'll use more....
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fizzypop boy
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tubby_shaw
Very interesting link 
I especially like
Also
I especially like
Who's gonna be first to try it on there boiler elementKettles
Descale your kettle by boiling a regular Soda Crystals solution and a raw potato inside. Rinse thoroughly before use.
Also
homemade VWP solution anybodyIn the home Borax is used as a natural laundry booster, multi-purpose cleaner, disinfectant and desiccant. The crystals are odourless. and can be mixed with most other cleaning agents, including chlorine bleach.
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maxashton
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onlooker
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PieOPah
Some document I found.....Analysis of Washing Soda Crystals
Washing soda is mainly sodium carbonate-10-water, Na2CO3.10H2O. However, Na2CO3.10H2O loses water to the atmosphere (it effloresces). A white powder forms on the surface of the crystals. It’s better to represent washing soda crystals as Na2CO3.xH2O, where x is less than 10. The composition of washing soda crystals can be expressed as a percentage by mass of anhydrous sodium carbonate, Na2CO3. In sodium carbonate-10-water there is 37.1% w/w Na2CO3.
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steve_flack