Mix Sodium Hydroxide with Non Caustic Alkaline cleaner?

[Junkyard]

So I've been using Brew-R-EZ, and it works good, but doesn't seem to come close to the effectiveness of even smaller doses of Caustic when it comes to tank cleaning. With Brew-R-EZ I'm left with a stubborn Krausen that I would have to scrub off. With caustic I'm left with a totally clean tank. I'm wondering if there is any issues mixing the two together, say... A 4:1 Brew-r-Ez to caustic ratio? Or is it not even worth it, should I just switch to caustic entirely? I do a pre rinse and a CO2 Evac before any tank cleaning.

[grnis]

No, you should never (almost) mix acids with caustics.

Have you tried raising the temperature? 40-50 centigrades should do a better job.

[panadero]

I believe brew r ez is, as mentioned, non caustic, but alkaline - not acidic. I would still check with the chemical manufacturer to be sure mixing is effective, and safe.

[Ted Briggs]

Switch to a good built caustic product

[Junkyard]

No, you should never (almost) mix acids with caustics.

Have you tried raising the temperature? 40-50 centigrades should do a better job.

Yes Brew R EZ is also alakaline. I've heard it can be mixed for good results from one person but was wondering if anyone else had any expertise on the matter as I hate to just take one persons word for it.

We currently use it at 130-150 degrees F, around 50 C

[BemidjiBrewing]

Hey Dan,

I know we chatted briefly about this a couple weeks ago. We have been seeing the same thing with Bru-R-Ez...works fine for light CIP jobs but just doesn't do nearly as good a job as their caustic. We do really like the Bru-R-Ez for part soaking in a sink or bucket, though.

Have you tried using the Birk-Ox hydrogen peroxide additive for their caustic? We use it all the time and it seems to really make the caustic tear through stuff that normally would be pretty stubborn, including non-organic build-up. You could probably get away with a lighter dose with a few trials.

Cheers,
Tom

[dinobrew]

Rather than mixing the Chemicals, one thing we do is to add a little bit of caustic (10%-15% of normal dose) to one of our pre-rinses as we are coming up to temp. It's amazing how much comes off with just a little caustic. We then do one more pre-rinse to get up to final cleaning temperatures, which also rinses out the caustic. Then we go to brew-er-ez and with the help of the caustic it gets tanks nice and shiny without mixing.