Hi guys. I used to be into home brewing (still am, wish I had the time to brew right now!), where sterilization with zero aftertaste is absolutely crucial. Dish soap will leave a soap tasting residue in the beer. With brewing, any contamination that exists in the fermenter before fermentation will destroy the final product after the 2 or so weeks it has to germinate during fermentation. Consequently, some folks a lot smarter than I figured out some solutions. So that got me to thinking - when these tanks, cartos, whatever come from China, God knows what manufacturing junk is on them. Oil, detergents, preservatives, etc. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be vaping it. I read some posts suggesting soaking in vodka, dish soap, etc, but I have a better solution.
Pick up some unscented Oxi-clean at the local grocery. Great stuff! Completely disassemble the tanks, fill a container with hot water from the tap and add a teaspoon of oxi-clean. Let parts soak for 8 hours. (interestingly enough, a study done on the brewers forum a while back showed that using too much in the solution was less effective than too little - the scoop included is intended to treat 5 gallons of water - a little goes a long way). Rinse completely and soak in fresh water for 10 mins after rinsing. Everything will be squeaky clean! Works great! VERY IMPORTANT!!! Be absolutely sure to use the unscented one!
OK, so now all petroleum/preservative is completely stripped off the product, so don't forget to dry anything metal quickly so it doesn't rust. Now the o-rings will also be stripped clean of preservative so they could dry out and/or not seal properly. Some folks use vasaline. Don't - the heat causes it to to liquify and I'm pretty sure we don't want to be vaping liquid vasaline! A much better solution - use food grade o-ring lube.
Amazon.com: Food Grade O-ring Lubricant - 4 oz Tube: Kitchen & Dining
Hope this helps. Vape on!
Pick up some unscented Oxi-clean at the local grocery. Great stuff! Completely disassemble the tanks, fill a container with hot water from the tap and add a teaspoon of oxi-clean. Let parts soak for 8 hours. (interestingly enough, a study done on the brewers forum a while back showed that using too much in the solution was less effective than too little - the scoop included is intended to treat 5 gallons of water - a little goes a long way). Rinse completely and soak in fresh water for 10 mins after rinsing. Everything will be squeaky clean! Works great! VERY IMPORTANT!!! Be absolutely sure to use the unscented one!
OK, so now all petroleum/preservative is completely stripped off the product, so don't forget to dry anything metal quickly so it doesn't rust. Now the o-rings will also be stripped clean of preservative so they could dry out and/or not seal properly. Some folks use vasaline. Don't - the heat causes it to to liquify and I'm pretty sure we don't want to be vaping liquid vasaline! A much better solution - use food grade o-ring lube.
Amazon.com: Food Grade O-ring Lubricant - 4 oz Tube: Kitchen & Dining
Hope this helps. Vape on!
