As I understand it, most of the products designed to clean organic gunk from food preparation equipment derive most of their power from a wicked high pH. BLC, PBW, Lye, etc. I buy Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) in 25 lb bags for my swimming pool and virtually always have some on hand. In a 1% solution, its pH is around 11-ish, about the same as PBW (BLC is 13.5, Lye is 14). It's a far cry cheaper than the specialty products, though, admittedly, BLC and PBW are not terribly expensive. As far as I can tell, the only thing lacking is various surfactants, which, while helpful, are not absolutely necessary. And it's safe to use on food preparation equipment. Has anybody used Soda Ash as a general purpose brewery cleaner in place of, say, PBW or BLC? What other considerations are there? What about other non-traditional products for cleaning? Lye, for example.
I can't say that I've ever heard of soda ash. I'd think that if it's safe to use for pools that it would be relatively safe on skin, mucus membranes, and consumed in small diluted amounts. It couldn't be any worse for you than PBW, lye, or OxyClean. Rinse well and try it out with a half keg of water. Compare it to your tap water and see what you think.
