I would like to thank Art of Doing Stuff reader, Rose.
Rose, you see, emailed me the other day asking if I'd ever heard of DIY Enzyme Cleaner.
Why no! No, I had not, Rose.
But since you bring it up, now I *have* heard of DIY Enzyme cleaner. And being the kind of OCD, kindda crazy, must try all things at all costs, no matter how busy, tired, overworked I am, ... I'm going to have to make DIY Enzyme Cleaner. Even though, in the back of my mind I think it's kind of pointless, stupid, probably won't work and kindda weird.
So thanks Rose. You're a peach.
I've actually bought Enzyme cleaner before. It's about the only thing that will (help) get rid of the odour of cat or dog pee. The enzyme cleaner spray for cat pee is called "Nature's Miracle" . It does work better than any other product for cleaning animal urine, but I highly doubt this is the kind of miracle that would ever make it up for review in Vatican City.
Especially at around $12 a bottle.
So, weary from work, almost delusional really, I gathered up my ingredients, slapped on some sunscreen and grabbed a bag of chips and a pop and went out the door to work outside, taking pictures of the Enzyme Cleaner in the comfort of my backyard. I also put the radio on.
It's almost saintly what I go through for you people.
The list of ingredients is pretty small for this cleaner. That's not where the "Ack!" comes in. The Ack comes in when you realize that the DIY enzyme cleaner has to ferment for ... 3 months.
Now normally I wouldn't show you a post like this until I'd finished the product and tested it out for myself. But, I thought I couldn't do that to you. If I waited until my DIY enzyme cleaner was finished before telling you about it, that would be 3 months from now. Then if you were to make it, it would be another 3 months before you could try it. That's 6 months. That's the lifetime of most hamsters owned by your average meaty fisted 6-8 year old. I couldn't do that to you.
So, we're gonna do this together. Like a team. A fermenting, rotten, enzyme, stinking, housekeeping team. We'll call ourselves F.R.E.S.H. for short and I think we should start to think about gang colours. Probably not red or blue. Maybe yellow for urine.
Are you ready to make DIY enzyme cleaner? You could very well have everything you need in your kitchen right now. Provided you keep an ample supply of patience in one of the cupboards.
citrus peels
brown sugar
2 litre plastic bottle (big pop bottle or something like that)
stuff your bottle with citrus peels
add brown sugar
add water
shake and date
DIY Enzyme Cleaner
Ingredients
2 ½ cups lemon, orange, and/or lime peels (about 3 oranges and 3 lemons)
⅞ths a cup of brown sugar
4 cups of water
Method
Add all ingredients to a 2 litre plastic bottle. Replace the lid and shake everything up. Loosen lid a bit so gas can escape and put it in a cupboard for the next 3 months. Some sites say you're supposed to shake it every day. I happen to know I'll never do that, but I do plan to shake it whenever I think of it.
This recipe makes a concentrate, so once the mixture has fermented you can add ½ cup of it to a litre of water and that is your cleaning solution.
I'm going to say it once more. Loosen the lid so the gas can escape! This stuff is fermenting and becoming quite tooty. Much like yourself, if the gas can't escape it will eventually explode. Happened to an Uncle of mine once. Had to scrape him off the church walls. True story.
I'm touting this cleaner as something for pet urine, but apparently it's great for a lot of things. Most things. In fact, according to the Internet, that uncle who got splattered all over the church walls from not tooting? You could have cleaned the church with it.
So I'll meet you back here in 3 months. Spray bottle in hand, urine on the floor. Go team.
Update: Wanna hear about the results? Read the follow up post, DIY Enzyme Cleaner, The Results Show.
Thank you for your blog, and time spent. Especially for your god given gift AKA your OCD, which clearly created a SUPER TEST CONDUCTING REPORTING BLOGGER WOMAN, who goes beyond the mere norm of human behavior in such matters, and after your testing, you not only reported your findings, but you satisfied my own OCD/ADD need for MORE INFO, and beyond simple testing of your product, you then used commonly purchased/used market products on the same areas for comparison, and then even water to drive it all home. I adore you!
While you mentioned that you'd read how everything you read stated this concoction was awesome for cleaning general household tasks, I'd only known of it as being primarily for cat marking/pet marking/spraying. The only question I was left with was... Did you ever try it on pet urine, and if so, did you ever try it against a commonly used retail pet marking product?
Thanks so much again for your cool blog (I'm new to blogs).
Hi Sam! I didn't have any luck with the concoction any way any how. Nowhere. However, for cat pee I've found this recipe is GREAT. https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/tip-weekgetting-rid-of-cat-pee-smell/ ~ karen!
FYI - I wouldn't try this if you have cats, as citrus and limonene (found in citrus oils) are highly toxic to cats. You may not notice it initially - all cats react differently - but it will toxify the feline liver over time.
Cute, but that's more of a alcohol/solvent thing you've got going there. its misleading to call them "enzymatic" because people will start trying to use them like most cleaners by that name are intended, to break down protein stains.
I hate to be the negative nancy know it all but i cant just not say anything anymore.. Ive been seeing this so-called "enzyme cleaner" recipe all over the place and rapidly spreading and its just plain false. This is no enzyme cleaner. It is not possible to make enzymes..not in the sense pol seem to think. You can ferment this for a century if you wanted,but all youd end up with is an extremely strong alcohol solution,but not one enzyme. If there we're no enzymes present when you started(which there arent in this recipe) there will still be none when you finish. What you're making is basically just alcohol. Thats it. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing as it is a good disinfectant...but if youre looking for something to break down urine you need enzymes. Specfic enzymes like protease,amylase,&several others. What you can do to make this an actual enzyme cleaner,is simply add in some fruits that container enzymes...such as pineapple,kiwi,papaya,&pumpkin are some great options. As the solution ferments,the enzymes will multiply leaving you with a TRUE enzyme cleaner rather than some prison brewed booze.
Why do you assume that only pineapple,kiwi,papaya,&pumpkin have enzymes? All fruits have enzymes, including citrus peels.
All fruits have enzymes, those fruits just happen to be high in enzymes ._. Also, does this happen to taste good?
How did it turn out?
It's half a cup of sugar, white or brown. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast for fermenting. And you can use oranges limes lemons or grapefruit. Also, just poke tiny holes in a balloon with a push pin and put on the bottle and it will release the gas it's self. It will be ready to use in two weeks but the longer it sits the stronger it is. I happen to have carboys because I make Mead so it makes it a bit easier.
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Hi Karen, Have you heard of "Why Flush?" enzyme neutralizer for toilet water? Would this work like that? Thanks!
Oh! I have no idea! Sorry. ~ karen
Yikes! I can’t get my mind off your uncle. I wish you had explained that a little more. Thanks for the recipe.
We had a very senior dog who became incontinent at the end of her life and this stuff was amazing. We used gallons of this stuff given the constant dribble. That said, I do two things differently. I add a small amount of fast acting yeast to speed up the process and I use mason jars and make it in small batches in case a batch molds. Shake well.