You may remember way back in July I decided to start some enzyme cleaner. A homemade enzyme cleaner that's supposed to have the magical properties of a thousand unicorns.
Basically it's a combination of water, old citrus peels and some brown sugar. You can see my original post on how to make it here. It's supposed to replace regular toxic household cleaners and do an even better job. The catch? It takes 3 months to make. It needs that time to develop and ferment.
What happens is the citrus peels produce a small amount of yeast, which in turns eats up the sugar which somehow turns into enzymes. I have no idea how. I don't really care either. Enzymes are known to be great cleaners and any products that are used for getting rid of pet urine stink are usually made of enzymes. So homemade enzyme cleaner is good.
Of course I had to try making it because why wouldn't I? It's what I do. Try things. And this was looking especially appealing for some reason. The 3 months was a pain in the ass but I've waited much longer for far less so I figured I could tough it out.
Besides. If this enzyme cleaner was as good as the people of the Internet were professing 3 months of waiting was a minuscule price to pay. According to the tribe of enzyme Internet people, once it's done, this stuff will clean bathtubs, mirrors, toilets, food, pet urine, remove brown spots from your skin and of course, warts. Yes. That is what they say.
The last thing to get people this worked up was snake oil.
Here's how it all turned out for me ...
July 6th I started my batch of enzyme cleaner. 3 months later it hadn't done a thing. No fermenting, no gassing up, no nothin. All instructions for making this stuff warned you about the fact that so much gas will be produced in the bottle while it's working it's magic that the lid might explode off. No exploding. 3 months later it was the same as it was from day one, with a little extra colour and stink.
I also knew the enzyme cleaner wasn't ready because it was incredibly sticky. Any of the sugar I put in there was still there. If the enzyme cleaner had properly fermented there wouldn't be any sugar left in it.
So after 3 months of nothing happening I added a teaspoon of yeast to my concoction. This did the trick and within a few days the bottle was bubbling and fermenting and producing more gas than Honey Boo Boo at a chili eating contest.
About 2 weeks later it stopped producing gas and wasn't sticky at all, so I knew it was done.
I measured out the recommended ratio of Enzyme Cleaner to water. All the sites that extoll the virtues of this cleaner say to use it straight for pet accidents, one part enzyme to 5 parts water for cleaning glass, and 1 part enzyme to 10 parts water for general cleaning, like in bathrooms and kitchens.
And then I started cleaning. And what did I think?
DIY Enzyme Cleaner is stupid.
I started off by cleaning some sticky windows. It didn't work. Windex did.
Then I moved onto a mirror. It worked. So did Windex and so did plain water.
Then into the bathroom I went. It did a fine job on the sink and bathtub. Just like my regular cleaner only not as good.
Off to the kitchen. Again it did a fine job on the counters and windowsills but a terrible job on the baseboards (which had some kind of grease on them).
That's where I stopped my experiment. It seemed pointless to continue because I knew ... I was never going to make this again.
It wasn't that it was completely terrible, it just wasn't worth the effort and really didn't clean nearly as well as commercial cleaners. Yes, I know ... if you lick it though, you won't die! You won't die if you lick Windex either so don't worry about it. Neither will your baby.
If you're worried about that sort of thing there's a myriad of products out there that are safe for you and your baby and your curious licking problem.
I don't know if was just me, or my particular batch but after reading what other bloggers had to say about this stuff I was expecting rays of sunshine to come exploding out of my toilet after I cleaned with it. They did not.
I'm kind of suspicous about these other bloggers and what they normally use for cleaning products if they're so impressed with this. I suspect prior to making enzyme cleaner they'd been trying to clean their homes with roadkill.
And that's basically my assessment of this DIY Enzyme Cleaner. It's better than roadkill.
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LOL this post cracked me up. You made a good point about what it's used for... I buy Nature's Miracle (Pet Urine Enzyme Cleaner) to clean up stomach flu messes but I never thought it was something to use for general cleaning. I looked up how to make it because I was thinking to make some to use on stinky gym clothes but even those don't smell like roadkill.
Babe,
You got that all wrong.
First make sure that the brown sugar is well mixed. Next dont let it sit in cold and shall be away from sunlight. Next always shake or stir the solution atleast once in 2 days. Moreover your kitchen waste shall be alive i.e. not boiled, baked etc.
That eco enzyme works everytime.
I'll go ahead and be the nerdy pro that was bound to stumble onto this and can't shut his big trap because you did this on purpose just to mess with me and it's driving me crazy what did I ever do to you to deserve this.... (Inhale)
... you made an Amylases enzyme. Ahhhhhh, man that's better. It's used for starch-based soils that contain eggs, sugars, sauces, gravy, ice cream, etc. Effective, in it's place, but we don't use it very often. There are 4 types of enzymes used for cleaning purposes, and this specific one breaks down starch chains into smaller sugar molecules, causing them to become easier to remove (extract or rinse away with another agent and water). Contrary to popular belief, enzymes are not "living things" as many people believe. They are actually a byproduct of specific bacteria that grow in certain conditions. They tend to "attach" to similar substances from which they originated, but there are some exceptions. They don't "eat" the targeted substance as you sometimes see claimed either, but rather change the substance's form at a molecular level, so to speak. Hope this helps a bit... I really tried not going all mad scientist on everybody, this subject just gets so many DIY'ers confused, and for good reason. I have to help occasionally, otherwise I won't sleep tonight still thinking about this blog. I suppose that means it's a good one though, so there's that.
As a bonus for playing along:
I came here after reading your first part, which seemed to be focused on a DIY for "Nature's Miracle", which is actually more of an oxidizer btw, but does have low level enzymatic properties. The type of enzyme used for urine is called Proteases, and it targets proteins. We use it for things like blood, urine, feces, etc. It cannot be synthesized or grown at home unfortunately (unless you grow Papayas), but I'll give you a cool tip in exchange for having me...
meat tenderizer ;) Good luck everybody, and remember to restore the ph after you've used the meat tender... er...., enzyme. I'm sure you can find something *cough* *white vinegar* *cough* *cough* that will do the trick. Just blot it out with clean water afterwards... whatever "it" is.
Thank you!!!!! Now a question, since I see you are a carpet guy^^ any idea about “urine off” properties ??
Jury is still out on the homemade stuff, though it was easy to make using a glass jug with an airlock. I also added yeast from the start.
Then, while it was fermenting, I found an enzymatic pet stain cleaner at Dollar Tree for (you guessed it) a dollar. Have been highly satisfied with this product
Good to know. ~ karen!
Okay. Stupid auto correct. That should say cleaned soap scum off all my sinks
I tried the formula and it worked great! Mixing the left over pulp in a blender with baking soda, the paste cleaned soap,suck easily off all my son's whether plastic, porcelain or steel. And I usually use vinegar and baking soda. This did work faster and better, leaving a shine where before it was dull. And they drained faster, too.
Mixing the liquid 1:20 with water, my son washed the family van. Shone like it was just waxed! And it's 10+ years old.
Then I tried 4 tablespoons in the dishwasher instead of detergent, just the liquid portion of the formula. Dished were super clean, even my usually stained coffee cups and even removed most of the odd grey streaks off older dishes ... you know the ones from improper loading... yeah..gone!
I'm sold. Making it again and in a larger batch. I did use organic peels, both lemon and orange. Sat with yeast from the get go for three weeks on countertop, shaken daily.
Thank you for your honest depiction of this DIY. You have debunked another snake oil theory.
I love your willingness to say "it doesn't work". Drug companies and cosmetics makers hide their bad results. - retired scientist.
No sense pretending. That doesn't help anyone. ~ karen!
Well from all I have learned from all i have searched you have to expirament wth any and all things untill you get it right.
I know this is late in the game, but thought I'd leave my comment for people who happen on this like I did. Sorry to hear that you did not have much success with your enzyme cleaner, especially after waiting so long. It sounds like something went awry. Even though the adding of the yeast seemed to do the trick, perhaps it helped, but didn't go all the way. I've had a lot of success with the enzyme cleaner made with and without yeast. Both produce a lot of gas, without yeast takes longer to ferment, but I have a ding in my kitchen ceiling from a lid that popped off when I went to loosen a lid that I forgot to loosen after shaking. Over night it created that much gas. I have not used the enzymes for pet problems, but have had a super success using it on my herbs and other plants, fixtures (the only thing that cleaned some brass drain plates from black back to a lustrous brass they once where before being neglected for years), I add a bit of Thieves to it and use an AP cleaner & degreaser. I will admit on the rare occasion that something is fried and there is a lot of grease spatter I find it does not cut through the grease as easily as something else. I just use another cleaner on those occasions or put in a little more elbow grease and use it. Since I started using the enzyme cleaner (w/ Thieves) on my butcher's block I find that I do not have to oil it like I used to. Last but not least when I moved in to a home that had been vacant awhile there was a smell of mildew and mold emanating from the pipes, especially in one shower drain. It could just about knock you down. I thought usage and time would help, which it did a bit, but not enough. Then I started using different things, called plumbers and they wanted to replace this or all the pipes...well that wasn't going to happen any time soon. I started DIY'g because I didn't have any money, so... months down the road I came upon the citrus enzyme and someone mentioning it for drain maintenance. It took a few months and a lot of treatment at first, but the stank is gone and has been for a good long while. Saved me thousands of dollars. Now I regularly treat all the drains once a month with the enzymes (about 1/2 C down each drain at night, flush with hot water next morning...toilets too). The toilets used to get clogged fairly easily, but that is a very rare occasion now. So, I'd encourage anyone who hasn't tried it to give it a shot. You may not love it for everything, but even if you find that you only use it for a few things you are still saving money and only takes a few active minutes to make. LOL... I shake my bottles while I'm trying to remember why I walked into the kitchen in the first place. I constantly have a rotation going, because I use it so much. I have to say that for the most part I much prefer my DIY cleaners over commercial products with the exception of DIY dishwasher detergent. Also, because, on occasion I still buy my beloved Caldrea for its yummy scents that I can't quite duplicate or another commercial cleaner just because I do notice that sometimes there seems to be a transition period from going to certain commercial cleaners to the enzyme cleaner. It takes a few cleanings with the enzyme cleaner to really start doing it's stuff.
I was told you need a glass container to ferment properly, and that plastic containers would not work. perhaps that was a factor?
That technically makes sense Lyn, but I ferment in plastic all the time. :/ I ferment pickles and chicken feed and all kinds of stuff. All in plastic. This DIY enzyme cleaner was a bit thing on the Internet a few years ago but you barely hear or see anything about it now. I'm guessing because it didn't actually work, lol. ~ karen!
HELP PLEASE!! Thank you so much for doing the "foot work" for us on the DIY enzyme cleaner, as I was about to try making the same enzyme cleaner myself. I have light beige carpets & need to desperately find something that will remove old dog & cat urine stains. I'm to the point of embarrassment in having company over due to the looks of my carpets. I even keep rugs in my hall closet & pull them out quickly when I see a car pull in the drive! On a humid day the smell is awful & just lingers in the air. UGGH! Eventually, I will be replacing the carpet, but for now my finances just won't allow me to. I've used several DIY recipes & think YES, FINALLY Success!! And then, days later it the stain returns. It doesnt help either that in some rooms there is double padding under the carpet. I just found your blog and can't wait to read more! You have a new follower!! ANY & ALL ADVICE will be tried & used. I'll post back my findings.
Much Kindness,
Elizabeth
I have a dog daycare and have been trying to find anyone who knows what they're talking about in regards to making my own Enzyme solution. Starting to doubt it. One blog or site did have someone who basically said that you can't make a solution of animal waste eating enzymes out of plants and sugar. Makes sense to me. The factories that make the animal byproduct eating enzymes use animal fat and have fancy machines and chemists who know what they're doing, which is why those products that work cost so much. Maybe he was a rep for one of those companies looking to steer people away from hurting his livelihood. Maybe it was all true. Sounded true. Anyway, just thought you'd like to know.
Fermenting tips from a winemaker's wife: allow your concoction to be exposed to air - don't put the cap on right away. This will allow the natural yeast in the air (yes, it's everywhere) to interact with your peels and sugar. (We just started a batch of homemade hard cider like this - with nothing but apple cider and air.) Adding yeast will definitely speed up the process. You can cover the top of your container with cloth. Too much yeast or sugar might make it too exciting and overflow. Perhaps set your container in another container (dishpan) just in case of accident.
All this just because my dog peed on the floor!
Ha! Well ... thanks to the dog then. ;) I actually do a lot of fermenting myself. I ferment pickles every year, ferment chicken feed, and make my own sourdough start with, yup, the yeast in the air. And all of these things ferment in NO time. Within days. I'm not sure who started this Enzyme cleaner thing but it really just seems kind of fundamentally flawed to me. The hunt continues for a really great urine cleaner Although I do have a fair amount of luck with mixing hydrogen peroxide, with baking soda and Dawn. At the very least it's fun to watch it all fizz up when you spray it on the urine stains. ~ karen!