Idea

[Noz]

Every now and again I'll try something I've never heard anyone else try.
I have shot black powder for years and like a lot of folks I have gone to the wet method of cleaning brass.
I found myself with 250-300 38 special cases that had gotten over looked and were green and nasty.
I just didn't have the umphf to mix a batch of cleaner, start the tumbler, stop it and re-tighten because of the leaks then rinse them dry the etc.
I had my vibrator cleaner with worn out walnut in it setting unused.  I dumped the nasty cases in it and then knowing that the walnut is not aggressive enough to completely clean the cases, I dumped a couple of cups of DDs ceramic on top of the walnut. Started it and walked away.
I came back a couple of three hours later and opened the vibrator to see how it was doing.  To my surprise all cases were shiny inside and out. They did not have to be rinsed or dried and were ready to be reloaded.

Works for me but as always, your mileage may vary,

[Dick Dastardly]

It's the combination of ingredients that did the job.  The ceramic porcelain is fairly aggressive and the walnut does a good job of polishing the brass.  You can separate them again with a fairly course sieve.  Were you to include steel pins you would use a magnet to fish out the steel pins.

DD-MDA

[hellgate]

Thanks for the additional clarifying comments, DD. I was wondering how Noz was gonna get the two ingredients separated.

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[Noz]

My point being that the two ingredients, not normally combined, in a vibrator does as good a job as a Thumler with liquid cleaner.  I disposed of the worn out walnut by dumping the walnut and ceramic in a plastic tub and using a garden hose floated the walnut off. I have an  old plastic colander that I have drilled 1/4' holes in to separate the media from the brass.

[Coffinmaker]

I'm personally not enamored of my Brass looking "New" or "Sparkling."  Clean, yes.  So I use a simple method.  I toss all my fired brass in my downstairs sink with hot water and a goodly amount of White Vinegar and set a timer for half an hour.  Rinse.  Throw it in the oven on a cookie type sheet and bake it dry.  180 degrees for 90 minutes then throw it in my vibratory cleaner with lizard litter (Walnut Shell) for and hour and ..... Done.  Looks good enough for Gum't work and even polishes away the color change from annealing.   

[hellgate]

I do what coffinmaker does w/o the vinegar 'cause I use nickeled brass. A toaster oven tray lined with foil set @ 200 for 30 minutes does great except for the one time I didn't notice the live round. OOPS! The wife was not happy.

[Coffinmaker]

Yes Siree Bob Hellgate.

That would certainly be a "Category 5" OOPS.  Was sitting out inna garage, annealing a pile of cases.  Was unaware there were one or two cases with live primers innum ...... until I found em.  BANG!!  Case took off like a rocket.  Still haven't found those two.  No clue where they wound up.  Certainly rounded my eyes right out.  Some other effects too  

I also shoot some Nickel cases.  Dump em inna Vinegar water too.  Since I discolor em by annealing, doesn't really matter.  Didn't really have any noticeable effects before I started annealing though.