How do carb restorers clean the outside of the carb?

I had a carter snad blasted eons ago, came out looking white and felt like sandpaper. Pretty much ruined it but I bought it for 5 bucks and the shop next door did blasting so it was free too. Used the old berrymans (circa 1985) on a Holley and it came out dark gray, no more gold on it. I think I left it in there for about 2 hours. I recently used Berrymans again (CA edition) on a Edelbrock and it came out very nice, still had the shine to it (they are ball burnished in a huge tumbler FYI). also used Pine-sol full strength on a Carter and the results were mediocre, still had to scrub the crud off wiht a toothbrush, but it smelled OK. I hear simple green and water at 130 degrees for 2 hours does wonders, and the 'ol Vanish toilet bowl cleaner? Never tried it but I hear anything aluminum starts to "vanish" after about 15 minutes. I like the crock pot idea. I have a brass shell vibratory cleaner (with rouge walnut, dont get this, just the straight walnut or ceramic shapes) and it works great on linkage parts, too bad I cant put the entire body in there (it does fill small holes with the walnut crud though).