Stainless etching from Oxy/TSP soak?

I think I may have really messed up soaking my stainless fermenter in the 3:1 Oxyclean/TSP mixture. I soaked it first overnight with hot tap water and noticed what looked like filmy areas near the top of the water level. So yesterday after I finished a boil-off test, I tried to soak it again using the near boiling water and more Oxy/TSP. After a few hours I emptied and the filmy areas had gotten bigger. Scrubbing with BKF did nothing, and it looks like the stainless has been etched by the soaking. Has anyone ever had this happen before? Its making me sick thinking I ruined my $175 Brew Bucket, but I've seen nothing saying that it would be hurt by this.

I'm kinda curious about this myself.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Are you sure you aren't looking at some kind of mineral deposit? Try wiping an area with some white vinegar and see what happens...

Cheers!

Turns out that it was mineral deposit. Huge relief for me. I swear it looked just like etched metal and was following the brush pattern in the stainless. I had tried wiping with CLR previously with no success. After a more concentrated and prolonged application it came off. Thanks for the advice. I really didn't expect a mineral deposit that fast from just a hot water soak.

Freakouts from Oxy soaks are pretty common around here

Cheers!

Are you using TSP or a TSP substitute? The homemade "PBW", discussed in other threads, is a combination of Oxiclean and sodium metasilicate. For instance, Red Devil TSP90 is sodium metasilicate. Regular TSP is trisodium phosphate.