Aluminum oxidation or something else?

I ordered one of these pitchers to use during the brew day:
link

It's aluminum and I'm aware of the oxidation layer you want to build up on aluminum pots and such but this seems different....I didn't boil water in the pitcher or anything, rinsed it out with some really hot water and then let it sit overnight. I forgot about it for a day or 2 and then checked the pitcher last night.

The usual grey/black oxidation layer was starting to form on the inside but there was also some "pellet" like things as well. They were almost like salt grains or undissolved PBW or Oxyclean crystals/grains. And they were stuck on there pretty well, they didnt just rinse off with some hot water, have to be scrubbed off a bit.

Is this part of the oxidation process? Or is something else going on, more like galvanic corrosion? But there wasn't anything in the pitcher besides water.

Weird......

I do have a water softener and was using softened water if that makes any difference...but our water isn't super hard so it's not like it has a real high salt content

Could be a reaction between the aluminum and the salt that is in your softened water.."pitting".
I'd scrub it out, then boil the pitcher for a while and rinse it out well with distilled water then it dry thoroughly.

bosco

If you have salt in your water and the water evaporated it left the salt deposits behind and may have reacted with the aluminum

OK, I'll scrub it out well, then boil some RO water in it until it's oxidized.

So salt is literally crystalizing on the non-oxidized aluminum surfaces?