Cleaning Kegs cut with Plasma Cutter

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mi6op

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I cut the tops of some kegs to make kettles out of. The area of the keg that wasn't filled with water is tarnished from the plasma cutter. I've been scrubbing on it with soapy water and a soft sponge and while I"ve gotten some of the tarnish off I think I've hit a wall. Any tricks out there about dealing with this?

Thanks in advance
 
Barkeepers Friend is supposed to do the trick

Edit: Beat me to the punch by seconds :D
 
I like that barkeepers friend its mint! I also suggest before using a plasma cutter fog well the inside of the keg with anti spatter welding spray, then fill with as much water so you don;t have it blowing back out at you. I have found that you get less or non of the tarnishing as you described. If you have the capability waterjet cutting is awesome, I have 3 out of 4 keggles cut in that fashion. The cutting medium garnet leaves a sandblast clean finish within the kettle.
 
What is the green scrubby you're talking about. Scotchbrite? I started using one and it did the trick but was scratching the stainless so I stopped.
 
mi6op said:
What is the green scrubby you're talking about. Scotchbrite? I started using one and it did the trick but was scratching the stainless so I stopped.
Click to expand...

you can scratch it if you want (what do you think the flap disk did to mine). You just need to re-passivate it with BKF (or some other way) after.
 
I used barkeepers friend and a scotchbrite scrubby with elbow grease, you're not scratching it as bad as you think you are. We make some "sanitary" weldments for the food service industry with stainless tubing, and use fine scotchbrite to finish welds on the inside of tube assemblies.
 
rerobb said:
I used barkeepers friend and a scotchbrite scrubby with elbow grease, you're not scratching it as bad as you think you are. We make some "sanitary" weldments for the food service industry with stainless tubing, and use fine scotchbrite to finish welds on the inside of tube assemblies.
Click to expand...

I wish people would stop freaking out about how stainless steel needs to be handled like it's made of glass.

Yeah, if I (was single)had the cash to lay down on a Blichmann kettle or fermentor I wouldn't use something abrasive that would mess up the finish.
But a keggle or some other brew pot, I'd hit it with what ever it took to clean it.
You're not going to ruin anything but the surface finish on stainless equipment as long as what you are using to clean it is not contaminated.

All you nay sayers can chime in if you want, but after welding on stainless steel for 15 years there's not much you can say that's gonna make me question my own experience.
 
I may be weird but I just used PBW and one of the dark blue / green scrubbies you can get from Home Depot. It worked great!
 
dmfa200 said:
I wish people would stop freaking out about how stainless steel needs to be handled like it's made of glass.

Yeah, if I (was single)had the cash to lay down on a Blichmann kettle or fermentor I wouldn't use something abrasive that would mess up the finish.
But a keggle or some other brew pot, I'd hit it with what ever it took to clean it.
You're not going to ruin anything but the surface finish on stainless equipment as long as what you are using to clean it is not contaminated.

All you nay sayers can chime in if you want, but after welding on stainless steel for 15 years there's not much you can say that's gonna make me question my own experience.
Click to expand...

Heh no kidding, I was going suggest using a flapper disk and an angle grinder.
 

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