I got a new kettle today! Well...sort of. I need help.

I have been using a stainless steel kettle that is about 22 quarts or so. It does just fine, but I've been wanting something deeper and skinnier so I can submerge my grains better. I realized that my dad has an old turkey fryer outside in his garage so I went to get it today. IT WAS DISGUSTING. This thing hasn't been used in about 5 years or so and there was still about a gallon of peanut oil in it. The sides of the pot were covered in burnt on grease and the bottom was flat black because of the propane burner had burnt the finish mixed with the oil I guess (How does oil get on the bottom of the pot?).

I got the oil out and put the thing in the dishwasher. This cleaned the inside out pretty well, but I had to take steel wool to the outside which completely ruined the finish and I scraped up the inside a little bit as well. I used oven cleaner to get the rest of the burnt stuff off and polished it (kinda) with some kind of abrasive cleaner and brasso. It doesn't look too bad now, but it is still pretty scratched up, but otherwise clean. It kind of looks more like brushed aluminum than stainless steel now.

I have a couple questions.

Will the scratches make this thing bad for brewing in? Will they make the pot harder to sanitize?

I'm afraid of some stray oil or something that can't be seen affecting my brew even though I cleaned the **** out of this thing and plan on running it through the dishwasher once more before sanitizing it.

...considering how cheap you can get a large aluminum pot, I wouldn't even risk it.

You want to boil some water in there, dump and wipe it out, and then heat the pot up to around 300-350F for maybe 15-30 minutes and then let it cool down, and maybe wipe it out again for good measure.

What you are really after here is to create a passive oxide layer over the newly exposed metal to keep it from leeching into the beer.

I wouldn't worry about scratches at all. This is something you're boiling your wort in for an hour; there's no reason to worry about bacteria forming and getting into your beer from that.

Use some Barkeepers friend on it and it will shine it up alot.

BargainFittings said:

Use some Barkeepers friend on it and it will shine it up alot.

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Are there any retail stores that is sold in? I went to walmart and couldn't find it, but I haven't gone anywhere else. Would they possibly have it at a Friar Tucks?

+1 Barkeepers friend.

The black bottom is more than likely from a poorly adjusted burner which was not burning all the propane correctly. If you are using his burner you need to adjust it.

Thunderclops said:

Are there any retail stores that is sold in? I went to walmart and couldn't find it, but I haven't gone anywhere else. Would they possibly have it at a Friar Tucks?

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Depending on where you are you can normally find it at a grocery store, or a kitchen store. I saw it at WIlliams Sonoma the other day. Even with their over-pricing it was like 3 or 4 bucks. I would expect Bed Bath and Beyond or similar places to have it as well

I'm pretty sure I've bought Barkeeper's Friend at target before.

+1 to Barkeeper's Friend, that stuff is awesome.

I also agree with not worrying about the scratches. You're boiling in it so don't be worried about infection, just make sure all of the oil/residue from whatever was in there is gone.

Home Depot and Lowes both carry Barkeeper's Friend in Texas.

If it was a stainless steel pot and not rusty, now that you used steel wool, it soon will be. I applaud your efforts in cleaning that old pot though. It seems you are determined.

every major grocery store in every city where I've ever lived in sells Barkeeper's Friend, too.