did i ruin this brew pot?

so i found this huge pot in my parents garage. its 17.6 gallons. its aluminum.

i didnt think i was going to do boils this big and i have a turkey fryer so i never used it for brewing.

i was using it for my swamp cooler in my basement. i put in some idophor ad one point to keep mold from growing in the water. and at another time i put in starsan.

its been down there for quite some time now. i just dumped the water thats been in it and i noticed a blueish gray tint on the bottom and some of the sides. with a ring from the bottom of the ale pail on the bottom.

is the pot ruined? can i use oxyclean,

should i go at it with a wire wheel and clean out the entire thing?

here are some pictures of it.

How to remove stains on aluminum cookware?
Mild acid solution of vinegar or cream-of-tartar can be used to clean aluminum cookware

The alkalis discolor Aluminum. Don't use bleach or even baking soda. The acids dissolve the aluminum, therefore the aluminum is anodized to harden it.


Mild solution
There are two easy formulations

Solution #1

1 Tablespoons of Distilled white Vinegar to 2 Cups of water.



Solution#2

1 Teaspoon of Cream of Tartar to 2 cups of water.



Method
Prepare a mild acid solution, fill the cookware with stains, let it come to simmer. These solutions work well at 125º F. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Wash and rinse.

awesome. thanks for the help. i guess i am gonna need a bunch of vinnegar for the 17 gal pot.

Do not use Oxyclean or PBW, they will turn it black.

so vinegar it is?

ok, so i think my math is correct. it makes just over 5 cups to 15 gallons. its in the pot now, and on its way up to 125 degrees.

or bar keepers friend

ahh i dont think that works on aluminum just kidding... i would check though

Derrin said:

Do not use Oxyclean or PBW, they will turn it black.

Click to expand...

I disagree, I cleaned my "turkey fryer" 7 gallon aluminum pot tonight with PBW and it worked great. I was heating water just to loosen the left over crust from my last brew day and added some PBW as an afterthought (cleaning the pot after a couple of hours of brewing/drinking doesn't normally happen). Oh and I poured the the solution into a cooler to soak a bunch of bottles in after it finished cleaning the pot. Just make sure you rinse it well.

well...i did the vinegar thing. then i went at it with a scrubbing pad. i got ord of that, so i took the top rack out of my dishwasher.

its in there now.

tomorrow i might repeat the vinegar soak and see where i'm at after that.

its looking better, but still has a long way to go

I agree it may not be the prettiest pot, but I doubt those stains will affect your brew. Clean it, scrub it real good. Then just boil some water to oxidize the aluminum and I feel you are good to go. Aluminum pots should not shine like stainless.

I soaked one of mine in Oxyclean too with the same results. I figured it was ruined and just bought another. It's still in the garage, I suppose if I wanted to boil 2 brews I could do so, I just have to clean up that pot like you are doing. Let us know how it all turns out.

After doing the acid washes, get a green scrubby pad (scotchbrite, 3M) and put some elbow grease to it along with some warm/hot soapy water.

Some of our aluminum pots at work get less love over time than they deserve. A 15-30 min. session with the grean meanie and they look great.

Once you've done all your cleaning, don't forget to boil some water in there to re-oxidize and you'll have a smokin boil kettle!

johnnyc said:

I disagree, I cleaned my "turkey fryer" 7 gallon aluminum pot tonight with PBW and it worked great. I was heating water just to loosen the left over crust from my last brew day and added some PBW as an afterthought (cleaning the pot after a couple of hours of brewing/drinking doesn't normally happen). Oh and I poured the the solution into a cooler to soak a bunch of bottles in after it finished cleaning the pot. Just make sure you rinse it well.

Click to expand...

Strange. Did you soak it or just clean with it? A friend on mine in our brew club really blackened the hell out of his aluminum pot with oxyclean, but he left it to soak overnight.

Derrin said:

Strange. Did you soak it or just clean with it? A friend on mine in our brew club really blackened the hell out of his aluminum pot with oxyclean, but he left it to soak overnight.

Click to expand...

Nah, I just headed up water in my pot on my propane burner and sprinkled some in. Put the lid on and let it sit for about 30 minutes and its as good as new. I did go over it with a brush too but it didn't really seem to need it. I had cleaned it with steel wool before and didn't want to do that again since it stripped off the oxidation and probably contributed to a metallic taste I got in my first couple beers.

johnnyc said:

Nah, I just headed up water in my pot on my propane burner and sprinkled some in. Put the lid on and let it sit for about 30 minutes and its as good as new. I did go over it with a brush too but it didn't really seem to need it. I had cleaned it with steel wool before and didn't want to do that again since it stripped off the oxidation and probably contributed to a metallic taste I got in my first couple beers.

Click to expand...

OK, well let me modify my advice to: Don't SOAK it in overnight Oxyclean or PBW...

Bar Keepers Friend FTW. No need to even soak, just rub it on (with some elbow grease) and rinse it off and it should be good as new. Of course, being good as new means you will have removed the oxicde layer, so you will need to fill it with plain water and boil for a few minutes after cleaning.

after the vinegar i scrubbed it with one of these green pads. then i put it through my dish washer with it on the "pot scrubber" and "power scower" settings on. It looked great after one time through. i just put it through again for good measure.

so i have to boil water in it before i use it? whats that about?

after i boil the water to i clean it again, or then just dump it and put fresh water in for my brew?

Here's my opinion. Using brand new raw aluminum isn't ideal for brewing because the aluminum taste may leach into the wort. I use aluminum too by the way. The reason behind boiling plain water first is that it will cause the aluminum to oxidize and provide an insulation layer between the raw aluminum and the wort. In the future after this brew day you shouldn't have to scrub it clean, just rinse it out while your wort is cooling and wipe it out w/ something soft like a sponge.

jonp9576 said:

so i have to boil water in it before i use it? whats that about?

after i boil the water to i clean it again, or then just dump it and put fresh water in for my brew?

Click to expand...

Aluminum forms an oxide layer, the process is called passivation. That oxide layer is not nearly as reactive as bare aluminum and protects your beer from metallic flavors and protects the pot from the acidic wort.

Your pot should be a dull grey color, not shiny. If you scrub it shiny, you need to re-passivate it to restore the oxide layer or you'll have a strong metallic flavor in your beer.

The layer will form even if you do nothing but it takes much longer. Boiling plain water and then letting it drain is just a way of quickly passivating the pot. Once passivated, cleaning it with just dish soap and a sponge will maintain the aluminum oxide and your 'new' pot will last for years.

And just in case you care; stainless steel has the exact same problem, but the chromium and nickel in the steel will normally passivate almost immediately. If SS welds are not cleaned shiny, they will not passivate and they will rust.

ok, that makes sense. i will boil water tonight before i brew on sunday. thanks for the help everyone.

lemon juice will work also

I left Star San in my aluminum Turkey fryer kettle. Now its white and rough where the Star San was. I'm wondering if that's ok.

so i thought the brew pot was going to be good to go for full boils and such. i guess not. i boiled water in it and now its worse than before. check it out

Mine looked the same way after boiling water in it the first time.I just used it that way and eventualy it turned a nice even grey.I never had any metalic off flavor that I could tell.Just use it and RDWHAHB.

I mean, if the stains won't come out after you did all that work, I don't think it's going to come out in your brew. I would just use it. Just my two cents.

ok, sounds good to me. i'll brew in it this week.

Do you know if your water is alkaline or acidic? An even dull color is perfect. I'm all for whatever it takes to use that pot, but I'd hate to have all that come out in a batch of beer!

what if i take a fine grit sand paper to it or possibly a wire wheel. get it to shine like new, then fill it to the brim and boil the crap out of it. it might at least make a nice even coating on it.

wire wheel is probably overkill. Fine sandpaper, probably wet/dry used wet might be your best bet. Rinse it really well and then dry it uniform. Let it sit overnight first as the passivation will start forming right away. Then try boiling the water.

soulds good. i plan to brew friday so tomorrow i'll get it cleaned out again and then wed or thurs i'll boil some water for a while

My rationale for letting it sit a while before adding water it to let the passivation start to form to protect the pot from the water. That's why it should be dried as well.

Don't even think of hitting that aluminum with any abrasives... Tough/steel scrubbing pads or abrasive cleaners. Bad news. ESPECIALLYif you ever want to boil in it. I t would then leave off flavors. Aluminum is its own little world altogether when it comes to brewing.

RRBBGG27013 said:

Don't even think of hitting that aluminum with any abrasives... Tough/steel scrubbing pads or abrasive cleaners. Bad news. ESPECIALLYif you ever want to boil in it. I t would then leave off flavors. Aluminum is its own little world altogether when it comes to brewing.

Click to expand...

so then what should i do?

Derrin said:

My rationale for letting it sit a while before adding water it to let the passivation start to form to protect the pot from the water. That's why it should be dried as well.

Click to expand...

how long do you think, like a couple days or a couple weeks?

I was trying to find a reference but Palmer only talks about passivating SS. Wiki has some information as well and both suggest the oxide layer forms almost instantly. Based on that, I'd dry the pot thoroughly, let it sit for a couple hours and then do the water boil, followed by another drying and then brew the next day on it.


While I agree with RRBBGG27013 that you would never want to scrub your pot shiny on a regular basis, I would still do it the first time in this case.

jonp9576 said:

so then what should i do?

Click to expand...

Use it!! Ever look at the pots in a commercial kitchen? Yours look no worse than those. As has been stated, if after all you have done, what is left should not come out in the beer. After all, it all comes out in the wash, doesn't it??:fro:

You're fine; my 60-qt aluminum pot looks just like that.

ok, sounds good. i guess i'll stop bitching and start brewing. i am sick of doing these 3 gallon boils in my turkey fryer any way.

Just use some detergent and a green scrubbing pad then after its nice and shiny boil some water in it for like an hour. The pot will go dark and that's what you want a layer of oxidation. Then you are good to go with wort.