Vinegar as an Acid Rinse?

I've read that diluted vinegar makes a good acid rinse. What is the dilution rate? Is pH a way to test or simply go by dilution rate? I plan to rinse my kegs and kettles as well as my conical, all stainless.

I don't believe it is likely a good acid rinse as it is a weak acid and it has a strong flavor. Breweries tend to use strong acids, like hydrochloric, but these are a bit more difficult to handle. Obviously the flavor isn't a problem if you rinse well with water before using.

As for dilution, I don't see the point. Domestic distilled vinegar at full strength isn't going to harm stainless steel in any way. You are already getting so so performance at removing beer stone, so I would go full strength. Something like sani-clean while a bit more expensive is as safe to handle and would work at least as well.

If you are comfortable handling strong acids (gloves, eye protection, no kids around would be good ideas), get some Five Star Acid #5.

Thanks. I will look into Acid #5. I always use Star San for anything on the cold side before racking into. My concern is the hard water I have always leaves a white residue on everything even after a good rinse. Probably not a problem, but I just hate it. I figured a cheap and easy to rinse before storage until next use would be a vinegar rinse.

Flavor is a big reason for my question. Vinegar flavored beer don't appeal to me.

I guess the one acid I would avoid for use with stainless is hydrochloric because of the effects of chloride ion on stainless. Phosphoric is popular as an acid rinse as is a mixture of phosphoric and nitric (because they team up against beer stone).