New Aluminum Kettle

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Talloak

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So I just got my new 10 gallon aluminum kettle yesterday. 4 mm thick. Very nice. The first thing I did with it is boil 9 gallons of water and 1 qt of white vinegar in it to clean up my homemade 50' IC (also brand new).

What do I need to do to clean up this kettle? Rinse with hot water? Maybe some dish soap? Maybe a soft sponge? Nothing abrasive and rough, right?

It has a dark looking stain? where the water was.

I plan on brewing with it in about 2-3 hours. Showing my dad how to brew for the first time.

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
So I should boil some water in it, swirl it around or something, dump that out and start all over to brew? Sounds good to me, but how much water? To clean my IC I had almost 9 g's in there, so the ring or stain or whatever is up that high? Will the stain still be there? I don't really care, just so it doesn't affect my brew.
 
So I should boil some water in it, swirl it around or something, dump that out and start all over to brew? Sounds good to me, but how much water? To clean my IC I had almost 9 g's in there, so the ring or stain or whatever is up that high? Will the stain still be there? I don't really care, just so it doesn't affect my brew.

That "stain" is the passive oxide layer. Dark gray right? That's what you want on there. I clean mine with just water and a nylon scrub brush. If you have to scrub harder to remove something, make sure the oxide layer is still there and boil water again if it's not. You should not see any shine from the metal.
 
Once you boil water in it once it will form a nice oxide layer that you want, you won't need to boil again.

After the brew I just clean mine out with some oxyclean and rinse it really well.
 
I just brewed a cream ale in it (BierMunchers Cream of Three Crops). I think it will turn out just fine. After this, I will simply be rinsing it with hot water.
 
Here's a picture of my 50qt and 60qt aluminum pots. Can you tell which one hasn't been broken in yet?
dsc00075tzn.jpg
 
I will post pics of my brand new sweet setup asap. I went from stove top partial mashin partial boils to all grain- full boil all grain.

My new Alum looks like the one on the left. I think it is tight. Alum is tight. 75% Less expensive than SS and just as good. Its like a cast iron skillet you season...etc..
 
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