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chillHayze

chillHayze

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Hey ever'body

I've got an Al kettle on the way and I seemed to remember something about passivating it so as to make an oxide layer on the interior to prevent leeching of Al flavor. Yum!

I seem to remember the action of boiling an acidic solution (other than wort) in the kettle to be a way to passivate. Can anyone confirm or deny this? What do I look for in color change? Does it need to be done on a regular basis?
 
Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if you boil water in the kettle 2-3 times (I'd probably go for 4) the evaporated oxygen from boiling will provide you will a sufficient oxygen layer around the aluminum, preventing taste leaking in the wort. Also, to be safe, make sure if you boil water in it 2-3 times, make sure it's new water, because the water you just boiled is lacking some oxygen due to evaporation.
 
Yeah, just boil water in it to oxidize it. The passivating it for stainless. You just want to get the shiny, slightly oily coating off of the AL.
 
If you want to really do it quickly and easily, soak it in oxyclean. You end up with a dark tarnish, but it's a protective coating. If you don't like the dark tarnish, you can then soak in PBW after the oxyclean, but it's not necessary unless you're worried about appearances.
 
Cheesefood said:
Yeah, just boil water in it to oxidize it. The passivating it for stainless. You just want to get the shiny, slightly oily coating off of the AL.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

When I got mine I filled it with water and boiled it. When done, I took a stack of paper towels and wiped off the coating. Your towels will be grey. Rinse it out, wipe it down to dry and you'll be good to go.
 
Rhoobarb said:
Exactly.

When I got mine I filled it with water and boiled it. When done, I took a stack of paper towels and wiped off the coating. Your towels will be grey. Rinse it out, wipe it down to dry and you'll be good to go.
Click to expand...

When I was making my hopstopper (with AL screen), my hands were getting greasy. I boiled it and a scum rose to the top of the water. When I took it out, it was a dull grey.
 

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