Comet Paste A Bad Idea?

So I'm regretting listening to my mother-in-law. The bottom of my stainless steel pot in my last brew had some caked on wort. Not a whole lot, but enough that it had to be scrubbed away.

Anyways, I used a Comet clone and created a paste to try to loosen up the stuff and allowed it to sit overnight based on my mother-in-law's suggestion.

The pot is clean, looks fine, and doesn't smell like chlorine, but I am a little bit concerned. Is there enough chlorine in that stuff to damage a stainless steel pot?

I am going to take a look at the ingredients tonight on that stuff, but Comet's ingredients are as followed:

Comet Ingredients:
Active Ingredient: Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate 1.2%
Inactive Ingredients: Other Ingredients 98.8%

They claim that their stuff is safe on stainless steel although I am not sure if 12+ hours is too much contact time.

Mike

Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate

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thats chlorine, I wouldn't use it on your stainless steel pot again

its probably not destroyed your pot or anything, but no need to take a chance - if you're going to soak it for 12+ hours, regular hotwater and a scotchbrite pad will do the trick

Mutilated1 said:

thats chlorine, I wouldn't use it on your stainless steel pot again

its probably not destroyed your pot or anything, but no need to take a chance - if you're going to soak it for 12+ hours, regular hotwater and a scotchbrite pad will do the trick

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Yeah. I was afraid of that. It's entirely possible that it does not have chlorine in it. I don't recall seeing it claim that it had bleach on the label.

Mike

Yes, the active ingredient has some chlorine atoms in it, but so does sodium chloride. It all depends on how reactive it is. Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate is used as a solid form of bleach but it is much less reactive compared to standard bleach. Your pot is fine. However, do go out and buy some Barkeepers friend - works great on stainless.

Chlorine will dissapate in a short time in any case. Ask anyone with a pool.

BKF is great. Mostly oxalic acid.Make a paste and go to town with a non-metallic scrubby. I used it yesterday on a pan that was blackened and it came out like new!

Oven cleaner works well in a pinch. just gotta spray it on and let it sit a bit. do be careful, its fairly caustic stuff.

pjj2ba said:

However, do go out and buy some Barkeepers friend - works great on stainless.

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This is what I use because I've read it will help restore the surface of stainless some how.
I get it at the super market.

The problem with Stainless and chlorine isn't the smell, it's chloride stress corrosion. This follows grain boundaries and can punch a hole in a pot in a couple hours. I've seen a pot turned into sieves overnight (although the gumbo may have weakened the metal first). But, if it isn't leaking, it probably won't start.

david_42 said:

The problem with Stainless and chlorine isn't the smell, it's chloride stress corrosion. This follows grain boundaries and can punch a hole in a pot in a couple hours. I've seen a pot turned into sieves overnight (although the gumbo may have weakened the metal first). But, if it isn't leaking, it probably won't start.

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Mother-in-law was right then. It would have removed the burned wort.

Heh. Well, I used the pot for the Red Ale 3 weeks ago, and it worked out fine. No holes! No grime! It's true what they say though... Turn off the heat when pouring in liquid malt extract.

One more vote for BKF. Works great but even with that it recommends on the label to only let it sit for a minute with really tough stains and then rinse. As far as it helping restore the finish, I believe it has something to do with the oxalic acid repassivating the stainless?? Check John Palmers How to Brew

I think he talks about it. He is a mettalurgist I believe so he should know.