Can you fix aluminum pitting?

I was talking to my old man about keeping a eye out for a cheap turkey fryer and he mentioned he had a large aluminum pot he got at a garage sale for 20$ he could loan me.

So he dropped it off and now that I'm looking at it, the bottom is all kinds of pitted and ever some scratches. I've tried a highly abrasive pad and warm water and I've got a lot of surface dirt and maybe the light pits but it goes to deep on some & I get nasty grey water when scrubbing still.

Now on a normal pot I'd just say it was a piece of crap, but it's a commercial pot, this pot in fact. Stock Pot - Heavy Duty Aluminum - 26 Qt Wear Ever 4154 except this one was probably made in the 60s or 70s & has a lid.

I'm thinking a very very fine grit sand paper and some time and I could get it all out without damaging the usability of the pot? Any suggestions?

Why do you want to get rid of the pits?

This thing was stored someplace very very dirty as far as I can tell, those dark spots aren't discoloration that's dirt. I've been scrubbing the bottom of the pan for 15 minutes and the water still is coming out nearly black.

You can have a brand new aluminum pot out of the box without a spec of dirt on it and when you scrub aluminum, the water will turn gray like that. It's just how aluminum is.

I would just give it a really good cleaning with PBW, hit it with some star-san and then brew away with it.

What are you going to use it for? A boil pot? If so you're going to be boiling with it and the boil with sanitize it anyway.

The black water is the aluminum you are scrubbing off. Scrub it, boil water for an hour to restore the oxidized layer and use it. Continue cleaning w/ non abrasive methods to leave the oxidized layer intact.

what you are seeing is not unusual for an older aluminum pot. IMO you are fine and can use it.

Hum, well color me informed then. Still don't like all the pitting but I'll give it a try after I re-oxidize, or at least boil some water and taste that before using it on beer. Still want to scrub the **** out of the rest of it.

The problem is, you're going to end up in the hospital with a sore elbow from scrubbing the ever lovin' crap out of that thing and then a month from now, you're going to leave an inch of water in that pot overnight by accident.... and it's going to be pitted again.

It's fine. Use it. Aluminum is just ugly... like Beirmunchers junk.

Boil it with a gallon of vinegar in the water... and you'll see how shiney you can make it...

And then boil it with just water again to make it gray again.