Anyone else clean stainless with green scotchbrite?

[barnaclebob]

I don't know if I'm just an idiot or that more people don't know any better but I have been getting a lot of metallic residue in my Sabco fermenter due to using scotch brite to clean it. It only took me about 10 brews to realize the source. This is actual scotch brite and not cheap off brand scotch brite. I know that scoth brite comes in many different levels of abrasiveness but apparently the green stuff is too much for my stainless.

Sponges only from now on. The picture is after I scrubbed with scotch brite and did a PBW soak. I have been getting this problem without the pbw soak though Started on the bottom left and head clockwise. I did not get the metallic residue on the outside of the keg so I decided to scrub a small patch and see. That resulted in the bottom right paper towel and confirming my suspicions.

 

[beersk]

So why would a scrotch brite cause this black residue? I use one on my boil kettle when I clean it.

 

[iijakii]

Makes me think yours just wasnt cleaned properly in the first place, personally.

 

[UndeadFred]

Green pads and Bar Keepers Friend for all the stainless. And then I rinse and dry out with paper towels. No Issues...

 

[Auger]

Green pads and Bar Keepers Friend for all the stainless. And then I rinse and dry out with paper towels. No Issues...

Same here, except I air dry. Never had an issue like that, across 3 keggles and numerous stockpots.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

No, I don't air dry I learned that lesson. I always finish with a towel dry, otherwise if I don't it will mold.

 

[markymarx]

Sounds like more an issue than just the scotchbrite. I use it all the time on stainless and let the stainless air dry. Never had an issue with stainless molding unless it was never cleaned in the first place.

Have you 'cleaned' through the passivation layer?

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/how-to-passivate-stainless-steel-parts

 

[ibrewmyown]

I read you should air dry stainless so it forms an oxidized layer (passivates)? At least that's one method to passivate that I read about in Brew Your Own magazine.

How can it mold if its clean and can breathe

 

[Auger]

No, I don\'t air dry I learned that lesson. I always finish with a towel dry, otherwise if I don\'t it will mold.

If everything is cleaned properly, there shouldn\'t be anything left to serve as growth media for mold, unless your water has some funky stuff in it...

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

If everything is cleaned properly, there shouldn\'t be anything left to serve as growth media for mold, unless your water has some funky stuff in it...

Honestly, I don't know....I clean it with the stuff I get from the home brew store then of course hit it with star san but....it stays in the garage so I guess it has something to do with that...I really don't know except that it does..or...did I dry it now.

 

[barnaclebob]

Its not mold, its metal dust, I'm sure of it. When I clean with the scotch brite it leaves fine "polishing" marks on the stainless. This means that metal could be being abraided. The paper towel wipe down was done immediately after I had rinsed the PBW but wanted to make sure there was no residue since this has happened before.

I had never used scotch brite on the outside of the keg and did not pick up any residue when a damp paper towel was rubbed against it. I then scrubbed a small patch of the outside of the keg with the scotch brite and got the metal residue in the lower right in my picture above.

I'll try the same thing on a boil kettle Sunday when I brew.

Finally not all green scrubbing pads are equal, some are more abrasive than others. Scotch brite will actually scuff my counter tops while cheaper off brand scotch brite wont...

 

[Twotaureanbrewing]

Yes, always. Green scotch brite is the ****. Never have an issue.

What metal is a Sabco fermenter made out of? If its stainless you should not get metallic residue. Aluminum you may see it and other metals inherently retain oils and carbon.

Does a magnet stick to your fermenter? If so that will tell you something.

 

[NatureOfTheYeast]

I use the green Scotch Brite scrubby with Barkeeper's Friend. Rinse well and run my hand all along the inside of the kettle as a "wipe" while I do. I don't know if this dislodges the metal particles, or if I just don't have this problem in the first place, but my kettle comes out as bright as brand new every time. Only thing I don't like about that process is the metal started out as a mirror polish, and now it's got a bit of a brushed finish.

I also air dry, but as a final rinse, I use RO water and swirl it across every surface inside the kettle, then let it drip dry upside down on a dish drying rack. I don't want any water spots inside the kettle. I'm weird like that.

Perhaps you're scrubbing too hard?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Are you guys all waiting to clean your pots or what?

I just take a wet dish towel and sprayer on my hose and wipe down the inside of MLT/BK, then spray it down with starsan, dry them out and call it a day even for the hoppiest IPA's that leave a big ring of hops on the walls of the pot. I dont see the need for abrasives here you shouldn't be cleaning crusted on gunk.

 

[giraffe]

The green pads scratched my mashtun, which was supposedly stainless, but i guess there are different grades of steel, I only use the blue colored scrubbies now, which seem fine.

 

[augiedoggy]

The green scotchbrite brand pads are abrasive on metal surfaces... barkeepers friend is also a very fine abrasive... I use both myself, mainly when cleaning the inside of a keg if its sat too long... I simply use hot water and a sponge or cloth after brewing to clean everything else but my plumbing an pumps which I use PBW with CIP.

 

[barnaclebob]

This weekend I tried the blue scotch brite labeled as non abraisive and it did not cause the metal residue to form.

 

[Vandulus]

This weekend I tried the blue scotch brite labeled as non abraisive and it did not cause the metal residue to form.

I've been using their non-scratch scrubbing pads along with PBW for my stainless steel gear and haven't had any issues with abrasion. I also cleaned my stainless with PBW and passivated with StarSan before ever using them. Back when I used an aluminum kettle, that was a different story...

 

[Natdavis777]

Green pads and Bar Keepers Friend for all the stainless. And then I rinse and dry out with paper towels. No Issues...

+1

I have done this with all the keggles for awhile now with no issues.

 

[barnaclebob]

+1

I have done this with all the keggles for awhile now with no issues.

Have you been using "green pads" or green scotchbrite? There is a big difference as scothbrite makes industrial scrubbing pads where each color has a certain abrasiveness.

 

[Natdavis777]

Have you been using "green pads" or green scotchbrite? There is a big difference as scothbrite makes industrial scrubbing pads where each color has a certain abrasiveness.

Pretty sure they are scotchbrite but I will have to double check when I get home now.

 

[augiedoggy]

Have you been using "green pads" or green scotchbrite? There is a big difference as scothbrite makes industrial scrubbing pads where each color has a certain abrasiveness.

+1 I use the green scotchbrite brand pads (ones on the yellow sponge) to wet sand some pretty deep scratches out of aluminum on a regular bases for some of the equipment I work on and I have tried the "off" brands... they simply dont work, meaning they have no abrasive cutting properties.

 

[Natdavis777]

Checked tonight and I use the ScotchBrite Heavy Duty scour pads.

 

[nlewarne]

I used to work 3M and I use the blue ones as well with OxiClean free. Green is too abrasive and you will get etching which could have longer term effects on durability. But it's really long term unless you are cleaning the exact same spot for hours. Just make sure it is rinsed really well and wipe when dry with paper towel to check for any hidden residue.

 

[SevenOaks]

How ironic. I had never seen or heard of the blue pads until this thread. Yesterday I saw a 3-pack sitting on the dryer in our laundry room. My wife said she found them in the upper cabinet while looking for something else. I quickly claimed them for my brewery.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I had the same issue in the past. Talked to a few guys that work at the local brewery and they asked me this simple question, "Why are you scrubbing?" Then told me "Your removing the passivation layer from your fermentor". It will reform but the scrubber and bar keepers friend is the cause of the problem and it's hard to rinse out. I now use a hot PBW soak with a hot rinse and a cool water Star San rinse to sanitize. Problem solved. You might want to consider making a CIP set up with a sump pump and an old bucket. I use it now on everything, it's a huge time and water saver. I used to soak my 1/2 barrel full of PBW and then star san. I'd use 40 gallons of water in one cycle. Now I use 15 gallons total and it's been working great. I just mix up three buckets and move the pump to each in sequence. Bye bye scrubbers!

 

[bja]

You guys need to use these instead.

 

[PlexVector]

From the MFR's website...The Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser & Polish are: mineral abrasive, oxalic acid, surfactant, and a water softening agent.

Oxalic acid is a little stronger than citric acid. I use it to clean SS in the kitchen and not the brewery. the paper towel always has the dull SS metallic color residue after scrubbing, so I've always considered it a chemical etch, but probably more due to the mineral abrasive.

 

[Yesfan]

I also use the green/yellow Scotchguard pads (aka: The "Green Bay Packers" scrub pads ) but I use simple dish detergent on my kettles instead of BKF. I haven't noticed any issues on mine but the finish on the inside of my 10 gallon Bayou kettle seemed duller a couple of days later.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Ill ask again, why is an abrasive necessary at all to clean a pot that has just been brewed in.

It wipes off with a wet towel and a hose/sink in a matter of seconds.

I can understand doing PBW through your pumps and recircing in your pots, but scrubbing with BKF or abrasive pads seems like overkill unless your leaving your pots for days to get crusty.

 

[augiedoggy]

Ill ask again, why is an abrasive necessary at all to clean a pot that has just been brewed in.

It wipes off with a wet towel and a hose/sink in a matter of seconds.

I can understand doing PBW through your pumps and recircing in your pots, but scrubbing with BKF or abrasive pads seems like overkill unless your leaving your pots for days to get crusty.

I have used it to clean really stubborn krasuen rings in my conical fermentor and to clean kegs that have been sitting a while dirty... but not inside my kettles as you pointed out it cleans up easy with a cloth and hot water... even my electric element comes clean this way.

It seems a lot of people are confused by how clean things have to be... Likewise I cant believe how often I read about someone using starsan to sanitize everything on there hot side of the brewery even though its totally pointless...

 

[RyanDe680]

I use scrub daddy on all of my stuff. Works great

 

[DurtyChemist]

Sponge with scotch brite pad here. Stuff comes off easier with a pad than a paper towel and helps remove beers tone that builds up and turns the keg a brownish tint. The wiping with paper towels makes me think it's cheaper stainless because i never see that after scrubbing. Hombrew PBW recipe.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Sponge with scotch brite pad here. Stuff comes off easier with a pad than a paper towel and helps remove beers tone that builds up and turns the keg a brownish tint. The wiping with paper towels makes me think it's cheaper stainless because i never see that after scrubbing. Hombrew PBW recipe.

To be clear when i say towel i mean a dish towel/wash cloth, not paper towels. I agree paper towels wouldnt do much of anything. A wet wash cloth has more than enough 'abrasiveness' to get anything ive ever had in 3+ years off.

 

[murphyslaw]

I get the same residue when I clean my aluminum kettle after brewing. I always figured it was from the oxide layer that was starting to come off so I generally stop after one or two passes of the green scrubby.

 

[mattoak]

Been using one of these for years for stubborn spots that are caked on. No scratching, more than enough cleaning power. Easy to clean, and lasts forever. They are plastic with a sponge inside.