Water sitting in aluminum pot, now bumps

[FoundlingOfDollar]

I bought a new aluminum pot with good thick walls for doing split boils and doing full boils when I get a new burner. I tested it on my stove to see how much water it could boil and what the weight limit of my burners might be. I brought some water to a boil and boiled for 45 minutes. So far so good. However, I then started working on something else while the water cooled and left the pot full of water sitting for 3 days. My pot now has these small irregular bumps on the inside, kind of like (possibly are?) little mineral deposits. there are no pits going into the metal, rather just these raised spots.

A thorough cleaning with dish soap and a cloth seemed to reduce them a little, but not much. Can I get these off? Should I sand them off, soak with something?

Thanks for the help!

 

[binkman]

Do you happen to know if you have hard water? I used to live in a place with very lime-y water and similar things would happen in coffee makers and tea kettles used to boil down water.

I'd suggest trying some CLR but you'll find a lot of people who'll say that doing that would damage your pot. There's a huge debate on here about whether one should use aluminum or not in the first place, as it might oxidize and contribute off-flavors to the beer.

Good luck.

 

[FoundlingOfDollar]

Unfortunately I do not have a water profile for my water, but my general impression of my water is that it is fairly hard. I have used aluminum for all my brewing and haven't had any problems for it. If I needed to use CLR on it, I would imagine that I can just use it, wash thoroughly afterwards, then build up a new oxide layer.

Water hardness would seem obvious, but I just wasn't sure because these bumps were on the sides as well as bottom and they are really stuck on there.

 

[binkman]

What color are they?

 

[FoundlingOfDollar]

Dark grey/metallic

 

[shataway]

Dark gray color is ok. Just oxidation and sort of seals the aluminum so it does not leach out. Dont know about the bumps.