Did I ruin my keggle?

[arondee]

I've read quite a few posts now that tell you not to soak your keggle for too long in anything. Wish I had read those before I did this.

After a really messy boil I decided to try to really clean my keggle. I soaked it in oxiclean free for 2 or 3 days and then washed it out. After doing this I noticed that there was a very rough texture to the keg that wasn't there before. I talked to a friend that recommended I soak the keg with StarSan for a couple of minutes and it would take the rough feeling away. I soaked it in StarSan for 2 days and now there's another problem.

There's a calcium like white chalky substance all over the inside of the keg now and I can't get it off. I tried scrubbing it with bar keepers friend, then with oxi-clean, then again with bar keepers friend. My arm is tired from scrubbing and the white layer hasn't changed at all. Is this thing still safe to boil in? Has anyone else seen this? If so how did you remove the white layer?

 

[Scut_Monkey]

So you did try soaking in Starsan? I'm just confused by your wording.

From what I understand AZ and Texas have rather hard water. Perhaps this is coming out of solution with starsan and Oxiclean. Do you have any PBW you could try? It tends to be better for hard water.

 

[arondee]

I soaked it in Oxi-clean for 2 days and the texture was rough afterwards. I soaked it in StarSan for 2 days after that and it developed that white layer you see. Both times were with very hard water. Today I used hot soft water with oxi-clean and then hot soft water with bar keepers friend and it didn't help. I don't have any PBW to try, I could get some if you think it would help.

 

[chromados]

I would try some bar keepers friend. Make a nice thin paste of it and spread it on and buff it in softly. This is what I would do and see if that helps any and you get a little arm workout as well.

Chromados

 

[DeafSmith]

You might try some white vinegar, although if the BKF didn't work, I'm not too hopeful about the vinegar, but at least it's easy to try. If it doesn't work cold, try heating it up.

 

[arondee]

Do you all think it would still be safe to boil in with that layer of white?

 

[JuanMoore]

Do you all think it would still be safe to boil in with that layer of white?

Probably, but I think we can get it back to new and not have to worry about it. I'm thinking it's probably either some type of oxide layer or the minerals from the hard water. Either way CLR or a similar scale remover might work. Make sure you do it outside as that stuff has some pretty nasty fumes. Worst case scenario is we just convert another keg (I've still got two extras in my shop). Check your PM's about next weekend.