flip top swing top rust

[pwortiz]

Hi All,
I've been using flip tops exclusively since brewing. (Hoping to keezerize by the end of the year.)

I have hit a point where I'm a little worried about the rust on the flip top parts now, however and would really like to know if anyone has figured out what to do with this situation.

Last night I bottled a small batch and, I kid you not, had "POOFs" of rust come off the bails when sealing the bottles. There has been some oxidation in the past, sure, but this was a bit of a new level.

Has anyone figured out how to CLEAN these and keep them from getting this way in the future? I have 2 things working against me:
1. My sanitizing process consists of submerging the bottles (everything connected) in starsan
2. I will put them in coolers full of ice <- that REALLY seems to hurt them.

So, any cleaning tips out there to make them all shiny and new again and not look like they're gonna break any second? The pic is actually a "good" one but I have noticed that some are far better off than others.

Thanks!

 

[BrewThruYou]

Where did you get those bottles? I bought some old EZCap bottles off craigslist and the tops somewhat rusted, but mostly had tons of carbonate scale on them. In the same lot, there were Grolsch bottles with shiny stainless bales. I think it really depends on the material of the bales. Stainless = good and non-stainless = bad.

You can try BKF (bar keepers friend). You can find the powder and the liquid at Home Depot or Lowe's...I've used it in the past to get rust off. It will be a pain because you'll need to scrub and the bales don't have much surface area...you'll probably need an old toothbrush or something.

 

[Rivenin]

you can always buy new ones, not the bottles, but the bales ontop.
i've seen some rusty from just cheap metal. i'm not sure the company wanted to opt for stainless or something to that nature,'cuz they probably figured home brewers wouldn't touch them.
however, with companies like captured by porches and grolsch and such, im' sure they thought otherwise. or just want a better product out there.

bar keepers friend would prolly work best for cleaning them though, but i'd be worried about it just rusting all over again

 

[pwortiz]

Thanks to both of you for responding! I got the bottles from AHS throughout last year. I also picked up some of the EZCap ones which are more squat than these....and none of those have had this problem yet. I'm going to see if the bales from those fit on these as both pretty much stated the same thing - could be a metal issue. I'll check with the EZCap folks for what they use.

Appreciate the note on the cleaner. I share the same concern, Rivenin - it'll just happen all over again.

 

[Rivenin]

Another thing i thought of. Im allergic to some metals touching my skin for long periods of time. Like belt buckles. Necklaces etc. And i coat them in clear nail polish. Could always try that after you clean them up? Itd be bad ass if you could get them powder coated lol

 

[pwortiz]

LOL. Pimp out my bottles b*tches!

 

[Husher]

A friend gave me some old bottles he stored in his garage and the bales are somewhat rusted (though not as bad as yours). I was planning on using electrolysis to convert the rust chemically back into iron. You can't do that with steel as chromium gets released and you die of cancer. However I found out that instead of using electrolysis which requires equipment and ventilation, you could just immerse the bales in a 20% solution (opinions vary) of MOLASSES and water. After 3-6 weeks, the rust is naturally converted into metal (iron I think), using a natural process called chelating.

Google it and find some simple instructions. Of course this involves you removing the bales and letting them soak for 6 weeks. If that's inconvenient, you could just do it in batches (10 at a time?). Molasses at walmart is cheap.

Nothing stops them from rusting again, but you can always convert the rust back to metal next year (or whenever it happens). And no one worries about getting molasses in their beer.

 

[Husher]

Actually, now that I've looked at your picture, the colour of the wire is the same as my rusted ones, So I'd guess they're iron and not steel. So molasses could work.

 

[pwortiz]

Thanks Husher! I will look into that. I had just about thrown in the towel to buy some new ones too actually. The EZ cap ones fit these bottles no problem and Amazon sells them in packs of 12. For a science experiment with the kids, I may just go ahead and try this. Thanks again!

 

[Husher]

Actually, I just goggled it myself as I was going to get down to ding it myself on a few old bales. Apparently the Molasses trick (10% solution) only removes rust, it doesn't convert it back to metal like electrolysis does. Though I wouldn't recommend the electrolysis if you have kids as it may produce fumes. Whatever you do, just make sure you do some research so it's safe! Cheers.