Need help cleaning stainless steel beer thief

[YOpassDAmike]

I recently purchased a brand new stainless steel beer thief and have had a difficult time cleaning it. The stainless steel beer thief had a black residue inside of it, maybe similar to a grease substance. It has been over a week working at it and I can still not free up all of the residue inside of my stainless steel beer thief. Methods I have used have been: 5 hour pbw soak, 7 day soak in dawn degreaser soap, bar keepers friend with continuous scrubbing using a bottling brush and also using a extremely tiny bottling brush (similar to a pipe cleaner size) for the narrow section of the beer thief, I also use my stainless steel jet rinser to power rinse the inside of the beer thief as well. The wider inner diameter of the beer thief is clean of the residue, it is the narrow tip of the beer thief were residue is still present. I can tell that residue is still present by taking a wet q tip and swiping the narrow section of the beer thief, the q tip comes out black. Looking through the beer thief, the larger portion of the beer thief is shinny where as the narrow portion of the beer thief looks tarnished or dull. Another method that I have used 20 plus times is to wet a paper towel and then to jam it inside of the beer thief by forcing it with the bottling brush, I then spin the bottling brush to spin the compressed paper towel inside the beer thief, this has removed a lot of the black residue in the middle section of the beer thief. The only problem with this method is that the compressed wet paper towel will not reach the narrow section of the beer thief. I was thinking of maybe boiling the beer thief in my brew kettle or possibly making a diluted white vinegar solution and soaking the beer thief in that. I want to note that when I was last at my homebrew store where I bought this beer thief, they all had this black residue inside of them. Has anyone else encountered this problem? What are some recommendations to clean and free up all the residue on my stainless steel beer thief? Thank you.

 

[MaryB]

Stand it on end on a paper towel and heat it in the oven, sounds a lot like cosmoline which has to be melted out when I get a WWII rifle...

 

[YOpassDAmike]

Stand it on end on a paper towel and heat it in the oven, sounds a lot like cosmoline which has to be melted out when I get a WWII rifle...

What temperature and how long should I try baking it for? Would boiling it help remove cosmoline also? Thank you.

 

[Furore]

I would try putting it in boiling water. That should break it down and i'm pretty sure it will float up to the top if it is cosmoline (rust inhibitor). The water isnt going to hurt the SS.

You could always use a small bore rifle cleaning rod to do a finish pass too. Soak the little cotton square in some kerosene or mineral spirits and pass that through.

 

[YOpassDAmike]

Stand it on end on a paper towel and heat it in the oven, sounds a lot like cosmoline which has to be melted out when I get a WWII rifle...

What temperature and how long should I try baking it for? Would boiling it help remove cosmoline also? Thank you.

 

[MaryB]

Low temps are fine, I often wrap a rifle stock in newspaper and put it in a black plastic bag in the sun. I doubt it exceeds 150 degrees. Boiling is also acceptable and won't hurt a thing. Some dish soap in the boiling water will help break it down faster too.

 

[YOpassDAmike]

I just got done boiling the stainless steel beer thief for 20+ minutes and when I swipe the smaller neck portion of the beer thief, I am still picking up some black marks on the q tip. I provided a picture, it's a little duller looking in the picture than what it actually is. Do you guys think this would be fine to use in beer?

View attachment 1471388202317.jpg

 

[MaryB]

At this point I would go solvent then a thorough soap bath... maybe mineral spirits? If you have residue you have a place for bugs to grow...