Rust on brand-new SS pots? HELP!

[aangel]

So some of my equipment order came in today. I couldn't wait to to test it out, so I threw one of my new stainless steel pots onto the range, filled it with about 5G of water, and fired it up to see how fast I could bring it to a boil. (the answer: 2.5f/min temp raise) But!!!! After it boiled and I looked inside, what do I see? RUST?

This is a brand-new, just-unboxed 9gal 2-weld stainless steel pot. I'm sure I'm not the only one with it - seems to be a very common item across many brew supply websites.

That very rusty-looking residue was not present when I unboxed it but after a boil (took about 35 minutes) there it is. What gives? The two rust rings around the weld look horrible too.

Can someone help? Is it possible to prevent this rust from showing up in future? Should I scrape it off with a brillo pad?

 

[aangel]

Neeevermind. I'll just find myself some five star acid cleaner #5 and force passivate the damned things.

 

[Hello]

What brand kettle was that? It seems weird that it happened.

 

[jsguitar]

Bar Keeper's friend should take care of it and it's really cheap.

 

[aangel]

It's the generic 9-gal, 2-port pot that's for sale in a bunch of places:
https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/product/brew-kettle-with-two-welded-bulkheads-9-gallon/
http://www.homebrewing.org/2-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Brew-Pot-_p_1684.html
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/8_Gallon_Brew_Kettle_p/8-weldless-.htm(same thing but advertised as 8gal)

Bar Keeper's friend sounds good to remove the rust but it won't passivate the steel to prevent future rusting will it?

 

[LabRatBrewer]

It's the generic 9-gal, 2-port pot that's for sale in a bunch of places:
https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/product/brew-kettle-with-two-welded-bulkheads-9-gallon/
http://www.homebrewing.org/2-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Brew-Pot-_p_1684.html
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/8_Gallon_Brew_Kettle_p/8-weldless-.htm(same thing but advertised as 8gal)

Bar Keeper's friend sounds good to remove the rust but it won't passivate the steel to prevent future rusting will it?

The liquid version will passivate it.

 

[jsguitar]

The oxalic acid in it will passivate it. I usually make a paste with the powder and a little water. If you have any deeper spots that are contaminated and rust later you can clean them, use some fine grades of micro mesh to sand and polish them out and then hit them with the BKF again. I've done this on some of my stuff that I've contaminated with files and such. It's always worked for me.

 

[jsguitar]

Oh, yeah. DON'T use a Brillo pad! It will contaminate the surface.

 

[aangel]

Haha yeah thanks. Hopefully that barkeeper's friend stuff will work as I think I'll need some elbow grease since they're kind of nook/cranny structure.

 

[dazsnow]

Are you sure it's rust? I found what looked like rust on the welded parts of my brand new 304 stainless hot liquor tun last week. It turned out to be chloradine - a red-coloured deposit that results from water that contains high levels of chlorides. If the water sits in the tun for a while (e.g. after washing or before heating) then some of the chloride compounds evaporate off, leaving the chloradine deposits. I found it washed off quite easily and there was no damage to the steel, but it can apparently cause damage in the long term so now I'm careful to dry my tun after washing.

 

[aangel]

This was after 30 minutes of boiling, and the pot had been dry until then. My LHBS guy got back to me by email - he's seen a few spots on these pots here and there but nothing as dramatic as mine. Apparently it's caused by over-zealous polishing of the steel.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

The cheaper Chinese pots are welded with a lesser quality alloy filler metal. When welding, a high content chromium and nickel filler metal should be used as the welding process depletes both of these. The chromium and nickel give stainless its 'stainless' properties. Unfortunately no matter how much passivation is done it won't bring back the nickel and chromium back and the rusting may be an ongoing issue.

 

[day_trippr]

Aside from the ring around the port, the rest of the spots seem pretty randomly distributed. They're certainly not following any weld lines.

Maybe those are bits of my long lost 1956 F100...

Cheers!

 

[Sir_niveda]

I cant help but wonder if a thorough cleaning with BKF before hand would have prevented this issue. Don't most stainless brewing products give instructions on how to clean any residue from the manufacturing process?

 

[SpikeBrewing]

I cant help but wonder if a thorough cleaning with BKF before hand would have prevented this issue. Don't most stainless brewing products give instructions on how to clean any residue from the manufacturing process?

We recommend srubbing the inside with Bar Keepers Friend before use. A good scrubbing on this pot may have prevented the random surface rust spots. However the welding process blew out all the chromium and nickel and I have a sneaking suspicion this will be an on going issue. We've seen this quite a bit with people getting a 'deal' on a welded design kettle.

 

[aangel]

Well I'm going to have a go at it with barkeeper's friend, and if that fails maybe some citric acid. If THAT fails, I'm going to say **** it and try for a refund from my vendor. From what I understand, using starsan on the pots will replenish the oxide layer due to the acid-metal oxidation reaction and thus keep it passivated. Hopefully.