Rust ring in new kettle

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kyt

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Just today I received my Spike Brewing 10gal kettle. I got the one with the horizontal ports, pretty awesome! I filled the whole thing up to make sure nothing leaked including the handles. Then I drained it through the valve with the false bottom attached so I could quantify the tun dead space for BeerSmith2 (1150ml). When I came back I had this dotted ring of rust all the way around the inside, about an inch from the bottom!
Is that typical? What do I need to do to keep rust from getting in my wort?

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Hard to tell what's going on there - and are there similar spots further down near the FB edge? You might try mixing up some Bar Keepers Friend with enough water to make a thick slurry and use a sponge to scrub those spots off, and passivate the stainless in the offing. Hopefully the spots won't reappear, but if they do it'd be best to contact Spike directly...

Cheers!
 
No the rust spots are just in that perfectly spaced ring. There are some dings and deep scratches all over the place. That might be what you're seeing. The guy(s) at Spike were rough with this pot, hopefully those doesn't cause any infections.

I was looking at it this morning, and each of those little spots feels like a dent. I tried to clean those spot initially because I thought they were just crud from the welding shop, but they're not. Once they got wet they rusted and the rust ran down, that's how I noticed them. They're all perfectly spaced all the way around, like maybe something with metal teeth was used to hold the pot or when it was formed.

I've been in email contact with Ben Caya at Spike over the past 2 weeks, there's been some weather related logistical issues. I emailed him again last night. We'll see what he says.

I was flipping my sh*t excited from the time FedEx tracking said it was delivered, and at this moment, I'm completely bummed. I need to stop thinking about it.
 
I have this exact thing in my Blichmann mash tun. ABout 1 inch from the bottom and all the way around. I contacted John and he said that it was from the machining process and would not effect the use of the pot in any way (and if it did, or got worse, that they would fix it). That was a year ago and I have had no problems with it at all.

I assume that the same thing is going on with yours, and that the stainless wasn't passivated after it got the dents and something got through the top layer and rusted.

I would follow day_trippr's advice. Scrub with bar keeper's friend, boil some water in the bottom and let dry. If the rust doesn't come back or get worse, I don't think he dents should cause you any problems.

Either way you should let the guys at Spike know, so if it does get worse, they can make it right.

attached a pic of my pot.

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Looking a the picture I'm wondering if the false bottom was shipped in the pot. I'd give them a chance to respond. Shipping can be pretty rough. I've received many broken items in the last year and all of them were taken care of over an email.
 
I have this exact thing in my Blichmann mash tun. ABout 1 inch from the bottom and all the way around. I contacted John and he said that it was from the machining process and would not effect the use of the pot in any way (and if it did, or got worse, that they would fix it). That was a year ago and I have had no problems with it at all.

I assume that the same thing is going on with yours, and that the stainless wasn't passivated after it got the dents and something got through the top layer and rusted.

I would follow day_trippr's advice. Scrub with bar keeper's friend, boil some water in the bottom and let dry. If the rust doesn't come back or get worse, I don't think he dents should cause you any problems.

Either way you should let the guys at Spike know, so if it does get worse, they can make it right.

attached a pic of my pot.

Yours looks worse than mine. Maybe the teeth on whatever equipment is used, were dull when they made your pot. But the height looks exactly the same. I hadn't noticed any of my dots connected into a line.
On Spike's FAQs page, it says, regarding Blichmann pots "If you look at the handles and lid you'll see more than likely the kettles are coming from the same manufacturer."

Looking a the picture I'm wondering if the false bottom was shipped in the pot. I'd give them a chance to respond. Shipping can be pretty rough. I've received many broken items in the last year and all of them were taken care of over an email.

No, the FB was wrapped in multiple layers of large cell bubble wrap. It was IN the pot, but not loose.
The pot was packed pretty well. It was in it's own plastic wrap and surrounded by foam peanuts. Looks like the biodegradable soy-based kind, which is awesome.
 
If you are really worried about it passivate with citric acid.

Yea I am worried about it. Rust in my beverages violates my modus operandi. I know a smidgen of iron oxide isn't going to affect the beer or hurt us in any way; however, it is cancerous to iron alloys. If it's from the machine used to make the pot, fine I'll try my best to get it out, but if it's due to a high iron content in the steel, it's only going to get worse and I'll be out an expensive pot.

I dont have any straight citric acid, but I do have lemon juice and some 5% acetic acid (vinegar)

I'll look for a thread on how to passivate.

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Chris,

Sorry to see that. Although it looks bad it's not a major issue. The line you can see going around the bottom of the kettle is where the bottom and sides of the kettle are welded together. That weld is ground down and polished. The little rust spots are little iron nodules (stainless steel is 70% Iron) that have been exposed during the grinding/polishing process. A little Bar Keepers Friend will passivate the spots and you shouldn't have any issues going forward. Just remember stainless is mostly composed of Iron so don't be alarmed if you see any small spots show up. BKF works wonders on SS!

-Ben

So there you have it.
 
I found the same issue on my 20 gal concord pot (the ones spike uses) and will try to passivate it with the methods in this thread and others. I had the exact same high then "aw man" moments after a test run. I'll update after to confirm it helps
 
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