Hello.
I recently made three wooden cases per UncleDavid's instructions (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=318788). They look great, thanks to UncleDavid.
I was in a bit of a hurry to finish the crates. I prepared the vinegar and steel wool solution. I heated the solution to a boil at the outset, thinking heat would accelerate the reaction. After the boil, I shook the solution to aerate, thinking oxygen would be needed to oxidize the steel. The vinegar wasn't turning brown fast enough (was clear at about 20 hours).
I wondered if hydrogen peroxide would do anything beneficial, so I consulted the internet for a bit of background. It turns out, this will create peracetic acid, which is pretty effective at turning steel into rust.
I dropped a few drops of drugstore hydrogen peroxide into the mix. Each drop onto the vinegar saturated steel wool resulted in a drop of rusty brown coming out the bottom of the wool. I poured more peroxide into the solution, and a rapid oxidation reaction proceeded: bubbling, swirling, even heating the jar, etc. The reaction stopped after 10 minutes or so, leaving me with a dark orange solution, ready to be applied.
A few caveats: 1. Do this outdoors, or in a well ventilated area, as the vapors can cause health problems in high concentration or long term exposure (see wikipedia entry for peracetic acid). 2. I didn't measure the ingredients. I started with roughly 2 cups vinegar, one steel wool pad, and added probably 1/4 or 1/2 cup peroxide. The reaction produced enough rust to make it work. If you wanted to fully dissolve the steel wool pad, I think more peroxide would be necessary. 3. The reaction seemed to be exothermic (maybe 150 degrees F temp). It seemed to work ok in my glass jar, but you may want to do this in a steel coffee can or similar just to be safe.
I recently made three wooden cases per UncleDavid's instructions (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=318788). They look great, thanks to UncleDavid.
I was in a bit of a hurry to finish the crates. I prepared the vinegar and steel wool solution. I heated the solution to a boil at the outset, thinking heat would accelerate the reaction. After the boil, I shook the solution to aerate, thinking oxygen would be needed to oxidize the steel. The vinegar wasn't turning brown fast enough (was clear at about 20 hours).
I wondered if hydrogen peroxide would do anything beneficial, so I consulted the internet for a bit of background. It turns out, this will create peracetic acid, which is pretty effective at turning steel into rust.
I dropped a few drops of drugstore hydrogen peroxide into the mix. Each drop onto the vinegar saturated steel wool resulted in a drop of rusty brown coming out the bottom of the wool. I poured more peroxide into the solution, and a rapid oxidation reaction proceeded: bubbling, swirling, even heating the jar, etc. The reaction stopped after 10 minutes or so, leaving me with a dark orange solution, ready to be applied.
A few caveats: 1. Do this outdoors, or in a well ventilated area, as the vapors can cause health problems in high concentration or long term exposure (see wikipedia entry for peracetic acid). 2. I didn't measure the ingredients. I started with roughly 2 cups vinegar, one steel wool pad, and added probably 1/4 or 1/2 cup peroxide. The reaction produced enough rust to make it work. If you wanted to fully dissolve the steel wool pad, I think more peroxide would be necessary. 3. The reaction seemed to be exothermic (maybe 150 degrees F temp). It seemed to work ok in my glass jar, but you may want to do this in a steel coffee can or similar just to be safe.
