So I brewed up an oatmeal stout yesterday. When I was done, I had some heavy duty crud on my brew kettle. So I soaked it in some Oxyclean. My soak went a little longer than I planned (overnight). My kettle looks pretty dark now. Any way to get rid of this? Will it harm future brewing endeavors?
What material is the kettle?
aluminum
It’s just an oxide layer and you actually want it rather than a shiny aluminum surface - the oxide is non-reactive and keeps the acidic wort away from the metal.
Get the hell out … cool. I was just fearful it would discolor my wort. I was wiping the inside and getting a lot of gray. I figure as long as i give another bath and be gentle I shouldn’t have that gray stuf coming off into my precious wort.
I don’t generally clean my kettle too vigorously, just scrub off the trub with a plastic scrubbie and warm water. The stuff on the surface is like the seasoning on a piece of cast iron.
After I am done brewing I just give my keggle a good rinse, do a PBW cleaning cycle on it and then rinse well. I have thought about doing an acid wash on it to get some of the organic materials off of the bottom and sides, but…+1 to think of it as a seasoning on a cast iron pan.
Not sure about alumininum but the stuff you want to use on stainless is called barkeeper’s friend.
