Beer Forum

Every time I brew, I check my kettle for issues, then brew, then clean up. I NEVER put my kettle away dirty, and after listening to the Cleaning episode of Brew Strong, I use Bar Keeper's Friend exclusively on my kettle. Well, yesterday, before I brewed, I checked my kettle. It looked great, so I brewed with it. Then I cleaned up, got it all scrubbed up and shiny, then looked very closely for a final inspection. It looks like I have pitting in the bottom of my kettle. No idea how it happened, I have very low chlorine levels in my water, I always hand dry it after cleaning, and I never use steel wool. (Also, when I dry it, the drying cloth gets tinted a dark gray color...like it's covered in aluminum dust.)

I don't have any rust on it, and I've heard there are ways to arrest the pitting. It's just an unmodified 6 gallon Bayou Classic pot (I'm guessing 304 grade), but I don't want to have to replace it. Do I need to, though, or am I fine to use it for a while? I'm mostly concerned with health issues since consuming metals probably isn't the best thing for me. Or the yeast. Or my friends.

I tried to download the Stainless episode of Brew Strong today, but either the BN server is having issues or it's convinced that I've reached the download limit despite the fact that I haven't downloaded any episodes since yesterday morning (and I only snagged two). So rather than waiting until I can listen to the episode (since I'm OCD and tend to FREAK OUT about this stuff), I figured I'd see what the BNArmy could recommend. I want to e-mail John Palmer, too, to see if he has some extra tips that I haven't heard, but I don't know his BN email address and can't find it on the site.

Thanks everyone for the help!

GilesTH wrote:(Also, when I dry it, the drying cloth gets tinted a dark gray color...like it's covered in aluminum dust.)

After some thought, I realized this might actually be a touch of tint from the scrubby I use to clean. John Palmer's website says to use the green or white scrubbies, but the brand I buy sells them in blue. I'm guessing the tint on my cloth is from the scrubby. The rest still concerns me, though.

can you supply a picture of the pitting? I have a little of it in my cheapo stainless brewpot, and I have some mild pitting some of the weld joints. I'm curious if yours looks like mine...the pitting.

Here's a link to three images of the pitting. As you can see, it's not bad...yet. But it's currently within the section of my pot that sits on the burner. I'm beginning to wonder if I did a less-than-stellar job cleaning a few times and beer stone collected enough to suck some of the nutrients away from my steel.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/116621046 ... res/M6eAmU

My guess is that the 'tint' is likely chromium oxide. Nothing to be concerned about.

As for the pitting, I'm not quite sure. Are you sure it's actual pitting & not just discoloration? It's hard to tell from the photos. I have some aluminum that pitted & it looks quite different than your photos.

You can get Palmer at: john@howtobrew.com

Ozwald wrote:Are you sure it's actual pitting & not just discoloration? It's hard to tell from the photos. I have some aluminum that pitted & it looks quite different than your photos.

Yeah, when I checked again last night, I ran my finger over it and could feel the difference in texture, but not like raised bumps. I can't tell how deep they are, but I don't think they've been around very long, yet. Any closer pictures wouldn't focus on my phone, so I had to make due with what I posted. Sorry about that. I know they're not big, but that's why I'm asking about them. They're maybe the size of a toothpick tip or a the eye of a small needle. I don't want them to get bigger (though an excuse to upgrade to an Anvil kettle would be kind of cool...I was just hoping to spend my funds on a couple of kegs instead of replacing equipment).

I've only had this kettle for four years, and I've only brewed about 25 batches. Maybe less.

Ozwald wrote:You can get Palmer at: john@howtobrew.com

Thanks.

Got in touch with John Palmer, and he said pits are "the end of the world." I can keep it from getting too bad by cleaning and drying thoroughly after each brew, but at this point it's just a matter of time. I bet I can get through the year, at least, but we'll see if I choose to.