Aluminium and napisan

[mosto]

I've been using a crab cooker for the handful of BIAB brews I've done. After the first one, to clean the pot I put a solution of napisan in , gave it a quick scrub, then left overnight to do it's thing. The next day I found the napisan had discoloured the pot. I didn't think too much of it, but have just use dishwashing liquid to clean it instead. The other day I was catching up on some Beersmith podcasts, and they had a guy from 5 Star Chemicals on talking about various cleaners. He mentioned that you should not use Sodium Percarbonate (the active ingredient in Napisan) to clean aluminium, as it will discolour it, and if it becomes discoloured don't use it. Didn't say why, just not to use it. As I said, I've done a few brews in the discoloured pot with no ill effects, but was wondering if anyone knew whether this discolouration can cause any problems. Does anyone know if it's possible to remove the discolouration? I've read that heating mixture of 1 tablespoon of vinegar per litre of water may do the trick.

 

[breakbeer]

I did exactly the same thing to my crab cooker insert & it went Black

have used it probably 10 times since & haven't noticed any changes in the taste of the final product

 

[GalBrew]

The Aluminium is not discoloured, it is pitted. You can't use napisan on Aluminium as it will dissolve it, especially in an overnight soak. That is why Al pots are a PITA. I would turf your crab cooker and get a SS pot or some such.

The issue with pitting is the pits are a great place to harbour microscopic nasties that you have no effective way of removing due to the fact that most cleaning chemicals can't be used on Al.

 

[brad81]

I did this with my first brew in an aluminium pot, it's discoloured and pitted.

30 odd brews in and I'm fine, I think.

Needless to say, I haven't left sodperc to soak in it since though.

 

[r055c0]

The issue with pitting is the pits are a great place to harbour microscopic nasties that you have no effective way of removing due to the fact that most cleaning chemicals can't be used on Al.

Wouldn't the boil process kill off any nasties hiding in the pits?

 

[woodwormm]

i made a similar mistake with starsan and ally. wire wheeled and sanded the black mess back to silver and kind of smooth,

i figure it's ok to use - i smoked out of an ally pipe for years and i think i'm ok, no ill effects.

i figure it's ok to use - i smoked out of an ally pipe for years and i think i'm ok, no ill effects.