Cleaning Old Copper Boiler For Brew Kettle

[Hugo]

Bees Wax Update.... turps was fantastic. 10 mins with a small green scourer and some turps and it was gleaming. I'm going to follow it up with some more conventional brewing cleaners to address some of the non-wax crud that's accumulated over the years, but the wax problem appears to have been solved. Just need to come up with a name for the first beer... Bees Dick Ale?.... Brazillian Bock?

Thanks to all for the help.

 

[seravitae]

To remove a non polar 'impurity' you need a non polar solvent - the old adage, like dissolves like.

Ethanol is polar, so no good.

Simplest solution would be petrol as its non polar and should readily dissolve a wax. Although mineral turpentine may be better as its a mix of aromatic hydrocarbons and paraffins IIRC

Rinse with methylated spirits and then several water washes.

EDIT - too slow!

I suggested ethanol because it is polar, but less polar than water, and thus does dissolve some waxes... It's also safe and easy to get.

Using petrol seems to me like a massive no-no. Like i was saying to the fella in the other thread about using shellite to clean cubes.. sometimes when you consider your health, it just aint' worth it.

ethanol and water are food grade, so I don't see why people should start resorting to filling their food-grade containers with petrol.. alternatively you could try lemon/orange oil based cleaners, these can be food grade, usually in an ethanolic base for kicks.

and just to be pedantic, 'like dissolves like' doesn't routinely work in chemistry as solubility is one of the least known and predictable things. to this day it is still an 'art' in the lab to find out what something is soluble in. you can generally get a good guess but i am still suprised by my compounds on a daily basis.

 

[drsmurto]

I suggested ethanol because it is polar, but less polar than water, and thus does dissolve some waxes... It's also safe and easy to get.

Using petrol seems to me like a massive no-no. Like i was saying to the fella in the other thread about using shellite to clean cubes.. sometimes when you consider your health, it just aint' worth it.

ethanol and water are food grade, so I don't see why people should start resorting to filling their food-grade containers with petrol.. alternatively you could try lemon/orange oil based cleaners, these can be food grade, usually in an ethanolic base for kicks.

and just to be pedantic, 'like dissolves like' doesn't routinely work in chemistry as solubility is one of the least known and predictable things. to this day it is still an 'art' in the lab to find out what something is soluble in. you can generally get a good guess but i am still suprised by my compounds on a daily basis.

Thanks for the chemistry lesson Sera....... :lol:

If you tell me what compounds you are having trouble dissolving, maybe i could help

 

[arogers]

I'm no expert, but thought I would throw my two bob in.

I bought some 60lt "fermenters" from a guy in Sydney a few years ago, they had been used for varnish or paint thinner or something. Did my best rinsing them out with "safe" HB cleaners and then did a few sacrificial batches (ie they got the drain treatment) to rid them of any other contaminants.

I've been drinking the batches brewed in them since (in fact one right now) and I haven't dropped dead (yet) :beer: