Have an Anvil pot, used it twice and has a rainbow look to it. I think I need to passivate it, have some Bar Keepers friend to do so. Does this sound ok to you?
Do I need to take out the spigot and thermometer before I use the Bar keepers friend?
It’s from heat. No problem, no passivation needed.
My other pots have never done this. If it is from too much heat, did I ruin my pot? Will this rainbow thing last, will I ever have a nice shiny pot again?
RDWHAHB
Your kettle is fine.
^^^^ No worries, man.
I passivated all my SS brewing gear including my pots. 1oz star per gallon of water, let rest for 20minites or so, rinse and let dry.
1 oz star san/gallon?
probably went overboard but
I did this…had some burnt on the bottom so I boiled water and PBW for a while and scrubbed the brunt part off with a blue Scotch bright pad and rinsed it out real a few times.
Spread some Bar Keepers Friend with a little water for a past, scrubbed it good and spread it all over the inside. Then rinsed it out real good a few times. Then let it drip dry a little then a towel to dry it all off.
Last I used StartSan mixed in RO water ( I always have some on hand) and spread it all over the inside and let drip dry.
Looks really good
Thanks to everyone for their help.
Most likely small stainless steel items like kettles all come pre-passivated as most folks who use these items on day to day basis. Certainly doesn’t hurt to do it though. For us at the brewery we use double strength acid (the acid we use for everyday cleaning after caustic wash), passivate for 40 minutes and drain then let air dry for 24 hours. Then rinse.
5 star makes an acid that will work for passivation I believe it is called acid #5
“rain bow effect” on a used items doesn’t really mean it needs passivated though. Stainless items should be passivated oncce every six months for best results. If you start picking up a metallic taste in your beer most likely one of your stainless items needs passivated.
Thanks Bryan.
The acids do a deep cleaning on the metal. The exposure to the air is where the chromium oxide layer is formed.
Most SS is passivated at the factory, using nitric acid, which cleans, and releases oxygen for the passivaton.