stainless smelling dog chow

[abeille]

Greetings,

I just bought an old stainless steel soup kettle, cafeteria-size (about 35 gallons) for 50$CAN. I intend to use it to put my honey in out of the extractor. I will adapt a honey gate on the drain pipe that is right at the bottom of the kettel, and also adapt a small water-heater on it (I think it worked with steam originaly). That way I will be able to lightlty heat my honey and bottle it.

The thing is that the guy who sold me it kept it in his garage for a decade, using it to store his bags of dog food. I just clean everything up tonight, but I still can smell the dog food in it. Do you guys know a way of making this smell go off the stainless steel ? I filled it with water and dishwashing soap and will leave it in for a day or two.

I hope someone has an idea...

Hugo

[This message has been edited by abeille (edited June 01, 2004).]

[Daisy]

Maybe some vinegar and water will do the trick.

Leave it overnight and empty, then put it in the suns light till the smell goes away.

[Oxankle]

The smell has to be either in the "oil" residue on the sides (inside and outside) of the container or in the seams of the metal.

Try washing the outside with sudy ammonia and the same for the inside. If there are seams in the metal fill it with a mix of water and chlorox and let is sit for a day .

[beegee]

You could wash it with ammonia. It is an organic "solvent" It should dissolve grease and oils that may be clinging to the surface of the stainless. Followed by detergent like Dawn and multiple clear water rinses, it should clear up the problem.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I would use undiluted Clorox.

[Cinnamon]

Is Chlorox a bleach?

If so, don't. Bleach and SS do not mix and you might ruin your pot this way.

The vinegar tip is the best one for you.

As I homebrew in SS, I have special cleaners and sanitizers, so if all fails, the local beer fanatic or brewpub might be able to help.

Cinnamon

[Michael Bush]

I splash some vinegar in straight and rub it around and then add a little water and let it soak, when I'm cleaning my stainless extractor.

[bcrazy]

I would try soaking the pot overnight with baking soda and water. It is a great deodorizer!

[Will]

What about using some lemon juice?

[Will]

What about using some lemon juice?

[Michael Bush]

All of the above usually work for different reasons. The ammonia is what I would bet on for the pickle smell because I think the essential oils from the dill have permeated the plastic and the ammonia will cut the oil the best.

Vinegar and lemon juice tend to react with most smells and remove them. But, of course the pickle bucket has had vinegar in it for a while. The baking soda tends to absorb odors and nutralize a lot of things. It's a buffer, meaning it acts like an acid in the presence of a base and a base in the presence of an acid. This means that weather what you are trying to nuetralize is a base or an acid it will react with it.

I have the best luck with buckets from the donut shops that had icing in them.

[abeille]

Update on the smell...

I bought ammonia and mixed it with water and filled the kettle with it and let it soak for 24 hours. (This stuff stinks!! Just like forgetting to empty the kitty litter for a month...)

After a good rince, I can't smell the dog food anymore. It seems to have work. Thanks for the great tips.

James, that was my intention to use a small pump between a small water heater and the soup kettle, to reciruclate the hot water efficiently. And I am counsidering to if I can find another kettle, to use it as a was-melter... Any thoughts ?

Hugo