Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Fittings, parrots, packing, tooling and so on.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
User avatar
Cletus_Spuckler
Bootlegger
Posts: 136
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:10 pm
Location: strayya / knew zelund

Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by Cletus_Spuckler »

I recently purchased 3.6kg of new SS scrubbies for my new still (4" x 60" column). They are of the 'woven sock' type. After getting them home, I quickly became aware of how filthy they were!

They were totally covered in some kind of grease/oil. Smelt like engine oil and left black smears all over my hands after handling. What a nightmare trying to clean. I'm currently 3 days into cleaning!
I was just wondering if this is a common problem, if anyone can suggest what the oil/grease might be, and what people may have done to clean theirs.

This has been my approach:
  • 1) Hand washed it all in laundry soap
    2) boiled it in water for 2-3 hours. The water was greeny-brown when I tipped it out, so I decided to do a repeat 2-3 hour boil with clean water. The waste water was clear the second time round.
    3) then boiled it in 35% heads for 2-3 hours. The waste liquid was cloudy and smelled a little like engine oil.
    4) I still wasn't satisfied, so I boiled it all in sodium carbonate (washing soda) with a squirt of dish soap as a surfactant for 2-3 hours. I used 1kg Na2CO3 to 50l water. It looked and smelled ok after that, but to be sure, im going to;
    5) pack the scrubbies in my column and do a vinegar run
    6) followed by a high proof sac run.
Anyone else had this issue? What cleaning approach do you suggest? Could I have done it more efficiently?

CS :thumbup:

Side note - I tested them with a fairly strong magnet and they have a weak attraction. About the same attraction as my industry quality tri-clamps; so I am satisfied that they are SS.
My 4" Modular Bubbler Build:
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=69904

Welcome Centre:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=69903
User avatar
fizzix
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 3698
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:08 pm

Re: Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by fizzix »

Sounds like you got machine shavings rather than something designed for scrubbing dishes.
Dawn dishwashing soap also rids grease and oils, and I'm sold on PBW after all else is done.
That sh!t's magic. Hot/boiling water + PBW + sit for 24 hours = CLEAN
PBW.jpg
User avatar
Cletus_Spuckler
Bootlegger
Posts: 136
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:10 pm
Location: strayya / knew zelund

Re: Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by Cletus_Spuckler »

I did the vinegar and sac run but still wasn't satisfied, as there was still a slight detection of that persistent smell.
Thanks for the PBW tip Fizzix. It might have saved me time, possibly money also. What I ended up doing was giving the acid another go, this time in the form of a citric acid soak. Made a bath of 2kg of citric acid to 35l of 80oC water; and let it soak for about 15 hours.
Seemed to be pretty good at this point. I guess this has passivated the SS at the same time (whether it needed it or not). Whew, happy at last.
Unraveled
Unraveled
Cleaned
Cleaned
Ready to pack into the still with two rolls of copper
Ready to pack into the still with two rolls of copper
So as to get neat, tidy and consistent rolls of mesh, I clamp to boards to my bench and use these as a guide. I also re-roll then if required so as to ensure each finished roll is 100mm (+/- 5mm) in diameter.
124.jpg
It still takes me 2 hours to un-roll, clean and re-roll these. Guess Ill only do that every three of four operations.

CS
My 4" Modular Bubbler Build:
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=69904

Welcome Centre:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=69903
StillerBoy
Master of Distillation
Posts: 3387
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:27 pm
Location: Ontario

Re: Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by StillerBoy »

Cletus_Spuckler wrote:It still takes me 2 hours to un-roll, clean and re-roll these. Guess Ill only do that every three of four operations.
Is there a special reason for going the ss scrubby route, it's lots of work using ss scrubbies.. have you considered using lava rocks.. much simpler and easier route for the same results..

Mars
" I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, Obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my knowledge and understanding "

– Albert Einstein
aircarbonarc
Swill Maker
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:11 pm
Location: Mountains ocean and rain

Re: Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by aircarbonarc »

If you are going to use scrubbies, get yourself some copper pest control mesh. It comes in big packs, 50' is enough usually. And it packs in nicely. Clean nice new copper
long live Oldsmobile Aleros
User avatar
Cletus_Spuckler
Bootlegger
Posts: 136
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:10 pm
Location: strayya / knew zelund

Re: Filthy Oily Greasey New Scrubbies!

Post by Cletus_Spuckler »

StillerBoy wrote: Is there a special reason for going the ss scrubby route, it's lots of work using ss scrubbies.. have you considered using lava rocks.. much simpler and easier route for the same results.
I chose SS mesh due to its safety, availability, performance, durability and cost.
SPP was ruled out for cost reasons (anyone in AU want to help me make a SPP machine?).
I love the idea of a pour in material and was initially going to go with marbles, but was told they are not what you want for neutral. Besides, the only ones I could source at a reasonable cost ($110 AUD) were made using recycled glass; and I had no information that reassured me of the safety of recycled glass for this purpose.
Regarding lava rock, Ive never used it because I am not comfortable with its porous characteristic, which I believe would make it hard to clean.
aircarbonarc wrote:If you are going to use scrubbies, get yourself some copper pest control mesh. It comes in big packs, 50' is enough usually. And it packs in nicely. Clean nice new copper
I used all copper mesh in my old 2" boka column and found that the copper mesh was hard to maintain due to oxidation (seems to be a running theme with me and this hobby!). After again choosing mesh for my 4" still, based on my previous experience I decided to only go with the minimal amount of copper required in my column, and pack the rest with SS.

I think I bought at least 120' (36m) of SS mesh, which will supplement the 20' (6m) of copper mesh which I already owned. Those two 10' copper rolls cost $100 AUD, so the prospect of of paying that again another six times was also a major consideration! I think you can get them for about 40% cheaper than that here now.

CS
My 4" Modular Bubbler Build:
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=69904

Welcome Centre:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=69903
Post Reply