Vinegar bath lifetime?

J

John E

Member
I don't process enough pieces to warrant the investment in an electrolysis setup, so it's lye and vinegar for me. So far I've just set up the vinegar bath in an aluminum roasting pan as needed to clean a few pieces, and then dumped it down the sink when I was finished. If I mix up a batch and keep it sealed up in a thick tote like my lye bath, I'm guessing it'll keep ok and won't degrade on its own? And if so, any rough estimate of how many pieces I can expect to run through it before it starts to weaken too much from the reaction with the iron?
 
Bumping this as I've got the same question and didn't find an answer in a search. What is the shelf life of a 50/50 vinegar solution (using tap water)? Would using distilled extend this at all?
 
It can be reused for some time. But the process is a reactive one, so efficiency declines with repeated use. It's hard to put a time on it; the rustier the pans, the less time it lasts. White vinegar is the one to use, cheapest you can find.
 
You need to mix it 50/50 with water.

I would not use an aluminum pan. Vinegar will eat holes in aluminum. I keep my mixture in a 3 gallon bucket with a lid. I have put about 10 corn stick pans through it so far

As an aside, after the mixture has Ben setting for awhile and the rust particles have settled, the solution has the most beautiful, clear bright red color.
 
As a final clean-up, I usually wipe with a Magic Eraser, rinsing as I go--I've been surprised how much additional residue comes off. (There's no mention of this technique on this website, so please remove my post if inappropriate.)
 
I use molasses and it can be used for more than a year. I've mixed 5 gallons of molasses w/ water in a big garbage can and derusted car parts. My guess is vinegar is much the same.
 
i guess i should have read this awhile back. I used straight vinegar and it actually ate away the finish coating of the underside of my Griswold...eek! from now on it's 50/50. still no longer than 24 hours?
 
I'm very frugal. Next door to where I'm working there is a sub shop and they go through a lot of 5-gallon buckets of pickles. I first collected a few of the food grade buckets to use around the house. Then I brought home a couple of them with the pickle juice still inside. Pickle juice =vinegar. It works great but does smell bad after a while in the summer. :biggrin:
 
Russell S. said:
I'm very frugal. Next door to where I'm working there is a sub shop and they go through a lot of 5-gallon buckets of pickles. I first collected a few of the food grade buckets to use around the house. Then I brought home a couple of them with the pickle juice still inside. Pickle juice =vinegar. It works great but does smell bad after a while in the summer. :biggrin:
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And you can always lick it off your CI! :chuckle:
 
Mark W said:
i guess i should have read this awhile back. I used straight vinegar and it actually ate away the finish coating of the underside of my Griswold...eek! from now on it's 50/50. still no longer than 24 hours?
Click to expand...

Most recommendations I've seen say about a half hour at a time.
 
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