Having succeeded in the skills of soldering copper (thanks again
folks), I now have a severly dirtied up pickle (I was amazaed at how
mich cupric or cuprous oxide fell off the copper in the pickle).
Now the black stuff is laying all over the bottom of my pickle pot.
Is there any easy way to get it out or otherwise clean up my pickle
pot? Thanks, Tom
Tom, When you neutralize your dirty pickle before discarding it, some
of the oxide “crud” will naturally come off the bottom of the pickle
pot (bubbles up from the neutralizing fizz). I usually then wash the
pickle pot with hot water and a paper towel to just wipe off the rest
before refilling the pot and making a fresh batch of pickle. If
you’re trying to simply “scoop” out the crud without making a fresh
batch, it may be more trouble than it’s worth – but you could always
pour the pickle through a plastic or stainless-steel mesh strainer,
or a coffee filter to catch the pieces. I’d just mix up a fresh
batch.
To neutralize the pickle (do this directly under your ventilation
hood as the fumes can be nasty), sprinkle in baking soda until the
addition of soda no longer causes the solution to “fizz.” Don’t dump
a whole bunch in at once, or your pot will fizz too much and
overflow, making a mess. Once the neutralization is complete, you
should also see your pickle turn a beautiful turquoise-y blue -
vivid. At this point, it’s safe to discard, then wash the pot, wipe
out any remaining goop from the pot, and mix up a fresh batch of
pickle.
Hope this helps!
Karen
Hi Tom,
Is there any easy way to get it out or otherwise clean up my pickle pot?
Why not just dump the pickle out & start with a new batch?
If you’re using Ph Minus the cost is minimal(about 25 cents)unless
you’ve got an industrial sized pickle pot.
Dave
Tom, you can carefully pour off or dip out the clearer liquid and
reuse it although you won’t be saving much money for the effort. If
you are using a crock pot, wipe out the black sediment before putting
the old or new pickle into it. When I use copper, I usually quench it
first in water and then put it into hot pickle. That keeps most of
the the black stuff in the water which is easier to dispose. If you
do start a fresh batch of pickle, neutralize the old by adding baking
soda to it until the fizzing stops.
Marilyn Smith