Worth the effort?

[Rambling1]

Hi,

I have been offered a 10 bbl jacketed brite tank at no cost. Issue is that it has sat for a year and now has a ring of spots of something (rust?) on the inside top. According to the brewery (I believe them) they used it for a couple years with no problems, put it into storage for awhile, and then they were surprised to see the marks when they opened it back up.

Is this something I can permanently remove?

[TGTimm]

As long as that ferm was only used for beverages, I'd jump on it. Free is a very good price.

Those stains should succumb to a good scrubbing and CIP. If not, you may have to re-passivate the ferm.

[jebzter]

Inspect all the rust spots for cracking, if you're lucky it is just surface rust. If whatever was in there had chlorine or chlorides in it, you could get some corrosion stress cracking, which will ruin the vessels ability to hold pressure safely. Had this happen to two kegs that were left exposed to cleaning chemicals that were high in chlorine. If it is 316L, then it should be ok, but 304 is not chlorine resistant.