The power of lye

[Torn Mind]

Had to deal with a pot with burned rice on the bottom. Soaked last night in an ammonia mixture, a step up from the baking soda level of bascitiy, and it had little to no noticeable effect on the complex.

So, I pulled out a old bottle of sodium hydroxide I ordered a few years back, and put it in. The effects were noticeable in an hour of application, as what used to be a tough material stuck to metal fell away easily. First, with boiling water from eggs I cooked. Then some physical scraping. There's still some left(I guess more severely burned), but a lot of burned food has been removed.

 

[Mayne]

always soak your pots

 

[Kaido]

There's a cheat available! It's called The Pink Stuff. It's better than Bartender's Helper even!

 

[sdifox]

I have never had problem lifting anything off a pot by soaking.

 

[Torn Mind]

There's a cheat available! It's called The Pink Stuff. It's better than Bartender's Helper even!

View attachment 78424

Quartz, Sodium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate.
So, it's soap+hard material(mohs hardness of 7). Yes, it's safer and fumeless, but it's still reliant on dissolution/emulsification and/or physical wearing down of the offending dirtying thing.

I would suspect a brass wire wheel+drill is gentler on something with a stainless steel finish.

Hard water stains are better remedied with vinegar.

 

[Torn Mind]

always soak your pots

I have never had problem lifting anything off a pot by soaking.

I let the burnt rice or whatever soak overnight in ammonia, which is pretty strong and releases fumes. Didn't really do anything when physical force was applied this morning, so I went up to one of the strongest bases(and is part of oven cleaning sprays) in sodium hydroxide, and that produced results.

 

[sdifox]

Err, just soapy water works, even for pans used to prepare burnt rice. Wait til pan cools before putting water in or you risk warping the pan.

No, it's not going to hyperspace.

 

[Torn Mind]

Err, just soapy water works, even for pans used to prepare burnt rice. Wait til pan cools before putting water in or you risk warping the pan.

No, it's not going to hyperspace.

This what it was like after a night of ammonia soaking. I could not remove much.



This after just an hour of lye. The top is a bit more stubborn and I am still soaking it.

 

[brianmanahan]

isn't that the stuff that dissolves bodies?

 

[Pohemi]

The only time I couldn't get something (burnt) off a pot or pan by soaking was because I was too impatient to wait. Nothing I let soak ever required more than 2 days to release/dissolve anything. Soaking with bleach can help dissolve/release food if needed.

If I needed it done faster, I'd use cleaning vinegar, salt, steel wool, and elbow grease.

 

[sdifox]

Meth is supposed to be cooked in glass

 

[Kaido]

isn't that the stuff that dissolves bodies?

I mean, I use lye to make pretzels, soooooo...

 

[WelshBloke]

Y

View attachment 78431
This what it was like after a night of ammonia soaking. I could not remove much.

View attachment 78432

This after just an hour of lye. The top is a bit more stubborn and I am still soaking it.

Ten minutes with a steel scrubber would have sorted that out.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

View attachment 78431
This what it was like after a night of ammonia soaking. I could not remove much.

View attachment 78432

This after just an hour of lye. The top is a bit more stubborn and I am still soaking it.

If you had just soaked in soap it probably would have been fine. Detergents do amazing things after 12 hours.

 

[sdifox]

Op probably uses sulphuric acid to trim his nails

 

[Torn Mind]

If you had just soaked in soap it probably would have been fine. Detergents do amazing things after 12 hours.

I have no time to scrub things, so the material needs to come off with no effort. (I am writing up something that has a deadline because statute of limitations is one year for municipal infractions.

I also soaked overnight with ammonia with no meaningful effect.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I have no time to scrub things, so the material needs to come off with no effort. (I am writing up something that has a deadline because statute of limitations is one year for municipal infractions.

I also soaked overnight with ammonia with no meaningful effect.

Because ammonia isn't a detergent. Detergents take things stuck to each other and make them not stuck to each other anymore. Use a detergent.

 

[nakedfrog]

It's so powerful, Paul Simon wrote an ode to it entitled The Boxer. Never quite made the connection myself.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

If you drop aluminum foil in a water/lye solution it produces a flammable gas. Maybe hydrogen? Chlorine? I don't know. Makes a pop / bang if you light it up.

 

[Captante]

I've literally never run into anything which didn't ruin the pan forever that wouldn't come off with steel wool and/or a small scraper even without soaking in hot water first.

And that includes burned-on malt extract. (essentially heavy sugar-syrup for making beer)

Wonder what OP was ACTUALLY "cooking" lol??

 

[IronWing]

Err, just soapy water works, even for pans used to prepare burnt rice. Wait til pan cools before putting water in or you risk warping the pan.

No, it's not going to hyperspace.

Can vouch that aluminum clad pans delaminate with rapid quenching.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I've literally never run into anything which didn't ruin the pan forever that wouldn't come off with steel wool and/or a small scraper even without soaking in hot water first.

And that includes burned-on malt extract. (essentially heavy sugar-syrup for making beer)

Wonder what OP was ACTUALLY "cooking" lol??

I'm literally soaking a pan with burned-on soy sauce, which if anyone's ever done that it's basically burnt caramel at that point.

I expect detergents to do their job.

 

[ccryder]

So, I pulled out a old bottle of sodium hydroxide I ordered a few years back, and put it in. The effects were noticeable in an hour of application, as what used to be a tough material stuck to metal fell away easily. First, with boiling water from eggs I cooked. Then some physical scraping. There's still some left(I guess more severely burned), but a lot of burned food has been removed.

Be careful adding boiling water to NaOH, it's exothermic. I've seen some nasty caustic soda burns.

 

[MrSquished]

How close did you come to burning your home down there?

 

[mindless1]

For stainless, I just let it soak an hour, starting with hot detergent solution, scrape a "little" during that time, then after the hour, an SOS aka steel wool pad... tho' I don't think I've ever burnt rice that bad.