Hi All, I had nothing better to do so I thought I'd join the conversation. Too many people have gotten carried away with trying to "re-passivate" their stainless steel kegs & parts and it is just not needed. Here's my 2 cents worth, I hope it helps. If the keg just has dirt & grime on it and you are using the 3M green synthetic scouring pad,(never use steel wool) there is no need to try to "re-passivate" the stainless keg. Clean it using your pad, hot water and a strong soap/detergent. Stainless is stainless all the way through. Cleaning it with the soap/detergent, is enough to allow it to reform its protective chromium oxide(which it probably never lost). It does this upon contact with the air anyway but the strong soap/detergent insures that it will oxidize. The only reasons I'd worry about passivating stainless steels are : 1. When stick welding stainless and the slag did not come off/you did not clean it off. 2. Welding sanitary stainless welds using a purge. 3. Screwing up and imbedding Ferrite into the surface of a stainless part. In points 1 and 2, the metal did not come in contact with oxygen so it could oxidize. Slag protects it from the air and so does a purge, therefore it could not oxidize to form the chromium oxide layer that makes it "stainless". Most generally it could be washed with a strong soap/detergent using hot water and that should be sufficient. Point 3 is more complicated and usually involves soaking the part in nitric acid or nitric acid and oxidizing salts heated from 130 deg. F to 160 deg. F. for periods as long as one hour to dissolve the ferrite. Stainless should be washed with a strong soap/detergent from time to time, that's the best way to preserve its shine. What most homebrewers need is a no nonsense seminar on metals used in brewing. Being a welder, welding educator and a welding consultant, there is nothing worse than trying to straighten out somebody else's screwups. I hope this helps. Cheers, Wayne -----Original Message----- From: Will Holway <brew987(a)yahoo.com> To: Crist, Jonathan <cristj(a)bsci.com>; mba(a)thebarn.com <mba(a)thebarn.com> Date: Monday, November 26, 2001 10:33 AM Subject: RE: Re-Passifying Stainless Steel