IBRU4U

Hello,

Perhaps cutting that back out again and re-doing the whole job better , with a stainless weld, so you don't foul the brew would be in order.

Quality counts at my winery too.

Best Regards,

Joe Woodall, Managing Partner

Georgia Adobe Rammed Earth & Renewable Energy

& Woodall Estate Winery(TM)

2395 Bowman Hwy. NW

Dewy Rose, GA 30634

www.georgiaadobe.com

Joe,

Thanks for the reply. I received similar from others.

Best regards,

Ron Wehrli

North of 60,

You provided some excellent comment to my situation. I will inquire of the methods used by the welder and insure that "passivation" is also completed.

Good Day,

Ron

Very cumbersome! I have a better solution that can be done if a small oxy-acetylene torch can reach the area. There is a Metal Spray process known as 'Spray and fuse' where a small torch is used to deposit a self-fluxing powder containing Nickel, Boron and Silicon over the porus area and then fused with the same torch. This will be a beautiful finish coating on the welded area and it is totaly dense and pore free for your purpose. I can send you more information if you need to adopt this process. These self-fluxing powders melt at 1950 degrees F. The one I mentioned above is a low hardness material and will fuse to a very clean shiny Nickel coating. Actually this is technically a high temperature brazing process.

vshwn7@aol.com

While never having used this welding process myself, I have seen it used often enough. We used it on 304 grade shafts to rebuild them back to original OD. We never used it on a food contact surface. Your approach may be valid if clear unencumbered access to the interior of the vessel is possible.

Having a background in the food industry and the brewing industry I would suggest a very cheap easy solution.

Clean the pitted area with nitric acid....rinse...rinse.....clean again with hydrochloric acid..rinse...rinse...rinse....

With a small body acetylene torch with finest tip.... solder in the pits....flowing pure silver with flux from jewelry repair...actually, pure borax may work for flux.

Pure tin is also a non contaminant to food/brew

Polish overflow solder material off and live happily ever after..............

Silver is a natural biocide......English tankards are made from Stirling silver...pure silver...and gold... without contamination of the brew.

This would be a lot less work than cut out....redo.....with easier cleanup.....which is obviously the best way...if you have a qualified SS welder person and can stand the expense/down time.

MR. GUY

Have worked in the Pharm area for many years but have a few questions if you use a mirror or a borescope can you see the inside of the weld in the inside tank side. you the weld is clean on the inside you could grind out the pits on the outside and then flood the tank with argon having a triclover plastic cover over the opening of the Triclover and using a good oxygen meter moniter the oxygen levels until they drop very low. You could then TIG reweld the ground area using 316 L rods . Since this area and probably your whole tank could use a passivation you could first clean the tank with a 5% TSP solution using Deionized water for 1hr at 80-90 C (rinse well with DI water) and then do a Ammonium citrate passivation of the entire tank by adding 5% Citric acid with Deionized water and adjust the pH to 3.1 and then heat to 80 C and agitate the mixture for 3 hrs and rinse well with DI water and allow to air dry. This should give you a good passivation of your entire tank. If you have associated lines and pumps you could using the pumps as your agitation system . Make sure all pumps and lines are 304 or better SS.

yes Ron you can, It needs to be TIG welded with a purge gas inside, (Argon)

To back weld, you would need a long tungsten and slowly wash over the weld to smooth it out and remove the pits. (By wash I mean you would slowly move the welding arc from side to side over the weld while moving forward, forming a kind of zig zag pattern causing it to smooth out and clean out the weld. If its on the back of a part on the inside you would need to heat the tungsten and bend it in a half circle shape.. be very careful tungsten will brake very e-z and it needs to be white hot when its shaped.. you will also need a small telescopic mirror to see with.......

or take it to a weld shop, most weld shops can do what you want in less than and hour.

Curtis good luck

To everyone who posted a reply(s) to my question: Thank you for providing instruction on the best known means and methods to improving the quality of my beer.

If you find yourself in Alaska, let me know, I'll have a variety of fresh crafted beers for you to sample...

Cheers!

Ron Wehrli

Right! It's a small place, just ask, and anyone there'll know where to find ya, eh?

No worries, before I head that way, I'll send ya a PM and get directions.

Ensure who ever does the repair that they know what they are doing. And if you have contractors to do the repair, maybe a good idea to have them do a weld test on tubing, with back gassing (purge). Cut the tube longitudinal to check the weld penetration and aesthetics. The penetrated weld should mirror the outside, with no pits, snags or cracks. this should ensure you have competent welders.

Allot of food companies are requiring this due to the influx of "shade-tree mechanics" passing themselves off as being able to weld sanitary piping, this should weed them out.