the inside of my teapot is gross, halp!
Posted by lime green on Sep 12, 2007 · Member since Apr 2007 · 634 posts
the inside of my teapot has a buildup of what seems to be some type of mineral. i tried soaking it for a while with lemon juice and water, and the water came out greenish. it is a copper teapot, so i am assuming that's why.
and before i soaked it, chunks of said builup were coming off and pouring out when i dumped all the water. and i am able to scrape off little bits with a chopstick, but that's not going to work out.
is there any way i can dissolve off this grossness and leave the inside of my teapot shiny and wonderful?
it was a gift and i don't want to have to throw it away.
Oh. I had the same problem!!!! Have you thought of trying pipe cleaners? I kept soaking mine over and over and it didn't seem to work. Even in really hot water. :(
edit: I did a google search and found some sites that suggest vinegar.
Elbow grease and baking soda with some salt, not a lot of water. Rather than rinse right away, try pouring some white vinegar in it (over the sink!) and watch it foam. I have heard of using denture cleaning tablets too.
I was watching How Clean is Your House, BBC and they used denture tablets to clean "nets" (lace curtains) and with very little effort, they were white again. I am learning all sorts of things to use that are common and old-fashioned like ammonia, bleach, soda, washing soda, cornstarch, vinegar, denture tablets and using dishwasher powder made into a paste to clean filthy stovetops. These, as far as I am concerned, are better than antibacterial things, new fangled cleaners and whatnot because you don't know what is really in them. I prefer keeping a clean house over using Fabreze and the like. Fabreze will kill a parrot and if it has EVER been used in a house or vehicle, it will still kill them. Prefer it clean and simply so.
ooooh... I was watching Good Eats on the Food Network a little while ago, and Alton Brown has a method for cleaning copper pots and pans! :)
1 tsp salt
1 cup white vinegar
enough flour to make it a paste
Rub it on the vessel... wait 15 minutes... and rinse.
Ditto dienekes88. If that doesn't get you where you want to be, you may want to throw in a handful of crushed ice too. The ice cubes will act like gentle little hammers as you swirl the guk around and the cold from the ice will shrink the metal just a little and cause the scale to chip off. It isn't going to hurt your pot at all, the shrinkage is damn near molecular, but the gist is the metal will shrink more than the scale and this will weaken the bond between the metal and the scale and help it come off.
Alton Brown rocks BTW.
i can try soaking it with vinegar, but the pot is unscrubbable. it only has the spout, there's no big hole that i can fit my hand in. i didn't even realize how gross it was until i shined a flashlight inside it. i will try a couple of these tonight, and get back to you all.
thanks guys!
you could try using one of these once you've got it clean:
http://www.dragonwater.com/product_detail.tf/443_tea_witch.html
if its copper, try ketchup.
you squirt it on, let it sit and wipe or rinse out the pot. it just has to sit on the metal.
its the same principle as the dienk's recipe.
we have gotten this same prob w/ our kettles...they were enamel / metal ones and got so bad so fast...prob from the hard water?...that we had to throw em out. so we finally gave up and bought an electric kettle. and i must say, its AWESOME! takes no time to heat up, and is really efficient...not having to turn on the whole stove for hot water.
hey, lime green! nice to see you...
i was thinking about starting one of those threads... you know the ones
"lime green?..."
I use vinegar and raw rice grains, and shake. The rice works as great scrubbers.
slightly off topic, but, erm... ok...? :-X
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/febreze.asp