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Milk deposits on the inside of a Thermos

H

Howard

Lifer
I accidentally left whole milk inside my thermos over the weekend and now there's some hard crud on the upper section on the inside (just underneath the neck where I can't reach in with a sponge on a stick). Any ideas? I tried boiling water and vinegar and neither worked.
 
Will that dissolve the deposits? And won't a boiling bleach solution damage the stainless steel inside?

forgot to mention that part
 
Dishwasher detergent and hot water. You'd be surprised what a good soak in dishwasher detergent will remove.
 
you could have let it sit a little longer and just had it as cottage cheese!

oh and joe is right that should do it. also after that run it through a dishwasher if it has the sterilize option or whatever its called.
 
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Howard said:
Damn. Now I gotta go buy me some...
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And . . . if it doesn't work the first time, repeat and let it soak looooooonger. Time is on your side, but you have to have the sometimes nearly infinite patience to let it work for you.
 
CLR. Let it soak in it for a good while and it will remove it. Vinegar isn't strong enough. A base like soap won't do any good, you need something to dissolve the calcium (acid).
 
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CallMeJoe said:
Not regular dish washing detergent, dishwasher detergent (Cascade, Electrasol, etc.).
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Cascade with some water, let it sit overnight is a must. I had something similar with liquid yogurt in a thermos bottle before that sat all weekend in my locker.
 
Invert it into a ultrasonic-sonicator with water bath.

If you do not have access to a sonicator, how about filling it partially with soapy water and spherical beads (like metal or glass beads similar to ball-bearings) and rotating at an angle to try to scrape it out with the beads.
 
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Howard said:
Will that dissolve the deposits? And won't a boiling bleach solution damage the stainless steel inside?

forgot to mention that part
Click to expand...

It should dissolve the milk ring...and it SHOULDN'T hurt the stainless steel. For a quart bottle, I'd use 3-4 tablespoons of bleach with the rest boiling water.
I've bleached stainless thermos bottles for almost 40 years...and never hurt one.

I remember one time, I came home after getting laid off for the winter...and forgot my thermos bottle in my pick up...and it rolled under the seat, where it stayed all winter. When I found it in the spring...the coffee had molded and turned pretty nasty. I soaked it in a bleach water solution for a week...sparkling clean.

I sold it in our yard sale. 😛

(but it sure LOOKED good.)
 
spidey07 said:
Boomer, I thought you were a reefkeeper like me. You know that isn't going to get the calcium carbonate.
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:biggrin: Perhaps, but it will dissolve the organics in the milk...I guess he could also try muratic acid...but it's a bit less forgiving than bleach.
 
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