Fermenting Crock

I just received three 100 year old Fermenting Crocks. They are 10-1/8" high, 6" in diameter, 1/2" thick sides, and weigh 5 lbs. It does not appear that they have been used in the last 40 years so filthy is an appropriate description.

For those unfamiliar, these crocks are used to pickle vegetables so they must be cleaned, sterilized, and santized.

I'd appreciate suggestions on how to thoroughly clean them.

Given their age, when the clensing process is complete, would it be effective to apply a food grade glaze to the inside and fire them or might that damage them.

It's been 30 years since I worked with pottery. But I was thinking of making one. Is anyone aware of a do-it-yourself pottery shop near Ellicott City, Maryland (Annapolis and D.C. are not near).

Dick

Reply to
Dick Adams
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Sounds like they might have more antique value than anything else, and reglazing them would wreck them as antiques... You could soak them in hot water for a while. If you really wanted to sanitize them, you could heat them in your kiln to 500 degrees or so, assuming they haven't absorbed much water. Most of those old crocks (Red Wing) etc. were stoneware, and pretty vitreous... Brad Sondahl

Reply to
Brad Sondahl

If you care about them at all, do not refire them. You would risk ruining both their historic and their monetary value. Make new ones if that is what you want. It should be fairly easy. I imagine what you are talking about is a heavy cylinder form. As for cleaning - Water and soap, soaked for a long time does wonders. Vinegar also is a good means of sanitizing and cleaning. Have you tried going on the net to search for a studio or school near where you are? I found about a half dozen on a quick search. The northeast has a great many schools that should have what you need. Check for a local community college or University for a crafts center. It is also an area that should be rich in potters that would be happy to make one for you. My son goes to school in college park Maryland. If you are really desperate, I could make you one and you could pick it up next fall. Donna

Reply to
DKat

I used to make beer in one of these (bigger) crocks. I always sanitized it with a clorine bleach solution before each batch. Another solution was a product sold by beer and wine making suppliers that was specifically designed for sanitizing crocks. CHeck the Yellow Pages for a supplier...

Fred

Reply to
Fred

I'm a homebrewer. Three products I have on the shelf are Idophor, PBW, and One-Step. Since these are 4 liter crocks, they would not be efficoent for brewing beer.

My concerns are the level of dirt, dust, etc. and the potential embedded bacteria for 40 years sitting open in barns, garages, and whereever. Several people have e-mailed me warning me against refiring them - which eliminates coating the inside with food-grade glaze.

Several e-mails have suggested I sell these as antiques. I might do that. Since I do not want to shell out $120 for a new fermenting crock, if I can't satisfy myself with thoroughly cleaning one of them, I'll look into making one myself.

Dick - My e-mail address is valid

Reply to
Dick Adams

I think Brad's idea about "firing" at 500F should handle any sort of organic contamination. You don't even need to use the kiln for this, just put it in your oven and run it at max temperature. (I'll bet a self-cleaning oven would do it even better!) This will definitely destroy all bacteria, but it wouldn't do anything about dust, which could have some inorganics that might impart off-flavors. But my guess is that those will pretty much come out with a good scrubbing before the heat treatment. Since the heat will definitely make it safe, the worst you have to risk is an off-flavor batch of beer. (OK, some smart-aleck who has tasted homebrew is gonna chime in here with "how could you tell?") Or maybe an even worse fate would be an outstanding batch that was due to some trace element that can never be replicated!

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

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Bob Masta

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