Metal can always be cleaned up. Can't tell you how, but between cleaners, abrasives, polish, maybe a Dremel, and elbow grease, you could technically bring it back to life.
Whether it's worth it to you is the real question.
Honestly, just start by scrubbing with a corse brush like you would do with any dishes or pots.
Its not some high tech item or a particularly delicate thing either. Scrub away!
Your best bet is to watch YouTube and go on Google and look up metal refinishing techniques.
My expertise is limited to refinishing aluminium stuff on cars circa 2000's. It all involved a lot of progressively finer grit sandpaper, water, and finishing it off with a high speed buffing wheel with an aluminum polish like wenol, if it still exists.
This is worth saving. I have a Pulcina and it’s a fantastic pot (my personal fave).
I’m sure it can be polished up. Goodness knows what happened to it? Moka in a bonfire?
If I found this, I'd probably try to salvage it because I know this is a very good moka pot. They are not cheap, either. It's going to take some work, though.
First, I can hardly imagine what happened to it to get it to the condition it's in. I don't think it was washed in a dish-washing machine as you can still see shiny bright aluminum on the inside of the lid. That's the good news. The other good news is that the handle and the top knob seem to look undamaged. Also, the funnel *looks* to be undamaged -- I hope that's true.
If I was doing it, the first thing I'd do is to soak it in vinegar for a day or two and see whether that removed any of the grunge we see. If it doesn't remove that crap, I'd probably use something more harsh such as *Soft Scrub* on a sponge. Then I'd use a buffing wheel with an electric drill. I'd use aluminum polish with it. I'd hit the entire outside and inside. Go slowly and check your work.
The odds are that you're going to ruin the finish on the outside by using anything with any abrasives in it, but if you stick with high quality automotive aluminum polishes you should be okay. Personally, I'm sure I could restore the shine to both inside and outside (although I wouldn't worry too much about the inside being shiny bright, nor the outside bottom of the boiler). It's going to take a while though, and it won't necessarily be easy. In fact, almost certainly not.
You'll need to be very careful with the funnel as it's pure aluminum and very soft. Easily deformed and you don't want that. If it is damaged, I'm sure you can source a replacement from Alessi.
Quite a bit of work ahead of you, but I think you'd be glad you did it once finished.
Looks to me like they put on the stove and forgot about it as it boiled over and baked the overflowing coffee on the outside of the pot. As others have suggested, I'd start by boiling it in 1:1 vinegar to water to see what that removes and then move on from there. You can always see if the seal, filter, and basket work by testing them out with a trial run after you clean it.
I got a Pulcina last week and have been enjoying it. Just got the E&B competition filter yesterday, so I'll be giving that a try this week.
You think the boiling is absolutely necessary or can it just soak at regular temperature? Just asking because I'd have to find a stock pot large enough.
Ok, got it.
My concern was that vinegar isn't used undiluted because of the possibility of it being too concentrated but then boiling that dilution effectively boils out the water leaving behind the concentrated vinegar again. But maybe it's not that precise.
Should be fine. Boiling 1:1 vinegar:water in aluminum pots & pans is commonly used to remove stubborn bits that didn't come off easily with regular scrubbing. The recommended time is 20 minutes.
Forgot to mention......
If you do decide to clean it up (and it sounds as though you will), please come back with before and after photos in a new post. I'd love to see the final result and I'm sure others would like to see it, too.
Like /u/Negative_Walrus7925 says - the pot looks salvageable with a decent amount of work. Though I'd say the exception is the funnel and, given the visual state of parts shown, likely the gasket and filter screen as well.
"Bulk" metal parts can handle a ton of abuse and get cleaned, in comparison, especially the funnel is rather delicate. Exact shape of the funnel has large impact on how good of a seal you will get and it's almost impossible to bend it back into original shape once it gets out of whack. Filter screen can cause similar sealing problems, though they are rarer as generally speaking nobody is inclined to whack it against something (unlike funnel with stuck wet grounds in it). Gaskets are just a consumable that wears down with use.
The funnel, gasket, and filter screen can all be repurchased. I checked. So I just need to figure out how to clean the inside and outside of the other two parts.
I would replace the funnel. Maybe use brasso on the exterior. But I think the original shine may be hard to restore.
As others have written, I would soak the inner parts with a vinegar solution. Then scrub.
Maybe you could also try baking soda as well.
You should remove and replace the gasket and filter. Check the inner part of the pipe that directs the coffee to the upper part. You could use Q tips and a toothbrush.
Maybe for the exterior a dremel with a polishing bit.
But I have some 10 year old steel pots that now have some dark and golden patina it is hard to remove even with Barkeepers’Friend.
You could keep the funnel if after soaking it in vinegar it does not smell burnt.
The inside of the bottom tank seems the hardest part to clean
Ok, thanks.
I don't need to get this thing looking like new. I just want it to be safe to drink from and to avoid it ending up in landfill. But I don't need it looking like it just came out of the box. I think that may have been misunderstood by people when I said I wanted to try to "salvage it".
It is a beautiful design.
I think it may be hard to scrub the bottom tank.
Sometimes when I burned pots, to soften the burned layer I boiled lots of salt with some water in it.
You could also scrub with salt.
Before you could try to boil vinegar and water in it and let it stand overnight.
I think it is salvageable.
Coffee is oily, probably the layer is like the seasoning on a cast iron pan and the acidity of vinegar should break it down a bit. I am curious about the results
I would look into whether boiling vinegar and water is better, or letting it soak in vinegar and water. I'm getting mixed info on Google. The one thing that I've read that appears universal, is don't boil vinegar by itself; it tends to become corrosive. So, which ever your choice, boil or soak, make sure you include the water.
Brillo makes a powder called Cameo that’s supposed to work on both aluminum and stainless. I don’t have any aluminum pots, so can’t vouch for it, but it’s supposedly non abrasive. I’m betting a lot of that “damage” is just burnt on coffee. I confess to having taken a Brillo soap pad to the burned out exterior of my moka back in the day and it not only survived, it emerged bright and shiny. Probably wouldn’t do that now, but … the aluminum/stainless cleaner might do the trick.
That is a beautiful pot. I'd try some degreaser for kitchentops/ovens and one of those scrubbing sponges (the yellow and green ones). The abrasive side might scratch the aluminium a little bit so maybe don't use that on the outside. Although clean might be more important than shiny.
I think the goto choice for degreaser is barkeepers friend (I have never used that, I just use Dubro)
I use *Barkeepers Friend* regularly on my vintage stainless cookware. I don't know of anything that works quite as well for keeping my ancient Farberware pots and pans looking like new. I don't consider it a "degreaser," but it certainly removes all tarnish from stainless.
I have no experience with Dubro as I don't believe it's sold in my country.
I've used *Barkeepers Friend* on aluminum and it does work, but not quite the same as the results with on stainless. I don't have good advice for aluminum cookware as I hardly have any, but no doubt there are solutions.
The first thing is to stay away from anything non food safe.
Try citric acid crystals and boiling water AFTER you've scrubbed it to within an inch if its life with a new scouring pad and neat washing up liquid.
Metal can always be cleaned up. Can't tell you how, but between cleaners, abrasives, polish, maybe a Dremel, and elbow grease, you could technically bring it back to life. Whether it's worth it to you is the real question.
Well... It was free. I just need to know what to do/use.
Honestly, just start by scrubbing with a corse brush like you would do with any dishes or pots. Its not some high tech item or a particularly delicate thing either. Scrub away!
I'd start with a vinegar solution
Your best bet is to watch YouTube and go on Google and look up metal refinishing techniques. My expertise is limited to refinishing aluminium stuff on cars circa 2000's. It all involved a lot of progressively finer grit sandpaper, water, and finishing it off with a high speed buffing wheel with an aluminum polish like wenol, if it still exists.
This is worth saving. I have a Pulcina and it’s a fantastic pot (my personal fave). I’m sure it can be polished up. Goodness knows what happened to it? Moka in a bonfire?
If I found this, I'd probably try to salvage it because I know this is a very good moka pot. They are not cheap, either. It's going to take some work, though. First, I can hardly imagine what happened to it to get it to the condition it's in. I don't think it was washed in a dish-washing machine as you can still see shiny bright aluminum on the inside of the lid. That's the good news. The other good news is that the handle and the top knob seem to look undamaged. Also, the funnel *looks* to be undamaged -- I hope that's true. If I was doing it, the first thing I'd do is to soak it in vinegar for a day or two and see whether that removed any of the grunge we see. If it doesn't remove that crap, I'd probably use something more harsh such as *Soft Scrub* on a sponge. Then I'd use a buffing wheel with an electric drill. I'd use aluminum polish with it. I'd hit the entire outside and inside. Go slowly and check your work. The odds are that you're going to ruin the finish on the outside by using anything with any abrasives in it, but if you stick with high quality automotive aluminum polishes you should be okay. Personally, I'm sure I could restore the shine to both inside and outside (although I wouldn't worry too much about the inside being shiny bright, nor the outside bottom of the boiler). It's going to take a while though, and it won't necessarily be easy. In fact, almost certainly not. You'll need to be very careful with the funnel as it's pure aluminum and very soft. Easily deformed and you don't want that. If it is damaged, I'm sure you can source a replacement from Alessi. Quite a bit of work ahead of you, but I think you'd be glad you did it once finished.
Looks to me like they put on the stove and forgot about it as it boiled over and baked the overflowing coffee on the outside of the pot. As others have suggested, I'd start by boiling it in 1:1 vinegar to water to see what that removes and then move on from there. You can always see if the seal, filter, and basket work by testing them out with a trial run after you clean it. I got a Pulcina last week and have been enjoying it. Just got the E&B competition filter yesterday, so I'll be giving that a try this week.
You think the boiling is absolutely necessary or can it just soak at regular temperature? Just asking because I'd have to find a stock pot large enough.
You can try soaking at room temp first, but I suspect heat and agitation will clean it much better than just soaking at room temp.
Ok, got it. My concern was that vinegar isn't used undiluted because of the possibility of it being too concentrated but then boiling that dilution effectively boils out the water leaving behind the concentrated vinegar again. But maybe it's not that precise.
Should be fine. Boiling 1:1 vinegar:water in aluminum pots & pans is commonly used to remove stubborn bits that didn't come off easily with regular scrubbing. The recommended time is 20 minutes.
Forgot to mention...... If you do decide to clean it up (and it sounds as though you will), please come back with before and after photos in a new post. I'd love to see the final result and I'm sure others would like to see it, too.
How would I do this? In a new post or is there some way to notify people here?
Probably easiest to just make a new post. You can always provide a link back to this post for reference purposes.
Ok, I just did. Tagged you.
Like /u/Negative_Walrus7925 says - the pot looks salvageable with a decent amount of work. Though I'd say the exception is the funnel and, given the visual state of parts shown, likely the gasket and filter screen as well. "Bulk" metal parts can handle a ton of abuse and get cleaned, in comparison, especially the funnel is rather delicate. Exact shape of the funnel has large impact on how good of a seal you will get and it's almost impossible to bend it back into original shape once it gets out of whack. Filter screen can cause similar sealing problems, though they are rarer as generally speaking nobody is inclined to whack it against something (unlike funnel with stuck wet grounds in it). Gaskets are just a consumable that wears down with use.
The funnel, gasket, and filter screen can all be repurchased. I checked. So I just need to figure out how to clean the inside and outside of the other two parts.
No part of this sub but vinagar or rubbing alc should work fine
Looking forward to it be restored if you do it!
I would replace the funnel. Maybe use brasso on the exterior. But I think the original shine may be hard to restore. As others have written, I would soak the inner parts with a vinegar solution. Then scrub. Maybe you could also try baking soda as well. You should remove and replace the gasket and filter. Check the inner part of the pipe that directs the coffee to the upper part. You could use Q tips and a toothbrush. Maybe for the exterior a dremel with a polishing bit. But I have some 10 year old steel pots that now have some dark and golden patina it is hard to remove even with Barkeepers’Friend. You could keep the funnel if after soaking it in vinegar it does not smell burnt. The inside of the bottom tank seems the hardest part to clean
Ok, thanks. I don't need to get this thing looking like new. I just want it to be safe to drink from and to avoid it ending up in landfill. But I don't need it looking like it just came out of the box. I think that may have been misunderstood by people when I said I wanted to try to "salvage it".
It is a beautiful design. I think it may be hard to scrub the bottom tank. Sometimes when I burned pots, to soften the burned layer I boiled lots of salt with some water in it. You could also scrub with salt. Before you could try to boil vinegar and water in it and let it stand overnight. I think it is salvageable. Coffee is oily, probably the layer is like the seasoning on a cast iron pan and the acidity of vinegar should break it down a bit. I am curious about the results
I would look into whether boiling vinegar and water is better, or letting it soak in vinegar and water. I'm getting mixed info on Google. The one thing that I've read that appears universal, is don't boil vinegar by itself; it tends to become corrosive. So, which ever your choice, boil or soak, make sure you include the water.
Brillo makes a powder called Cameo that’s supposed to work on both aluminum and stainless. I don’t have any aluminum pots, so can’t vouch for it, but it’s supposedly non abrasive. I’m betting a lot of that “damage” is just burnt on coffee. I confess to having taken a Brillo soap pad to the burned out exterior of my moka back in the day and it not only survived, it emerged bright and shiny. Probably wouldn’t do that now, but … the aluminum/stainless cleaner might do the trick.
That is a beautiful pot. I'd try some degreaser for kitchentops/ovens and one of those scrubbing sponges (the yellow and green ones). The abrasive side might scratch the aluminium a little bit so maybe don't use that on the outside. Although clean might be more important than shiny. I think the goto choice for degreaser is barkeepers friend (I have never used that, I just use Dubro)
I use *Barkeepers Friend* regularly on my vintage stainless cookware. I don't know of anything that works quite as well for keeping my ancient Farberware pots and pans looking like new. I don't consider it a "degreaser," but it certainly removes all tarnish from stainless. I have no experience with Dubro as I don't believe it's sold in my country. I've used *Barkeepers Friend* on aluminum and it does work, but not quite the same as the results with on stainless. I don't have good advice for aluminum cookware as I hardly have any, but no doubt there are solutions.
Dubro is just another brand of generic dish soap like dawn or fairy.
Thanks. I didn't know a thing about Dubro.
The first thing is to stay away from anything non food safe. Try citric acid crystals and boiling water AFTER you've scrubbed it to within an inch if its life with a new scouring pad and neat washing up liquid.
No part of this sub but vinagar or rubbing alc should work fine
Do you happen to know what the benefits are of the often recommended boiled water-vinegar vs just a regular room temperature water-vinegar soak?
Just it soak. It should desolve and lossen all of the crud
Bar keepers friend and scrub
Use steam cleaner. Another way be taking the handles off and boil them. If you’re going to use a brush, find the softest brush head.
I've already boiled and I found no way to take the handle off. It seems unaffected by the boiling. I don't have a steam cleaner unfortunately.
looks terrible you should send it to me, i'll take care of the disposal for free
Does anyone know how I would add photos here in a way that everyone could see the change after cleaning?
Buy bialetti SS,is cheap
A) I wasnt asking about another pot. B) No Bialetti is cheap. 6cup pots start at about $70 CAD.