Additional tip: if you want to make vinegar or citric acid far less effective, first make a paste of it by mixing with baking soda. This is suggested on many life hack websites.
All I know is that citric acid is dirt cheap in powder form, especially if you don’t need food grade.
Add water, and mix to taste: When it’s the most sour thing you’ve ever tasted, it’s about right.
Source: We use barrels of the stuff in the offshore industry to descale steel hardware that has been on the seabed. Just don’t tell the HSE department that you’re judging acid strength based on flavor, they’ll only see the acid-part and freak out.
Tip: Anywhere you want to use vinegar for its chemical properties, but you want to avoid the smell, use citric acid instead.
Additional tip: if you want to make vinegar or citric acid far less effective, first make a paste of it by mixing with baking soda. This is suggested on many life hack websites.
I just use hydrochloric acid.
Hydrochloric acid has a smell. That’s definitely the only downside.
CLR is citric acid based. Not sure if that or lemon juice is cheaper though.
All I know is that citric acid is dirt cheap in powder form, especially if you don’t need food grade.
Add water, and mix to taste: When it’s the most sour thing you’ve ever tasted, it’s about right.
Source: We use barrels of the stuff in the offshore industry to descale steel hardware that has been on the seabed. Just don’t tell the HSE department that you’re judging acid strength based on flavor, they’ll only see the acid-part and freak out.
I bought a big bag of citric acid, I descale my bean to cup coffee machine, kettle and clean my shower head with it. Good stuff.
Another option is oxalic acid, which is the solvent in Bar Keepers Friend.