Paging Domestic God/esses

[bugshaw]

We have an oil and vinegar flask that is topologically quite similar to this:



Ours is shaped more like the conical flasks used in laboratories; there is a spout on the side for the oil, and the neck at the top leads to a smaller cone for the vinegar.

The oil had got a bit old, so I tried to clean the flask today. My problem is that the oil has formed small solid blobs on the bottom of the flask. I can't get a bottle brush or anything inside to clean it with; I have had some success with dishwashing liquid and very hot water and shaking, but this has left a thin sprinkling of oil on the inside and the flask looks rather speckly and traps bubbles.

I have remissly forgotten my school chemistry - what might I have around the house that I could soak the flask in, to remove the oil and leave the surfaces clean so they dry clear, and won't poison me when I refill the flask?
Acid? Alcohol? Bleach?

EDIT: Thanks, cookwitch, lemon juice worked a treat to bring up the sparkle!

Thanks, everyone else: I have just tried peppercorns as agitators, but either they're not dense enough or the oil remnant layer has turned into some sort of polymer and I'd need mini-caltraps to break into it...

I don't have bicarb, and didn't think cornflour or custard powder would have the same effect!

I shall continue with hot water efforts, possibly putting in some hot oil and standing the flask in a bath of hot water. I think I need an ultrasound bath ;-) Or magnetic stirrers with little brushes on ;-)

Comments

[cookwitch.livejournal.com]

Bicarb and lemon juice?

[nassus.livejournal.com]

table salt or baby powder to absorb the oil then lots of detergent/hot water to wash?

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

Throw in some rice as an agitator?

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

How about pouring some oil in and leaving it overnight? It might soften the old blobs of oil enough to get them loose.

Lakeland Limited do little balls, like ball bearings, that you put inside bottles or vases and swirl round with water, that scrub those hard-to-reach corners. DI've never used them myself but I've heard good things about them.
http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!8949

Cillit bang? The adverts claim it cleans absoutely everything. Not sure I'd want it near my stomach lining though.

Washing up liquid?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Lakeland's little ball-bearings are of course the safer substitute for lead shot, which is the traditional agitator for cleaning decanters after the port has just got too crusty. It is supposed to work; I've never tried it, because, well, lead shot (and I didn't know about Lakeland)...

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

The decanters I did earlier, and the bottle brush worked fine for that.

[psycho-machia.livejournal.com]

vinegar and baking soda...even cleans drains!!!!

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Alkalis are good for dissolving fat, so things like baking soda or bleach, and use the hottest water you can to assist the reaction and soften up the solidified fat.

[alex-holden.livejournal.com]

I'd be tempted to put a caustic soda solution in it for a while to break down the fats and then wash it out well with hot water afterwards.

[adela-terrell.livejournal.com]

You can get magic balls from lakeland, they work very well on stuborn crap in hard to reacy bottles, but usually only worth buying if you have a number of such things. \like my mother lol.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

It's balls for me, then! Every time I have flowers the vase sits around dirty for a couple of weeks afterwards, as I can't reach into it.

[adela-terrell.livejournal.com]

Woo! I can't remember what they are actually called, but I bet magic balls won't be far off ;)

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

I've linked to it above. And yes, they're called magic balls!

[marcushill.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a cunning solution everyone has overlooked. Buy a new cruet. Recycle the old one if it'll make you feel less wasteful.

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Chris and Tony were round the other day, and I dug out my old Warped photos. You were in there...

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, was I in any of them?

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

You remember the time we went to see Rocky Horror?

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

Oops!

Have you scanned these in anywhere? Will we get to see them?

[marcushill.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest posting the photos, then I came to my senses.

[eleyan.livejournal.com]

pipecleaners from a tobacconist. Cheap fuzzy wires, can get into really small bottles. Or instead of lead shot go out into the garden and hand pick some tiny gravel or grit.

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest you try vinegar on the oil, but lemon juice is a pretty good idea. :)

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

And makes my kitchen smell lemony-fresh!

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

No downside there. ;o)