How can I clean/sanitize full coke cans??? Would a dishwasher work???
 

Hey there...ok...we had this refrigerator in the garage and it was supposed to just store drinks in it...well my parents occasionally stored some meats in there cause we ran out of room in our other frige in the house...well the frige in the garage broke and leaked stuff on the floor and also quit working...it got REALLY hot and steamy inside and gross stuff started growing all over it...well we decided to move our frige/freezer in the house in the garage and buy a new frige/freezer for the house since the frige/freezer was so old anyways...so the old frige/freezer will prolly live the rest of its days in the garage...and the old frige will be tossed away cause it's moldy and smelly...

ANYWAYS...we put the drinks that were in the moldy frige and put them in the old frige/freezer...well the next day it started to smell too...so today I decided that since the maids were coming to clean downstairs that I'd get them to clean the frige too since it looks like the drinks carried some of that mold with them into the old frige/freezer...

SO they're gonna clean out the frige/freezer and my task is to clean the drinks...now there are I'd say about 150-200 cans...

now I was wondering how the hell am I gonna clean all of them...could I put them in the dishwasher??? you think that would work???? It gets pretty hot in the dishwasher...it wouldn't affect the cans would it??? I don't wanna open up the dishwasher and see exploded cans all over the place...I really wanna get them cleaned cause it'd be a waste of money to toss them all...THANX
C'YA ?:-D

OH YEAH!!! I forgot to add something...the cans aren't all moldy themselves...they are pretty clean...but I just wanna make sure that no mold stuff has grown on any of the cans...and also the bottom of the cans are sticky so that needs cleaning too

Why not just wipe each one down with a cloth and some disinfectant? You could do the job pretty quick, especially if you had a partner. And you wouldn't have to worry about the dishwasher damaging them.

Not to mention that it gets kind of hot in a dishwasher, and I don't know what the heat would do to the soda. But fun to find out, so I vote dishwasher! (Picturing the sound of 150-200 soda cans exploding and fizzing in a dishwasher. Mmmmm.)

Seriously, get a couple of coolers and fill them part way with diluted bleach or some other disinfectant. Submerge the cans and let them sit there for a couple of hours. Hose them off, let them air dry, and chug. A lot less labor intensive than wiping them off individually with a cloth.

Personally, I wouldn't use the dishwasher since it just gets too damned hot.
I would start off experimenting with different methods using a can or two. First I'd fill my sink up with a mixture of water and Simple Green (available at any Home Depot or Lowes) and let the cans soak. That should take care of any mold.

The aluminum does pick up odors and that can be tough to get rid of, so I'd also put a couple of opened boxes of baking soda in the fridge to absorb the odors that might be left over.

Then I'd give one of the cans a taste. You may want to just empty the cans into glasses when you're drinking them as the odor/taste of the moldy stuff may still be in the aluminum.

Rubbing alcohol is cheap, and evaporates a lot easier than bleach. I say, go the cooler route, but fill the cooler with rubbing alcohol instead of bleach. If all goes well, you shouldn't even REALLY have to wash them off before drinking then.

if you use the washer you don't have to use HEAT.. there should be a cold setting, and an AIR dry setting.

IMHO write off the whole thing.. take the cans and get the recycling back...

yes or sell the cans for 25 cents each to unsuspecting friends and family

Find a disinfectant in the stores that is recommended for kitchen surfaces, ie., counters and tile that come into contact with food. Lysol Antibacterial kitchen cleaner should work. It comes in a spray bottle:

Follow directions, which mainly consist of:

1) Spray the cans liberally

2) Let the spray sit there for 10 minutes to kill the bacteria.

3) Wipe or rinse off.

Make a bleach solution in the sink....same thing that you may have done in boyscouts.

Fill the sink with how water and add about a tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water. Then just dunk each can and let it sit for a few seconds.

If you really care, you can always rinse the cans off by dunking them in cold water after the bleach solution.

You will probalby only need a couple tablespoons of bleach, and it should be plenty strong.

I second all the bleach suggestions. It doesn't have to be too strong. A dilute solution will do. Very few things beat bleach for pure disinfecting power. You don't even need to let it soak for too long either. at most a minute....
You definitely want to rinse the cans well after using bleach. ( or after using anything remotely poisonous...) you don't lick kitchen tops, but if you drink from the can, your lips are touching the can.

Put the cans in an ice chest, and break out the pressure washer!!!

I would just do them individually, as you are going to drink them, wipe them down with rubbing alchy, put it under some water, and chug :).

Umm,

Just try a can or two in the dishwasher first.

Then you'll know if that's the way to go.

Cancel the maid service for a week, and spend the money on new cans of soda instead.

The bleach way sounds best. Get a tub out back filled with the solution and wearing gloves, use a rag and wipe'em down. Set them off to the side and when you have a pile of them, spray them with a garden hose to rinse.

I'd say bleach is the best answer, since it's what they use in restaurants to sanitize dishes, and it can clean up anthrax!

All while getting your whites to their very whitest.

LEMONADE STAND!

sell those puppies on the curb.... 200 cans times $0.25 each is $50!!! woohoo!!!

Go to a store, ask for food safe disenfectant, or quantanary disenfectant.

Read directions, soak cans.

Rinse, and cool.

Drink.

Bleach, simple green, and other cleaners can/could be harmful, and pass on smells or tatstes that would ruin the pop.

good god that is alot of cans......


why do you keep so many in the fridge ready to go?


i keep a 12 pack in there when i run out i stick another in

Use a weak organic acid based cleaner, like Comet. It's active ingredient is citric acid. This will disinfect the cans, and you don't need to use hot water. ...and it's food safe.

-SF