Pinkish hue on brass.

McHoss

McHoss

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New Brunswick.
I’m all for diversity and open to creativity but draw the line at pink brass.
I recently started reloading and haven’t yet gotten a tumbler. I am waiting to see what suits my needs best, wet or dry.
Anyway, I have been using a recipe I got off the interwebs and from time to time I get pink discolouration on the brass. It’s not all cases in a batch, often it’s just spots on a few but sometimes it’s the entire case. The brass is a mix of my own once fired and some acquired from a friend. The discolouration happens to both.
FWIW, we have very hard water here but it’s treated with a water softener system.
Here is my recipe....
4 cups hot water.
1 cup vinegar.
1 tbs coarse salt.
1 tbs dish soap. I have been using 1/2 tbs dish soap and 1/2 lemishine lately.

I had asked this in another thread but realize now that it was a little off topic and not my thread to begin with, so asked again here.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
 
I haven't washed up brass in awhile, but IIRC, that would happen to me when brass that has been submerged in the mix is exposed to air for some time before rinsing (or not enough liquid to cover all brass). I didn't use lemonshine though. And I had higher ratio of vinegar than you.
 
Off the top of my head:

1. Should make sure all the brass is submerged completely and nothing sticking out of the cleaning solution.
2. maybe your brass needs to be rinsed better when it comes out of the cleaning solution.
3. Which dish soap? Sunlight is good and you can half as much for the same cleaning effect as Dawn. Dawn is crap and has extra stuff in it that can leave a film and doesn't contribute any cleaning affect.
4. hard water means there are extra substances dissolved in the water that might be causing issues. You can get 4 liter jugs of distilled warer at walmart for cheap. You could try that and see if it made a difference.
 
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Try taking salt out of the equation, along with the vinegar it will promote a surface corrosion effect/tarnish.
 
Pink brass is due to the zinc getting leached out by the acid (vinegar and/or lemishine). If not left in the solution too long no harm done. Rubbing with "0000" steel wool will get rid of it.
 
After washing your brass in your solution, rinse it thoroughly with water then let it soak in a bleach/ water solution for 5 minutes. About 1 tablespoon of bleach per litre of water is what I use.

The bleach will stop the vinegar reaction on the brass. Then dry the cases off as quickly as possible. I throw mine in the oven at 200 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

This has always worked for me, I’ve never had the pink brass.
 
IMHO you don't need the salt or vinegar.
Lemishine is Citric Acid so you already have some acid in your solution. In my wet tumbler I use a 9mm case full (about 1/4 tsp) along with 2 tbsp Dawn soap.
 
I made the homemade brass cleaner below and it also turned the brass "pink", and the reason is what Ed Smurf described above.
(Anyone with a first name of Ed is very smart, good looking and modest) ;)

NOTE, many people just soak and wash their cases by hand with dish soap and lemishine and the brass doesn't turn pink. And then if needed use a vibratory tumbler with untreated walnut media to polish.

Read the "Chemical Case Cleaning Solutions" at the link below for the different methods.

Homemade Firearm Cleaners & Lubricants
http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm#Solutions

A solution of 1 quart of water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup laundry or dishwashing detergent, 1/8 cup salt. Soak with some agitation for 15 to 20 minutes and follow with a rinse of soapy hot water and allow to dry. This may leave brass with a slight pinkish cast which will disappear with a short tumble in media.


Below different brands of brass will vary in the "pink" coloration depending how long it is left in the solution.

X-Ray Spectrometry of Cartridge Brass
http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/x-ray-spectrometry-of-cartridge-brass/
 
I use about a 1/2 teaspoon of lemishine with a couple squirts of dawn dish soap in my rotary. I also used the same in my vibratory (no pins) which worked quite well before I got the rotary. Only difference was the primers and inside the cases get cleaned better in the rotary due to the stainless pins. Try just the lemishine and dish soap and agitate it. It should work.
 
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