Galvanised bucket!

[rextherobber]

I have been given a big galvanised bucket with a lid, perfect for soaking the sugar beet in. Is there any reason why I can't use it for this? I have an annoying niggle about galvanised containers, but can't remember what/ why....can anyone help me out here? TIA

 

[PurBee]

Galvanising is generally a thin layer of zinc to prevent the steel beneath corroding.
You might feel a niggle because some substances in contact with the zinc could cause the zinc to be absorbed into the substance - but I would imaging that very acidic or very alkaline substances would do that - but I don’t think beet pulp soaking would be too extreme a PH to cause this. Tap water PH isn’t extreme off 7. Our spring water is 7PH.
For peace of mind you could check with some cheap PH strips once you’ve got the mixture soaking what the PH ends up being. It’s likely fine.

iIRC many moons ago my old riding school had a huge galvanised tank with soaking beet pulp, and the horses there were healthy hardy beasts, and the tank looked clean after years of use.

 

[rextherobber]

Galvanising is generally a thin layer of zinc to prevent the steel beneath corroding.
You might feel a niggle because some substances in contact with the zinc could cause the zinc to be absorbed into the substance - but I would imaging that very acidic or very alkaline substances would do that - but I don’t think beet pulp soaking would be too extreme a PH to cause this. Tap water PH isn’t extreme off 7. Our spring water is 7PH.
For peace of mind you could check with some cheap PH strips once you’ve got the mixture soaking what the PH ends up being. It’s likely fine.

iIRC many moons ago my old riding school had a huge galvanised tank with soaking beet pulp, and the horses there were healthy hardy beasts, and the tank looked clean after years of use.

Thank you, that's super helpful and I have some of those pH strips, do I'll definitely do that. Thank you!