I bought my copper mesh from Amphora Society
I asked Mike how to clean it
email from Mike Nixon
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Dear Nate,
Many thanks for ordering four (4) pounds of the mesh. Your card has been charged US$70.00 ($60.00 for the mesh with $10.00 shipping)). This will appear on your statement as NZ$94.72 at the current exchange rate, as payment to Silver Key Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand, the parent company of the Amphora Society.
Your mesh will be shipped to you from our US distribution center immediately.
As for looking after the mesh, you need to clean it occasionally as it turns black. This is a deposit of sulphides, which every carbohydrate ferment has, and you want to remove it from the vapor and liquid as it can lead to some rather nasty smells and tastes.
Cleaning is both simple and easy. Best done by carefully sliding the slugs of mesh from the column, but not unrolling them. To a liter of hot water, add two heaped teaspoons of citric acid (as used in baking the white powder) and the same of common table salt. Now soak the mesh in this solution. Periodically, remove the mesh and reheat the solution in the microwave (not to boiling!) as chemical reactions proceed quicker at raised temperatures, and citric acid is a very weak acid. The salt is there to promote molecular activity withing the solution, so helping the reaction along. You'll find that the mesh looks almost like new after 20-30 minutes. Rinse it well, then leave it to soak in a bucket of clean water overnight to get rid of the last traces of chemicals (add a teaspoon of baking soda if you like). If you don't soak it, then you'll probably find it turns a bit gray after time, this being due to oxidation in the presence of traces of citric acid. After soaking, you should find it looks just about the same as new mesh. The reaction does remove a small amount of the copper, but only a few parts per million. In 6 years of repeatedly cleaning the same slugs of mesh, I have not noticed any perceptible diminution in the threads, nor have we had any reports of others suffering damage.
All the best,
Mike Nixon