Thread: ammonia

Zimmer comment is correct but it's just chemistry at work. Ammonia reacts with copper salts to form an intense blue compound and make them soluble in water. Copper is below steel in the electrochemical series so when the two metals are in contact in an electrolyte in this case the cleaner a tiny battery is formed as the iron dissolves to protect the copper which leads to micro pitting if left to long on its own in a barrel with no copper in it there will be no corrosion as steel isn't affected by ammonia and rust won't form in an alkaline environment.
Sorry if this sounds like a chemistry lecture but I used to do this stuff for a living and there is a lot of misunderstanding about this.