On Jan 20, 11:37*am, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
wrote:
... *See if a magnet sticks. * Most food-grade
stainless items are the non-magetic sort. *

A magnet doesn't stick, but it's definitely not SS. *SS doesn't react
like this with HCl.

And the iron underneath the

tin will react with the hydrochloric acid pretty quickly, too. *...

Iron doesn't react as vigorously as this does. *It was "boiling" away to
the end, not just while a coating was being reacted.

Bob

In a lab I worked the two most common types of sieves that we used
were stainless steel and brass. The brass ones were less expensive.
I'll bet that the strainer was a tinned or plated brass.