Drying brass?

[Matthew Duncan]

I wet tumble my brass to clean and to “Go Green” by letting them air dry.  Some water spots on the brass but I don’t care.  
 

Son would prefer his reloads to be free from water spots.  Would a food dehydrator prevent the water spotting?

[Shooting Bull]

I was plagued by the same problem and concern.  I've found using two large towels works great.  (Also helps to live in the dry Nevada desert.) Drain as much water as possible from the brass and then dump onto first towel.  Gather one end of the towel in each hand and "tumble" back and forth.  Lift right hand so brass tumbles to the left, lift left hand so brass tumbles to the right, repeat a few times. This gets the vast majority of water out of and off of the brass.  Then dump onto the second towel for final drying under a ceiling fan set to hurricane. Come back the next day to nice dry shiny brass with no spots. 

[John Kloehr]

The spots are due to dissolved stuff in the water.

 

A distilled water rinse may help.

[Cholla]

I agree with JK. It’s most likely because of hard water.  I spin my brass in the pin separator which removes the water droplets and pins. No water spots on mine. 

[TN Mongo, SASS #61450]

I love my food dehydrator.  It dries my brass quickly with no water sports.  I found it at a yard sale for $15.  I have purchased 4 other dehydrators at similar prices for fellow cowboy shooters.

 

I have also found that depriming helps my cases dry even faster (I use the Yul Lose no SS pin method).

[Mister Badly]

I have 2 big bath towels sewn together on 3 sides to each other. Dump the wet brass in and shake it all about. Dump the brass out on another towel and set a small fan to blow across it.

[Eyesa Horg]

1 hour ago, Matthew Duncan said:

I wet tumble my brass to clean and to “Go Green” by letting them air dry.  Some water spots on the brass but I don’t care.  
 

Son would prefer his reloads to be free from water spots.  Would a food dehydrator prevent the water spotting?

I use a dehydrator and it it works great.

I rinse mine in a 50/50 mix of Simple Green, then the dehydrator. Then about an hour in a tumbler with corn cob and polish.

[Attica Jack #23953]

I made this, works great.

[Matthew Duncan]

3 hours ago, Mister Badly said:

I have 2 big bath towels sewn together on 3 sides to each other. Dump the wet brass in and shake it all about. Dump the brass out on another towel and set a small fan to blow across it.

I like your idea.  I’ve been rolling them in a terry towel and trying to remember again as they dry.  I’ll use your bath towel bag next time.

 

[Matthew Duncan]

45 minutes ago, Attica Jack #23953 said:

I made this, works great.

Wow!  I can see how that would work.  I do batches of thousands and not sure if I want that amount of time to make the son a bit happier.

[Shooting Bull]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Duncan said:

Wow!  I can see how that would work.  I do batches of thousands and not sure if I want that amount of time to make the son a bit happier.

 

Make the son do the work

[Eyesa Horg]

Next time the son gripes, hand him a can NeverDull

[Choctaw Jack]

I use a squirt of Lemi-Shine in my wet tumbler .Its designed to eliminate water spots.

If you like a simpler solution,ascorbic acid works just about as well.

[Jeb Stuart #65654]

6 hours ago, Matthew Duncan said:

I wet tumble my brass to clean and to “Go Green” by letting them air dry.  Some water spots on the brass but I don’t care.  
 

Son would prefer his reloads to be free from water spots.  Would a food dehydrator prevent the water spotting?

I use the towel method to get  most of the water off, then place in food dehydrator for 45 minutes.  Come out shiny and dry.

[Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L]

If it really matters, put a squirt of something like JetDry in the final rinse water.  Seems to work for me.

 

 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

another "see-saw in a towel" user here.

 

I do have a wire mesh rack that sits about 4" off ground.  Put a piece of black fabric on it then brass. 

 

In Texas Sun doesn't take long--they're hot to touch in about an hour.

 

also if late in the day, put under ceiling fan for the night.  

 

 

[Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L]

If you set them outside to dry here in Maryland, when you went back to get them, they would have mold growing on them.

 

In addition to the JetDry, put usually them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 225 (or what every it is when the dial is set there) for about a hour.

[Diamond Curly SASS#57086]

4 hours ago, Attica Jack #23953 said:

I made this, works great.

I made the same rack about five years ago and it works great.

 

[Hollifer A. Dollar]

I use silica gel cat litter - the cheap kind from WalMart - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vibrant-Life-Mini-Crystal-Unscented-Cat-Litter-8-lb/221047623  Put your clean brass in a mop bucket & cover it with the cat litter.  Let it stay at least 24 hours & it will be desert dry, even in the spent primers.  Never noticed any water spots.  It lasts a long time - I haven't bought any in over a year.

 

Holler

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Frankly, I just don't care.  Simply doesn't matter at all.  Of course, I don't "wet" tumble.  I dry tumble in Lizard Litter.  Also don't worry about stains.  Don't worry about shiny either.  Just clean is fine.  Spending a lot of time to make shiny brass in my not so humble opine is just a waste of time I could spend at something useful.  Like reloading my slightly stained brass.

[Yusta B.]

7 hours ago, Mister Badly said:

I have 2 big bath towels sewn together on 3 sides to each other. Dump the wet brass in and shake it all about. Dump the brass out on another towel and set a small fan to blow across it.

This works well for me too ! It's easy to get the water droplets off.

 

If you want it dry in about 5 minutes, blot with a towel then throw it into a dry media tumbler. I de-prime before any cleaning.

[Bailey Creek,5759]

I went and purchased 3-inch finishing nails. 

Set them into a 1x6 board. In the Summer i set them in the sun to dry.

In the cooler Months they might make there way into the Oven.

 

[Matthew Duncan]

3 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Next time the son gripes, hand him a can NeverDull

Son doesn’t gripe.  Just asked if there was a way…

 

 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Put'em on a towel and roll'em around a bit.

Leave'em on the towel with a fan blow'n on it. 

 

[Captain Bill Burt]

I use a little Lemi Shine, a little Armor All Wash and Wax, 2 hours in the Rebel 17, rinse well, spin in my old media separator (left over from when I used lizard litter) throw in a cardboard box and sit in the sun for a few hours.

[Mister Badly]

Yes, the sun works pretty fast.

[Silver Creek Jack]

 

 

I deprime first, wet tumble, throw them in the separator to get the pins out, rinse them well in clean water do the towel thing, put them in the dehydrator for 45 min at 160 degrees, come out looking like new, shiny cases are easier to find in dirt and gravel!

 

[Sedalia Dave]

21 hours ago, John Kloehr said:

The spots are due to dissolved stuff in the water.

 

A distilled water rinse may help.

 

THIS^^^

 

Water spots have nothing to do with how they are dried. They are the result of either not getting the brass properly rinsed or you have hard water where you live.

[Wallaby Damned]

I’ll add my $0.02 as I haven’t seen referenced already. For BP loads, I drop into Simple Green solution at the range and transport home, then treat as any other brass. On the reloading bench, I wet tumble all my brass and then drop it into a small bucket with full strength acetone. I’m my opinion, this strips remaining oils and etc and greatly helps in drying as it removes all water from primer pockets and otherwise. I then air dry on a baking sheet overnight and store in Tupperware for the next go round. 

[Mister Badly]

Toweling off a car when it's wet with hard water prevents spots. Shaking wet brass in a towel bag does too. Not that I care about spots.

[Brandon A Bovine SASS 27688]

I also dump mine onto old towels and rub them around to dry off the outside, then either set them in the sun to dry inside or  put them on the floor in the house for a day or two. Hard water at my house too.

[The Blarney Kid]

I shoot black so I clean my brass in hot water and dish soap then dry in a cake pan in the oven for about 30 minutes. Then I  dry tumble. 

[watab kid]

im not throwing any rocks here but i sometimes think folks get a wee bit picky over irrelevant points yet - if you dont want spots far be it from me to suggest your wrong , i am enjoying the thread 

[Dusty Devil Dale]

I've started using an electric heat gun to manually dry trays of brass right after thorough rinsing.  It works very well and very quickly.    I spread them on top of shop towels in shallow cookie sheets or pizza pans.  A tray takes less than 4-5 minutes.  

[Matthew Duncan]

Thank you TN Mongo and Sedalia Dave for answering my OP question.