

All I know is that citric acid is dirt cheap in powder form, especially if you don’t need food grade.
Add water, and mix to taste: When it’s the most sour thing you’ve ever tasted, it’s about right.
Source: We use barrels of the stuff in the offshore industry to descale steel hardware that has been on the seabed. Just don’t tell the HSE department that you’re judging acid strength based on flavor, they’ll only see the acid-part and freak out.




Hydrochloric acid has a smell. That’s definitely the only downside.