Did your canner come with an instruction manual? Mine has cleaning instructions.

You can try cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons per quart of water. Mix it into your canner, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. rinse and see if that helped.

Or, make a paste of cream of tartar and a little water and scrub with it. Rinse.

What can I use to clean the inside of the canner I just bought? It looks like it has a lot of lime deposits and build up and I don't want to use the wrong thing.

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How did that happen so fast ?( lime deposit ?) You must have a very hard water.

You just use it to boil water in it. You are not cooking anything in it , are you ?

There are various lime cleaner products (for faucets, bathroom ..etc) that you can use. Vinegar can work too.

You can use vinegar or citric acid to dissolve the mineral deposits. Both are food safe. The cream of tartar works, too, but I've found it removes the discoloration more than the lime (I have really hard water). Aluminum does discolor, so don't be discouraged if the staining doesn't disappear entirely. I have Mom's old Presto pressure cooker (circa 1946) that's rather dark inside, but I know it's clean :-)

Thanks for all the tips!!!

And I guess I should've clarified that I bought a used canner. I just want to clean it up before I use it....IF I ever get to. I'm having trouble finding a counterweight and I still have to take it the extension office. I found out that it's considered "vintage" so I might have just wasted my money :(