--- title: "Flour and Egg in the Keyhole After Els Enfarinats" description: "On 28 December Ibi is pelted with flour and eggs. In a cylinder, oil turns that into paste. What to try, what to avoid, and when the lock needs changing." url: "https://locksmithibi.es/blog/flour-and-egg-in-the-keyhole-after-els-enfarinats/" business: "Locksmith Ibi" --- # Flour in the keyhole: cleaning a lock after 28 December On 28 December the town is pelted with flour, eggs and firecrackers. When some of it ends up inside a cylinder, the wrong fix turns it into paste. What to do instead. 23 October 2026 · 4 min read Every 28 December, the Day of the Holy Innocents, Ibi hands itself over to Els Enfarinats. A company of “floured ones” in mock uniforms takes over the town hall for the day, and the streets of the centre fill with flour, eggs and firecrackers. The festival is the high point of Ibi’s Festes d’Hivern, which run from 13 December to 6 January and were declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest in 2009. It is a lot of fun. It is also the one day of the year when a fair amount of the town’s flour finds its way into front-door keyholes. ## Why flour and locks do not mix A euro cylinder works because small pins slide freely inside it. Dry flour is fine powder: it packs between the pins and the key, and the key starts to feel gritty or to stop half-way. Egg is worse. Wet, it carries the flour deeper; dry, it sets hard and glues the pins. ## The first thing most people reach for, and why not to A squirt of oil or a general-purpose spray seems logical. With flour inside, it is the worst choice: oil plus flour makes a paste that sets in the cold of a January night and holds the pins even more firmly. Water poured into the keyhole does the same thing more slowly, and leaves the inside of the cylinder damp. ## Four things that clear flour without harm 1. **Wipe the key**, both sides, before putting it back in the lock. A dirty key loads the cylinder every time it goes in. 2. **Blow the powder out.** A can of compressed air, or a few firm puffs through a straw held to the keyhole, clears loose flour. 3. **Use a dry lubricant**, graphite powder or a PTFE dry spray, in very small amounts, then work the key in and out several times and wipe it again. 4. **Clean the outside face** of the cylinder with a damp cloth, keeping the water out of the keyhole itself. If the key turns smoothly after that, the job is done. If egg has dried inside, it usually will not. ## When the cylinder has to come out A cylinder with dried egg in it can be taken out, cleaned and refitted, but often replacing it costs little more and is quicker. Either way it is a booked job, not an emergency, as long as you can still open the door. If you cannot, and you are on the wrong side of it, [ring the emergency line](https://locksmithibi.es/emergency-locksmith-ibi/). For a new cylinder, or to understand which one your door takes, see [the lock change page](https://locksmithibi.es/lock-change-ibi/). ## Next year If your door opens onto one of the streets where the battle is fought, a strip of masking tape over the keyhole on the morning of the 28th, and a key kept in a sealed bag in your pocket, saves the trouble. Two weeks later comes the other big date of the winter fiestas, and with it a different kind of lock: [the one on the cupboard where the Three Kings’ presents wait](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/hiding-the-three-kings-presents-behind-a-locked-door/). The key still sticks after cleaning? A cylinder clogged with dried egg is often quicker to replace than to rescue, and a new one is fitted on a day that suits you. [Lock change in Ibi for homes bought, rented or simply worn](https://locksmithibi.es/lock-change-ibi/) Two more from the same town - [Until the morning of the sixth: a lock for the present cupboard](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/hiding-the-three-kings-presents-behind-a-locked-door/) · 4 min - [A small child on the other side of the door](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/a-child-locked-inside-the-first-five-minutes/) · 4 min - [All the guides for Ibi](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/) ## Quicker to ring than to read on? Ring, or send the lock and your location on WhatsApp. Open 24 hours · 7 days [+34 678 583 290](tel:+34678583290) [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/34678583290?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20a%20locksmith%20in%20Ibi.%20Where%20I%20am%20(street%2C%20barrio%2C%20the%20partida%20or%20the%20industrial%20estate)%20and%20what%20has%20happened%3A)