Mouldy Fermenter

[floody_lager]

Not sure if its mould or if i didint clean my fermenter properly. I bottled about 3 weeks ago and since then my fermenter has sat with some sanitiser in the bottom of it.I noticed yesterday that there was some mouldy looking patches up top.
Wats the best way of cleaning it so i can still use it

 

[Supra-Jim]

Plenty of really hot water, a good scrub, then hit it again with santisier and then let it dry ( i generally dry mine upside down). Then sanitise again before use. That should do the trick.

Cheers

SJ

 

[Spartan 117]

Hey Floody,
I would recomend just give it a good scrubbing with hot water with some bleach, most moulds produce microtoxins that stop other bacteria from growing but can be harmfull to us. Make sure you rinse it with plenty of boiling water and you should be right, if you want post a pic and i might be able to tell ewhat mould it is.

Cheers

Aaron

 

[rclemmett]

If you do give it a good scrub, keep in mind that if you scratch the surface of the fermenter you are creating good spots for bacteria to grow. Make sure you use a soft cloth or you might end up retiring the fermenter.

 

[Supra-Jim]

^^^ Good point there, don't scrub it with a wire brush!!!!

I generally use one of these:

Cheers

SJ

 

[pint of lager]

Do not scrub with anything except a soft cloth.

To clean your fermenter use a good cleaner such as bleach, napisan, PSR or caustic.

USE ONLY ONE CLEANER, DO NOT MIX THESE PRODUCTS.

Put in cleaner, fill fermenter to the brim, leave to soak for a day.

Drain, wipe out with soft cloth and rinse thoroughly. Allow to drain upside down, air dry and store dry.

Make sure every o'ring and tap is dissambled, cleaned with a toothbrush, rinsed and air dried. Clean all threads. Next time you need to use the fermenter, it will need a sanitise with a no rinse product.

Never store equipment damp. Mould loves moisture to grow.

You may find that your plastic is now stained permanently by the mould.

Clean everything thoroughly after use, air dry and then sanitise before use.

 

[flattop]

neat bleach and 2 days drying in sunshine

 

[Fents]

Put in cleaner, fill fermenter to the brim, leave to soak for a day.

do you live in one of those magical states with lots of water at the moment POL

 

[chris.taylor.98]

neat bleach and 2 days drying in sunshine

+1 for bleach

If you don't want to fill it completely, tip it on its side and rotate every 30 mins or so. Saves on water and bleach. I get away with about 6 liters this way.

If you follow up with a rinse or two of boiling water will get rid of most of the residual chlorine too.

 

[pint of lager]

Fents, we are on tank water, no excess charges for using 25 litres to fill a fermenter.

The fill and soak strategy is only for a badly stained fermenter.

Usually I am much more frugal with water. There is a few litres of cleaner made up in a bucket and I use a soft el cheapo dust pan brush dipped in cleaning solution to clean the fermenter out. It then recieves a few rinses and is air dried.

 

[boingk]

Sounds like something I've run into on the odd occasion. Usually I'll rinse with hot water straight after bottling and then store when dry, but cleaning otherwise involves a bash with hot water followed by some sort of sanitiser and a rinse with hot/cold water depending on directions. I don't use a cloth or anything usually, just my hands. I suppose if there was mouldy looking stuff I'd use a sponge or something though.

Cheers - boingk

 

[Bizier]

I find if you use sodium perc + boiling water in a strong solution (might give a toxix cloud of gas, unsure) it strips nearly anything off the sides of your fermenter. You only need 1 jug's worth of boiling water too. Then rinse well.

 

[barry2]

200mls of unperfumed bleach into fermenter.Fill with cold water and leave overnight.Next day empty and remove any rubbish with a soft cloth and give the fermenter a good rinse with hot water until the bleach smell is gone.
I use the same procedure after every brew.

 

[TasChris]

I fill with water and napisan and leave for a couple of days then clean with a cloth then rinse with a weak bleach solution and then dry in the sun. When time comes to reuse I rinse with boiling water (remove any dust, spiders etc) and then sanitise. Every 3rd or 4th use I soak for a day or three with a bleach solution.
Water usage not a problem as we are also on tanks and have 1300+ml rainfall, (drought this year, we only got 1100ml LOL)

 

[Nick JD]

A way to avoid this is to never have an empty fermenter. You need to up your drinking rate to the same rate that yeast makes beer. :beerbang:

 

[floody_lager]

thanks for the help everyone. its only in a small patch so i guess id get away with scrubbing it off with some bleach.
im waiting for my bottles to finish conditioning in my fridge. been nearly 4 weeks so ill take them out on the weekend and start my next brew. prob a coopers blonde