Thanks for the advice guys. I'll give it a good soak in bleach.
So how can I avoid it happening in future? Is it just from the constantly wet towel being wrapped around it?
Edit: I recall reading about a water, bleach and vinegar solution that is supposedly tops. Can't find the dilution rates now though. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
I'd hit that with "exit mould" (I think its a Hydrogen Peroxide solution anyway) and then think about sanitising...
How long are you keeping it wrapped in a wet towel for?
I know what you're talking about with the vinegar...
Thanks to butters this is the quote
"buy 2L of unscented, plain bleach. Homebrand is fine.
buy 2L of white vinegar. Again, homebrand is fine, but it must be white vinegar, not malt or wine or anything else.
In the bottom of the fermenter put 1.9L of the bleach. This amount is for a 30L fermenter, if yours is different size, its 62.5ml per Litre. Put in all your other brewing equipment.
fill the fermenter almost to the top water, just regular tap temperature.
add the same amount of vinegar as the bleach, so 1.9L for a 30L fermenter. Stand back a little when you do this, definately do not put your head over it....it will start to produce chlorine gas. Dont breath it in. NEVER add vinegar (or any other acid) directly to undiluted bleach (or any other alkali.) always add the alkali to the water, then add the acid.
top up with water, and put the lid on. make sure the inside of the lid is in contact with the water. (if it was full, it should be.)
allow this to stand for 20 minutes. Open the tap and allow it to drain out. Rinse well with water.
refill the fermenter to the top with water, allow it to stand for another 5 minutes, then drain. This is really just to make sure on the rinse, if its rinsed really really well, you could get away with not doing it. But I would.
You're now good to go. This concentration of acidulated bleach is what microbiologist reccomend for killing anthrax. If you get an infection after doing this, then it's just proof that god must hate you. . Some may consider this to be massive overkill, and it probably is. But if you have that little nagging doubt at the back of your mind re infection, this will put it to rest once and for all.
If not using the fermenter immediatly, just re-sanitise it with 8ml bleach in 5L of water, with the 8mL vinegar added at the end. (medicine cups, or dosing syringes from the chemist are great for this.) Put it in fermenter, shake to ensure it has contacted all inside surfaces, run some through the tap, and empty out. Only 30seconds to a minute contact time required. You could leave it to drain for a couple of minutes, just to get the excess out, but at this lower concentration, its a safe no rinse. (i also do this immediately after brewing, after its been rinsed out with water and cleaned, so that it can store without going as funky. Lets face it, 8ml bleach and 8ml vinegar is so cheap its ridiculous.)"
That will kill anything that could possibly go anywhere near the ferementer.
Cheers,
Chris.
Any suggestions?
