What's the longest you would let Bleach/Water sit in a Plastic Mash Tun?

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RLinNH

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Just went downstairs to get my Funnel which is stored in my Plastic Coleman Extreme Mash Tun. When I opened the lid, I was Horrified. In the bottom, after my last Brew session, I must not have cleaned well enough as I now have some Mold issues on the bottom of my Mash Tun. Needless to say, I am in the process of tearing it apart and cleaning. I want to soak the inside of the cooler and the Copper Lautering Manifold in a strong Bleach/Water Solution. Think an hour is to long for a Plastic Cooler to be subjected to that?
 
Don't worry I and many others have had this happen. If you do the bleach for an hour and then rinse well and then soak/scrub with PBW and rinse well and then some Starsan then your mashtun will be as nice as it was before the mold. It only happens when we get in a hurry and forget to clean it. It is the perfect breeding ground for mold. Always air it out with it open so it drys out. Store with the lid open a bit.
 
Bleach in a plastic cooler is no problem after all beach comes in a plastic bottle. If you have any metal such a Stainless steel soaking in chlorine bleach isn't recommended. If everything is clean then 5 minutes is all you need.
 
I agree with the above comments. I would not leave bleach-water on metal parts for very long. I store my fermentors, PET and glass, in bleach-water. 2 oz / 5 gal. I have 7 fermentors so it can be many months. The mild bleach solution cleans the surface deposits off. No scrubbing required. I rinse them like crazy and check for a bleach smell. If I find it to smell I keep rinsing. Inside & Out. - I'll do both since I don't know the source of the smell.

Anything you mash you are going to boil the hell out of so I would not be overly worried. I'd just try to clean it well and let it air dry. Store the cooler cracked open. You can also ball up a piece newspaper as it will suck any moisture vapor leftover once you close it up.
 
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