Grooves in Bucket Lid

I have buckets from Austin Homebrew Supply. The underside of the lid is ringed with grooves just inside the gasket. A vigorous fermentation leaves deposits inside these grooves, and it is virtually impossible to remove all of the gunk. Three questions:

1) Should I even be worried about this?

2) If so, any suggestions of how to clean the lids? I've tried soaking in PBW and using Q-Tips, to no avail.

3) Does anyone know of a vendor that sells buckets with smooth lids? The grooves serve no purpose that I can discern. I don't know why Austin would sell a fermentor that's so difficult to clean.

Thanks!

Do you have a dishwasher, or a car wash nearby??

YOu might be able to soak in OXiclean if you have a container big enough to fit the lid...

I'm pretty sure I have the same or similar buckets and those grooves are a real pain. I usually remove the gaskets and soak the lids in a large cooler. If the krausen/fermentation junk is really stubborn I usually drag out the power washer and blast the stuff out.

Its a real pain, but it works fairly well.

If anyone else has a better method, I would like to know as well.

I soak mine in the utility sink with hot water and oxyclean for about an hour, and it comes right out with the sprayer.