Cleaning mildew question.

I haven't brewed in a while and apparently when my equipment was stored it wasn't completely dry. My bottling buckets and fermentation buckets were stacked and i noticed that one of them had a little bit of mildew in it. I cleaned w oxyclean and a plastic scrubby/scotch-brite pad (are these safe for plastic?) and then soaked w starsan. I pitched yeast an hr after flame out and was seeing activity in the airlocks within another ~2.5-3 hrs. If I screwed up it's too late now, but I don't notice any off smells at the airlocks. Are Ale Pails screwed if they get a little mildew? Are plastic scrubbies/scotch-brite too abrasive for food quality plastics? Thanks in advance.
ρ®ïMσ

When in doubt throw it out. Any plastic that is old and gets mildew should be replaced. It's cheaper and easier to replace plastic than risk ruining a batch of beer.

anything with scrubby in the name is not a good idea with plastic. when you get a chance look closely and look for any signs of scratches. but i agree with Clonefarmer just toss the buckets and get new ones. they are not that expensive.

I'll look more closely later..both buckets are now full of beer. Yesterday was my first batch in about 2 yrs. (I started thinking about this in retrospect--what i need to do next time). I'm a little rusty and my technique was a little ill planned. The pads I used to clean w are the same type I've always used. I've never applied a lot of force and the plastic feels smooth to the touch (no gouges or anything). They are foam on the inside w a plastic material on the outside. I guess I'll use rags from now on..and determine if I need new buckets in a few weeks

i agree you don't want to scratch your buckets however it appears you did a great job cleaning and sanitizing. i wouldn't worry about it now. once this beer is in secondary/kegged/bottled, i would then consider replacing the buckets with new ones. keep those for cleaning buckets.

Boo. I just bored holes and put spigots in them yesterday. If there aren't any visible scratches do you think they're okay. I know I'm sounding like a total cheap a$$, but I was hoping to invest in a gas burner for my next batch.

ρ®ïMσ;1950523 said:

Boo. I just bored holes and put spigots in them yesterday. If there aren't any visible scratches do you think they're okay. I know I'm sounding like a total cheap a$$, but I was hoping to invest in a gas burner for my next batch.

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i think your ok. if i were you, i wouldnt worry about it. like i said you appear to do a great job cleaning and sanitizing so even if there were scratches, it wouldnt contain any nasties. you will be just fine.

ρ®ïMσ;1950523 said:

Boo. I just bored holes and put spigots in them yesterday. If there aren't any visible scratches do you think they're okay. I know I'm sounding like a total cheap a$$, but I was hoping to invest in a gas burner for my next batch.

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If you are going to keep the buckets at least use a dilute bleach solution to clean them and rinse very very well after.

Clonefarmer said:

If you are going to keep the buckets at least use a dilute bleach solution to clean them and rinse very very well after.

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1 tablespoon:1 gallon, right?

ρ®ïMσ;1950661 said:

1 tablespoon:1 gallon, right?

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I'm not sure about the ratio needed.

Per John Palmer on howtobrew.com

Bleach
The cheapest and most readily available sanitizing solution is made by adding 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water (4 ml per liter). Let the items soak for 20 minutes, and then drain. Rinsing is supposedly not necessary at this concentration, but many brewers, myself included, rinse with some boiled water anyway to be sure of no off-flavors from the chlorine.

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BargainFittings said:

Per John Palmer on howtobrew.com

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I've read the book multiple times, but that dilution is for sanitizing. Is the ratio the same for cleaning?

Looking on the clorox brand site, it show 3/4 cup per gallon for disinfecting surfaces and 1 tbsp per gallon for sanitizing
http://www.clorox.com/products/usage.php?prod_id=clb

Vinylidine is the only mold I know of that can grow on plastic.
Other molds can grow on the organic crud that is coating plastic but not the plastic. None of which speaks to the mycelia, some of which is microscopic, which may possibly penetrate the plastic seeking nutrition.

That latter possibility suggests that once any mold or fungal entity has established itself on any polymer container, that discarding it may be the best solution when one is not going to be boiling the product from that polymer container.