Mouse Around Brewing Equipment

Ugh! There's mice in the basement. Luckily I got my grains sealed in bags inside HDPE buckets. No evidence of them trying to gain entry into any ingredients.

I did find mouse poop around my auto-siphon, tubing, mash paddle, pots, bung, etc.... Should a good oxyclean bath clean this stuff or should I throw it out?

Maybe I should store my brew equipment in a rubbermaid container from now on.

and buy an evil deranged cat... I wasn't happy about it myself but my god a lil murderer will help the problem.

I would, but my half blind mutt would try to kill him. I think he had a run-in with a cat when he was younger, which would explain the scratches on his face and the cut on his eyeball.

Cleaning it will be fine. A mouse isn't any dirtier than a cat and my cats are around my equipment on a daily basis.

Keep in mind though, Oxiclean is not a sanitizer, it's a cleaner. After a good oxi soak and cleaning, you'll still want to sanitize.I personally would still toss and replace any vinyl tubing because it's too cheap to take a chance with.

I almost caught him this morning. He looks like a field mouse. Cute little bastard, but I still want him dead.

I would heave anything that looks like it had mouse chit on or near it. If you go to clean up down there wear a mask. Four people died of Hanta Virus here on Long Island which is a deadly disease in which one out of three cases results in death and is directly related to rodent (mice) pee and chit.

CDC: All about Hanta Virus

Sawdustguy said:

I would heave anything that looks like it had mouse chit on or near it. If you go to clean up down there wear a mask. Four people died of Hanta Virus here on Long Island which is a deadly disease in which one out of three cases results in death and is directly related to rodent (mice) pee and chit.

CDC: All about Hanta Virus

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Good information. According to that website the virus breaks down after 2-3 days. They also claim that a good cleaner will breakdown the virus which is fragile.

I'm probably going to end up throwing out my tubing and auto siphon(broken down right now), but I think the rest of my equipment is OK.

You should send every last bit of equipment and all your ingredients to me for proper disposal.

...Or just wash it and sanitize. If it were me, I'd probably repeat the process, but that's because I'm a little overly paranoid about that sort of thing.

If you decide to use snap traps, bait them but don't arm them and let the rodents feed for a day or two so they get used to them. Set all the traps at once.

Learned that trick and it works well.

Clean all your gear that has been exposed and sanitize and use it. It will be fine if you clean them well.

Use a chicken nugget as bait for the traps. I caught a mouse 5 minutes after first sighting with that as bait.

BargainFittings said:

If you decide to use snap traps, bait them but don't arm them and let the rodents feed for a day or two so they get used to them. Set all the traps at once.

Learned that trick and it works well.

Clean all your gear that has been exposed and sanitize and use it. It will be fine if you clean them well.

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Crap. I bought several different kinds of traps and they were all baited and armed. So far nothing....

But to be honest last night was the first night I had the traps in the basement.

Yeah man I'd pitch the tubing just for peace of mind, and because it's cheap.

The rest of it I'm sure will be fine with a good Oxycleaning & sanitizing.

If it'll fit in a rubbermaid container, I like that idea too.

Burgs said:

Yeah man I'd pitch the tubing just for peace of mind, and because it's cheap.

The rest of it I'm sure will be fine with a good Oxycleaning & sanitizing.

If it'll fit in a rubbermaid container, I like that idea too.

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The only thing that's not cheap is the high temp hose. I am leaning to your suggestion. I might replace the auto-siphon because I had it broken down at the time. Also it's >3 old. Will 5/16" tubing go over a 3/8" auto siphon or should I use 3/8" tubing?

Remember that if you see the chit around, that there is also mouse pee everywhere, they do not have bladder control and just leak out everywhere they walk, so clean the whole area very well.

I didn't know that about the bladder... yuck.

I had mice in my brewing garage at my last house. I baited traps with malted barley and caught several mice that way. I figured it was what they were after anyway...

Meh, it's just poop. The Hanta Virus rarely kills people....I think.

The best mouse trap.linky
Don't use water and use some anti-freeze and that will kill them quick and make it so they don't stink once they DIE...

If you only knew how much mouse poop was in many of the things we eat and drink...

I'd just clean and sanitize all of that stuff. I'd only throw it out if there was an infect batch of beer.

steinsato said:

Meh, it's just poop. The Hanta Virus rarely kills people....I think.

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I don't think it's cool to joke about something that kills 33% of the time.

Yes, hantavirus does kill somewhere between 30 and 50 % of those who get it, but getting it is like winning the lottery. In Canada, since 1994, there have only been about 60 cases, and a few of those years no cases reported at all. From what I found through google, there are about 30 cases per year reported in all of North America.
Don't worry about the disease, it doesn't survive outside the host for very long, so probably by the time you found the chit, the virus was dead. Just clean up what you can, replace the easy stuff, and keep the new stuff protected.

njnear76 said:

Good information. According to that website the virus breaks down after 2-3 days. They also claim that a good cleaner will breakdown the virus which is fragile.

I'm probably going to end up throwing out my tubing and auto siphon(broken down right now), but I think the rest of my equipment is OK.

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Anyone that has found mouse droppings in their conical fermentor should IMMEDIATELY stop using them! The aforementioned virus penetrates stainless steel and will produce an unbearable acidic taste along with mold which will never go away, ever. Fortunately, I am qualified to purchase this bulk scrap stainless steel from you at the highest of market prices.

Pour a some beer into the bottom of a Homer Bucket and leave it out overnight. Next morning, check the bucket for a passed out mouse. The mouse will not likely be able to scale the slick vertical walls of the bucket. Before the mouse comes around, put a lid on the bucket. At the earliest opportunity, transport the bucket and the mouse to your ex-wife's house and turn him loose there. Don't put the mouse in her car or anything like that. It's too risky and it could cause an accident. Don't get caught doing any of this or it could become very messy. Do not, under any circumstances, put the mouse through your grain mill. That could also become very messy.

Real homebrewers use ...

david_42 what is the story behind that one?

I've actually killed 2 mice with a 5 gallon bucket - without trying. I keep my grain mill with my grain bucket underneath. One day I went down and pulled the bucket out and there was a mouse in the bottom who had apparently fallen in and had no way out. The little bastard had starved to death in the bucket. I cleaned out the bucket (yes, I kept the bucket) and put it back the same way. About 6 months later, the same thing happened. I now store the bucket upside down. That did nothing to solve the mouse problem, but it beat cleaning out the bucket and having to deal with a dead mouse.

I had a bag of LME thawing and the little rat knocked it off of the counter, then jumped in. Deadly stuff when you're small and covered with fur.

FSR402 said:

The best mouse trap.linky
Don't use water and use some anti-freeze and that will kill them quick and make it so they don't stink once they DIE...

Click to expand...

+1 on the 5 gallon bucket approach. The version I use has an old plastic frosting container speared on a small steel rod I had laying around, in such a manner that it will roll. Peanut butter on the outside of the rolling frosting container is the lure, but when they go for it they are soon in the water at the bottom of the bucket.

You do have to provide an approach route to the top of the bucket, with a jump-off point to the fatal roller. Mine are scraps of 1x2.

I can't endorse the anti-freeze, as the fumes from that would be toxic, and my trap is in my basement, with little ventilation. Just change the water as needed.

The beauty of this trap is the capacity. It takes a lot of mice to fill the bucket before they have an escape route. I don't have to wonder if I need to keep resetting the trap.

I have not seen the little bugger or new evidence (poops) since Wednesday.

This is rather unusual. I have several kinds of traps setup and they are all baited with PB. Wouldn't he be curious enough to check out this new aroma?

I did see that the dryer vent flap (dryer is in the basement) was not closing due to lint buildup. Maybe that is how he got in.

I saw him on Wednesday morning. He was looking at one of the D-Con round traps and probably debating on investigating it. I tried catching him, but I missed and he darted behind the dryer. I had to go to work so I kind of just let it be, hoping he would get into one of the traps soon enough. Sigh. It was definitely a field mouse.

I plan on doing the bucket trap. Maybe that will help.



I also plan on doing a very thorough basement inspection and cleaning the floor, shelves, and boxes with pine-sol. I heard the little jerks hate that stuff. I just he doesn't try to make it on the first floor again. Jesus. That was chitty situation. Wish me luck.

No better mousetrap needs to be used other than the old Victor type. My bucket experience was purely by accident.

Mice travel in a very small area once they find food. They simply go back over the same area again and again. The standard trap will work eventually. I had a mouse in my basement and set the trap and it took about 3 weeks, but persistence pays off and the little bastage finally took the bait. A few times he was able to actually lick the PB off the trigger, but the law of averages will eventually catch up. If he licks off the PB a time or two, you know he will come back. Just keep at it.

tnlandsailor said:

No better mousetrap needs to be used other than the old Victor type. My bucket experience was purely by accident.

Mice travel in a very small area once they find food. They simply go back over the same area again and again. The standard trap will work eventually. I had a mouse in my basement and set the trap and it took about 3 weeks, but persistence pays off and the little bastage finally took the bait. A few times he was able to actually lick the PB off the trigger, but the law of averages will eventually catch up. If he licks off the PB a time or two, you know he will come back. Just keep at it.

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I try not to give them to much time.

A mouse is pregnant for about 20 days, and after giving birth can become
pregnant again within just 12 hours! If a female doesn't get pregnant again
within the 1st 24 hours, she will be able to get pregnant again every 4-5 days onwards.

In a single litter a mouse can have anywhere from 4 to 12+ pups.

So the moral of the story? Get a cat. Or 2.

Clean & sanitize is always a good practice -always- and particularly this time of year. Fruit flies have arrived a long time ago, and they can get on your equipment and deposit wild yeasts, bacteria or etc., and might escape notice.

The song "Good Rats" by The Dropkick Murphys comes to mind.

Turn that Guinness to gold!

One minor point on the bucket trap; I suggest moving the approach board 90* around the bucket. As pictured the mouse can keep rear feet on the dowel as they approach the peanut butter. They have the opportunity to reconsider their situation and back away. I set the approach so that it faced the side of the can, with a modest gap to force a jump. That way the little buggers have to leap onto the can side, which will then roll them to their fate.

The wife called me up on Friday and told me that the little bugger died in the corner by the dryer. The cause is unknown, but it is entirely possible he found poison. The previous owner did have a mouse problem at one time.

We ended up cleaning up the whole basement, which was kind of dusty. Every shelf, every box, and the entire floor was mopped. Pine Sol and Bleach. I filled up a bunch of holes with Great Stuff. A bunch of old boxes, bags, and some other unnecessary clutter was thrown away. Hopefully, we can prevent the next one from coming in or at least make it unattractive enough to make them want to leave.

The traps will remain set. I'm not convinced I solved the mouse problem yet.

I doubt you'll be able to keep them out by plugging holes. They can fit into anything that their head can fit through since they have no collarbones... and their heads are tiny!

You did all you can. My parents used to have a mouse problem so they got one of those sound devices that makes a high pitched noise that drives rodents away. Idk if it bothers other pets tho.