scratches in plastic-infection

I have a few gamma lids that have scratches from drilling holes in them for airlocks. My last batch got infected and I believe the lid was the culprit. I only use hot water and oxi-clean for cleaning and sanitize thoroughly.

Would it be possible to freeze the lids for a while to try and kill any possible nasties living on the scratches or is it an eternal problem? Would boiling possibly work?

I'm not opposed to buying more I just would like any other options before throwing away 2 lids.

whats your cleaning method?

Can you fit the lids in your kettle and boil them for a few minutes? If they are HDPE they should be able to withstand the boil for a few minutes. Either that or maybe soak them in StarSan overnight.

Even brand new buckets have plenty of scratches in them. Most have large gashes with a full mm of space for stuff to hide.

I rinse my buckets with a little hot (180+) water before sanitizing with star San. No infections and I have left the lid loose for weeks.

Freezing doesn't kill bacteria or wild yeast.

Soak them in a bleach solution for a few days if you want to nuke the lids.

New lids are cheap, you should just replace them.

Wort rarely touches the lid -- it's quite possible the infection came from another surface in your bucket/tubing etc. Look over all your cold-side beer-contact surfaces, nuke everything porous with bleach water solution, replace what you can. No point in brewing questionable beer.

Soaked the fermenter and lid in bleach solution for a week already. Already planning on picking up new lids. I was just curious for future reference if freezing could be an alternative to boiling. I also give them a run through the dishwasher after bottling.

The lid shouldn't cause an infection, unless you are splashing the wort around so that it hits the lid.

You never did state what product you're using for sanitizing.

Freezing won't sanitize.

IMO scratches in plastic buckets are a frequent scapegoat for infections.

I'm not saying the bucket isn't the problem... Only that if it is it is because you are not properly cleaning and sanitizing it.

A strong bleach soak will kill anything living in there. Make sure you pull the grommet and oring out of the lid and clean thoroughly, I bet that's the problem.

And the wort does contact the lid if you shake to aerate after pitching.

I agree it would be nice to know exactly what you are using to sanitize. If you are rinsing after sanitizing then that too could be your problem.

Boy said:

...I only use hot water and oxi-clean for cleaning and sanitize thoroughly.

Click to expand...

You might want to add Star-san to your sanitation protocol. Oxi-clean is good for cleaning and breaking apart soiled organic material. Star-san is designed to sanitize food prep areas.

You should try to track down where your problem is too. A good method for determining where your contamination is coming from is to save some wort in a sanitized jar and cover it with foil (don't pitch any yeast into it). set it next to your fermenter. If you don't see any activity for a week you process post boil is good, and your problem was with your fermenter, or how you are pitching your yeast. If you see activity in the jar in less than a week you have a problem with you post boil practice. i.e. cooling and transferring.

I'm pretty certain now that it was just the hole I drilled in the lid(somewhat messy) and possibly something seeped through. The actual infection was only an odd white mold that didn't effect anything. I was just looking for options if I make a mistake in the future.