Black Mold - Salvageable, or Buy New Buckets?

[Alex Kirk]

I made the mistake of leaving a bucket that I'd transferred wort through out on my porch for over a week without liquid in the airlock, and when I opened it up there was that awful, earthy-smelling black mold that's hard to even scrub off. Using antibacterial soap and some paper towels I was able to get rid of the visual aspect of it, and the bucket has been soaking in a strong solution of Star San for the last hour or so.

Can I be confident of having killed that stuff if I follow a certain procedure from here (or am I possibly already good)? Or is the bucket toast and I should just buy a new one? I know black mold is nasty stuff when we inhale it, so I certainly wouldn't want to be drinking any of it.

 

[Jag75]

Being that they're cheap and you may have scratched while scrubbing I'd toss it .

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

There's nothing wrong with scrubbing and sanitizing the bucket. I probably wouldn't use it as a fermenter any more.

I use old fermentation buckets to store bulk grain. One I uses regularly as my sanitation bucket on brew day. Plenty of other uses.

 

[IslandLizard]

A good scrub using a stiff but non-scratching nylon brush with a good strong Oxiclean or (homemade) PBW solution should clean that all up. Plastic is not that permeable. Then rinse out, inspect, and redo if not totally gone. Leave it out, open, in direct sunlight (UV) for a few days helps kill remaining microflora. Using bleach is another method, but they need to air out in sunlight for a few days to remove any bleach remnants.

Lately I've been using pre-used, cheap dollar store non-scratching nylon 'scour' pads with good results. But you need to make 100% sure they don't scratch plastic. If there's any grit in it, chances are they're not safe on plastic.

 

[augiedoggy]

I made the mistake of leaving a bucket that I'd transferred wort through out on my porch for over a week without liquid in the airlock, and when I opened it up there was that awful, earthy-smelling black mold that's hard to even scrub off. Using antibacterial soap and some paper towels I was able to get rid of the visual aspect of it, and the bucket has been soaking in a strong solution of Star San for the last hour or so.

Can I be confident of having killed that stuff if I follow a certain procedure from here (or am I possibly already good)? Or is the bucket toast and I should just buy a new one? I know black mold is nasty stuff when we inhale it, so I certainly wouldn't want to be drinking any of it.

honestly I would have no hesitation to use it after what you've done to clean it. the starsan should have done its job. if your really worried fill it with boiling water for a short time...

 

[IslandLizard]

fill it with boiling water for a short time...

And add a scoop of Oxiclean to it.