Anything I can do about a scratch inside my plastic conical?

[CalmYourself]

I think I already know the answer though

I recently purchased a new conical tank (not specced for brewing, we don't have those here) and it has a scratch inside it - clearly visible from the naked eye.

The manufacturer won't replace it because it was never supposed to be for a sanitary environment. Fair enough from their perspective, I suppose. They never sold if as a fermenter, the industry is for automatic feed dispensers. I can't really afford another one, and there's no guarantee that the next one won't have any scratches in it anyway.

Is there anything I can try to do in order to reduce the chance of an infection? Perhaps just apply a thin layer (as smooth as possible) of food-safe epoxy or silicone over the scratch? Maybe try smooth it out with some really high-grit sandpaper?

I will be installing a CIP system so can run cleaner and sanitizer through it for as many hours as needed.

I'm at work now so can't take a picture, but I'll upload one later when I get home.

 

[hercher]

Bummer on the scratch.

I'm not confident your CIP will properly clean or sanitize the scratch. I would consider simply filling your vessel with a sanitizing solution. As long as the solution is mixed up thoroughly, that will ensure that all surface areas, including those within the scratched area, will come into sufficient contact with sanitizer.

 

[CalmYourself]

Unfortunately its a little large to completely fill with sanatizer.

Im wondering if something like this would help though: http://www.ehow.com/how_6465430_make-homemade-scratch-remover-plastic.html

If I can perhaps buff the scratches out, I would think the micro scratches made during buffing would be preferable to the large scratch currently there? At the very least, they wont be as deep so less chance of the bacteria finding a bubble to hide in.

 

[thisisbeer]

Honestly I wouldn't worry to much. Just take extra care when sanitizing and cleaning to insure you don't harbor bacteria. Just because you have a scratch doesn't mean you will have an infected beer. I think this mostly happens when you have a scratch and you don't realize it so you don't pay special attention to it. If you don't take extra steps to clean it you will probably have an issue. I'm not saying I'm right and you will 100% not have infected beer. I'm sure someone will disagree with me. I'm just basing this off of a bucket fermenter I had that was scratched. I never had an issue with it when I was using it.

 

[hercher]

This is beer may be right. If you can't at least submerge the scratched area, then fill a spray bottle with sanitizer and hit the area really good.

 

[bja]

Honestly I wouldn't worry to much. Just take extra care when sanitizing and cleaning to insure you don't harbor bacteria. Just because you have a scratch doesn't mean you will have an infected beer. I think this mostly happens when you have a scratch and you don't realize it so you don't pay special attention to it. If you don't take extra steps to clean it you will probably have an issue. I'm not saying I'm right and you will 100% not have infected beer. I'm sure someone will disagree with me. I'm just basing this off of a bucket fermenter I had that was scratched. I never had an issue with it when I was using it.

This^^. Since it sounds like you can easily see it, just make sure it's clean and it'll be fine.