Grain bag for biab mildewed

[rockgardenlove]

I think somebody put the lid over the bag while drying and now there are mildew spots. How to clean!?
Thanks!

 

[AiredAle]

I would use dilute chlorine bleach, maybe one ounce per 2 gallons. It should clean up pretty well. After that a couple good hot water rinses, then a soak in a couple gallons of water with two or three Campden tablets/ metabisulfite, then a final couple hot water rinses. The meta will react with any remaining chlorine; since chlorine bleach is alkaline and hard to rinse off sometimes.

I'm guessing on the bleach concentration, see what is suggested on the bottle label.

 

[smokewater]

Throw it in the washing machine with no soap, only bleach.

 

[ayoungrad]

If it were me I'd get a new one if you can. Why chance it?

 

[emjay]

If it were me I'd get a new one if you can. Why chance it?

Chance what?

 

[ayoungrad]

Infections.

 

[smokewater]

If it were me I'd get a new one if you can. Why chance it?

Depends on the bag. If its a 5 gallon paint strainer sure but some of these are huge and have to be sewn together. You should be able to clean it. Its just cloth.

 

[ayoungrad]

I'm sure its a non-issue after the boil but still. I'd rather not have mildew in my beer at any stage.

We are talking about a few bucks here anyway...

 

[rockgardenlove]

Boiling in a bleach solution now. I'll probs wash it after.
I'm not really worried about infections/whatever as this bag is for preboil. Just looks kinda nasty.
Still, this thing cost me 17 bucks and I've only used it once, so I'm holding on.
Thanks guys!

 

[smokewater]

Infections.

Real Low risk. The bag is used before the boil.

 

[ayoungrad]

Real Low risk. The bag is used before the boil.

Absolutely. But would you ever knowingly put mildew in your wort at any stage?

 

[rockgardenlove]

Sure, if it saves me 17 bucks.
I'm not dumping the bag; far too frugal/legitimately broke. I'm just trying to get the scum off.

 

[emjay]

Absolutely. But would you ever knowingly put mildew in your wort at any stage?

If all visible stuff is gone and he cleans and sanitizes it, the small, *dead*, trace remnants are not even close to what "knowingly putting mildew I'm your wort" implies. The live bacteria on the grain to begin with is just as bad, and I can almost guarantee your toothbrush is far worse.

If he just said fūck it, and tossed it in without cleaning it (which would be technically unnecessary from a sanitary standpoint), I'd agree. But this really isn't a big deal.

 

[Scooby_Brew]

Just throw it in a washer w/ some soap and bleach. And no, you can't get any infections before the boil

 

[ayoungrad]

If all visible stuff is gone and he cleans and sanitizes it, the small, *dead*, trace remnants are not even close to what "knowingly putting mildew I'm your wort" implies. The live bacteria on the grain to begin with is just as bad, and I can almost guarantee your toothbrush is far worse.

If he just said fūck it, and tossed it in without cleaning it (which would be technically unnecessary from a sanitary standpoint), I'd agree. But this really isn't a big deal.

I suppose you're right. I'm just inappropriately anal in general.

 

[dilbone]

I had a couple of mildew spots on one of my bags so I soaked in oxyclean and scrubbed it really well on the spots with an old toothbrush...worked pretty well. Not sure what your bag is made of, I sewed mine up from some voil I got at hobby lobby(sheer window curtain type material)...works very well, can be made custom sized and CHEAP

 

[Revvy]

It's not a bad idea to regularly run it through the laundry with bleach after 5-10 batches or so. That way you are always insuring it's nice and sanitary.

 

[Yooper]

I toss my mesh bags (the good quality ones, not the cheap ones!) into the wash machine or put them on the top rack of the dishwasher. I use some hop bags, and some huge mesh bags for winemaking. They are expensive, but they clean up nice in the laundry. The smaller hops bags (the tightly woven "good" ones) clean nicely inside out on the top rack of the dishwasher.

 

[AiredAle]

Bleach is temperature sensitive, if you boil it you will destroy it. The best temperature for bleaching is from room temp to about 150 F. Yooper's suggestion to throw it in the washing machine is the way to do it. I would still soak in metabisulfite to ensure all the chlorine is gone afterward.

 

[smokewater]

Absolutely. But would you ever knowingly put mildew in your wort at any stage?

No but I suggested washing the bag on a sanitary setting with bleach in the washer. Washing machines are designed to clean cloth. Throwing the bag away is like throwing away every pair of underwear that gets a skid mark. If the machine gets it out its good to go.

 

[rens]

So, I also had this problem and cleaned it up nicely with bleach; now I am paranoid that the bag will spoil the beer with chlorophenols. Did anyone posting on this thread have success with the campden tablet approach? Did you detect anything in your next batch of beer?

 

[boscobeans]

If you have a pressure cooker just throw in a pie plate to keep the bag off the bottom and 20 minutes at 15 PSI should kill just about anything..

bosco

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I vote washing machine, but I'm not nearly as paranoid as some folks 'round here.

 

[rhamilton]

I had to clean all of my bags -- left them outside and they were NASTY.

Ran through the washing machine with only OxyClean. It came out much better with most of the crap gone but it still a little off color. Soaked in bleach/hot water and it was beautiful. Rinsed very very well and it was good to go.

My $0.02

 

[henryred]

Had same problem. Couple days in bucket with light bleach and water fixed it. Clean no color at all