Left my fermenter uncleaned for a while

[eatmorefrogs]

I kegged a beer out of my fermenter last May and then non-brewing stuff kept my mind off brewing until this month. It turns out I didn't clean my fermenter at the time. (Usually when I'm kegging I pop the airlock back on and clean it the next day, but this time my airlock ran dry.)

Long story short, it got pretty nasty inside and after oxy cleaning it for 24 hours I can still detect a foul odor. It is a stainless steel conical. I'm afraid that might mean I need to replace the fittings but before I spend money I figured I'd see what the crowd thinks.

Will bacteria live in the rubber fittings? Just give it another cleaning?

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Can you take out the rubber fittings and bring them to 180f in a pot of water?

 

[eatmorefrogs]

I can do that; think they're heat resistant enough? I suppose if I'm contemplating replacing them I have nothing to lose...

 

[jekeane]

Just keep them off the bottom of the pot when you heat them in case they are not heat friendly. Use a submerged steamer basket or something.

 

[jrodmfish]

Personally I'd replace the rubber and give the stainless a good acid cleaning.

 

[augiedoggy]

You can boil the SILICONE to be absolutely sure ... If you want the smell to go away put it in the sun for a day and thet will usually help clear it up as well as kill any bugs on the surface if there are any. Its really not much different from a plastic bucket used for pickles smelling like pickels after being cleaned.. If you cleaned and sanitize everything well in should be fine. Curious,what kind of stainless conical is it that its non sanitary in design with silicone/rubber inside exposed to beer? SS brewing or blichmann?

barkeeper friend is the most effective way to remove any nasty buildup off the stainless surface followed by starsan to sanitize.

 

[Radboud]

I use a microwave baby bottle sterilizer (not unlike this one on Amazon) for my heat resistant stuff, works like a charm. As for the fermenter, if soaking overnight in PBW doesn't do the trick I get in there with a nylon brush and if any smells linger I also go at it with the EU equivalent of BKF (oxalic acid goop).