Unusual Cleaning Issue

[BillTheSlink]

I have an unusual cleaning issue which steams from the fact I am disabled and haven't been able to clean up since last brew day three weeks ago almost. I have these articles which were never clean out and need to clean them:

Igloo round cooler with toiler supply for a screen that the grains haven't even come out of.

Aluminium pot that was the boil kettle.

Stainless pot that was used to heat strike and sparge water (should be no biggy there)

Bottling bucket that was left with 5 gallons of Idophore solution in it that contains tubing, plastic funnel, plastic spoon, auto syphon, and ither misc. hard and soft small plastic parts. Leaves have fallen into the mix.

I have the following cleaning and sanitizing products:

bleach

Star-san

Idophore

PBW

OXi Clean Versatile (with the blue crystals.)

I have no money to buy anything else to clean with and I am really pushed for time as I am going to do some partial boil extract kits right after Thanksgiving. (With my back All Grain is out for awhile) Perhaps I need to look at partial boil mini-mash which I have never done mini-mash.

Anyway I was thinking of soaking everything overnight in PBW (It is safe for hard and soft plastic and aluminum right? My label fell off) Then bleaching the bottling bucket and all hard and soft plastic including my round Igloo in bleach solution and then rinsing well. If this is OK, how much bleach to how many gallons? Because of the extra time stuff had to grow on the plastic in the bucket and the Igloo should I Star-San before putting away just to be safe?

 

[Reelale]

PBW soak is fine for everything. Oxyclean label says not to soak metals, it doesn't say which ones, so I'm assuming aluminum is a no no.

I would use hot oxyclean on your mashtun, that stuff works wonders in plastic coolers. Your bottling bucket and all tubing is most certainly stained, but that's alright.

I don't know about the tubing. Iodophor loses it's potency pretty quickly. I would look seriously at replacing it, it's cheap insurance. I wouldn't sanitize anything before you put it away but most definitely before use.

 

[Ichthy]

Can you just clean with soap and water, then sanitize what you need? I doubt there are any real concerns as long you get in clean.

 

[AKbrewer]

That igloo cooler will probably gag a maggot by now if the grains have been in there for three weeks. It might be toast. Everything else will probably clean up fine enough. I`d definitely soak the cooler in PBW only use Oxyclean if its the unscented kind. Hopefully you can get the smell out of that cooler. Rancid grain is nasty.

 

[BillTheSlink]

That igloo cooler will probably gag a maggot by now if the grains have been in there for three weeks. It might be toast. Everything else will probably clean up fine enough. I`d definitely soak the cooler in PBW only use Oxyclean if its the unscented kind. Hopefully you can get the smell out of that cooler. Rancid grain is nasty.

Yeah, I know the smell is going to be awful in the cooler. I figured though one or two soaks over night in PBW and then some bleach should make it fine though. If I have to I will soak it in baking soda. You will be surprised what baking soda will do. When I was in fourth grade I hat one of those plastic wide mouth "Kiddy thermoses" that are made out of plastic. Grandmaw had put Chef Boy R D in and it got buried in the bottom of my locker under papers (I was a hoarder as a kid) for 6 month and the food rotted inside. Since it was part of a Star Wars set she wanted to saved it and soaked it repeatedly in Baking Soda. Turned out fine and was put back into use.

 

[AKbrewer]

Thanks I`ll have to file the baking soda tip away for possible future use.:rockin:

 

[damnyankee]

You are right, Reelale - the sodium perborate in Oxyclean will oxidize anything aluminum (aluminum will starting turning black within minutes).

For metals (kettle, screen), I don't know how effective PBW will be on something 3 weeks crusted. You may want to consider a long, hot soak with dish soap first because dish soap disrupts the surface tension of water causing the water to penetrate the groadies pasted on your the metal surfaces. Let it sit for a while and the groadies should come off with a sponge scrub.

Your bottling bucket will need dumped of course and oxyclean followed by a good rinsing followed by sanitizer of your choice would work well for that. You won't need to replace your vinyl tubing unless it's starting to get stiff. Your tubing will likely be brown from iodophor but heck, that's no big deal.

Wash your Igloo as you normally would - mild bleach water should take care of the smell. I don't do bleach at all, so I personally would thoroughly rinse after any bleach soak and then sanitize with your agent of choice.

I'm sorry there's no magic bullet...most of it is going to take elbow grease on your part.

Good luck!

DY