Mould on brew gear

[Deigh]

Gotta problem with utensils and gear. Stuff comes out about once every six weeks and the shed changes into a spirit making frenzy ending up with about seven litres of whisky which is enough to keep me going for another six weeks! Afterwards everything is washed with a steriliser mixture, dried out and stacked under the table for another six weeks. This time everything came out with a nasty coat of blackish mould over everything and it took serious cleaning to get things back to a hygenic state. Some small items had to be dumped because they couldn't be cleaned.

It had not been a particularily damp six weeks so can't really understand why it happened so badly. NZ can be a bit high humidity wise so a small amount of mould is to be expected. Can anyone give me advice on how to avoid this in future? Could I stack everything in a large plastic bag and extract the oxygen from it or is there another way?

[rotten]

Gday mate.
Firstly do you clean with any products, or just rinse and sanitise?

I think you should simply clean and sanitise, dry all your gear thoroughly, and store in dry air-tight containers under your table. That should take care of the black mould, which isn't a good mould to have.

My 2c

[squirt in the turns]

+1 to thorough drying and use of airtight containers. Mould can't grow without moisture. There's no way to exclude oxygen from the environment.

You could pack your equipment with silica to absorb any moisture that does occur in your sealed containers. You can buy reusable canisters of it that change colour when they're saturated. You can then dry them out in an oven.

[Deigh]

Gday mate.
Firstly do you clean with any products, or just rinse and sanitise?

I wash (well, seriously rinse) and sanitise with whatever is available at the moment. At the moment that is COPPERTUN No rinse steriliser. Don't have a lot of choice in this, I have to use whatever the local shop is selling.

Can't consider stacking equipement in airtight containers. No room for that. When everything is air dried I then stack smaller pails inside each other and then both inside the 25ltr container. All other bits and pieces go wherever they can be squeezed in. Could shove the whole lot in a large plastic bag and add a moisture absorber as you suggest.

Just as an idea....if before sealing the bag I inserted a lighted candle in a safe place, then oxygen would be extracted and the candle would extinguish itself!

[Horse Head Brewing]

Know it sounds a little girly but grab the missus hair dryer , give it a blast, wrap in plastic bags and store......all good

[Deigh]

Know it sounds a little girly but grab the missus hair dryer , give it a blast, wrap in plastic bags and store......all good

Are you suggesting that my air drying routine is not adequate and all I need is an extra boost before stacking away? Is this all that is needed to prevent mould growth?
Anybody got any comment about the 'candle routine'?

[bullfrog]

Candle trick would be a PITA and perhaps not do too much. Plastic bags melt pretty easily, so you'd need some way to prevent the heat of the candle putting holes in it. Also, the major drama is with moisture, not oxygen, so it'd be a lot of messing around for not much gain.

[Deigh]

the major drama is with moisture, not oxygen,

Thanks, this is the sort of information I need, will concentrate more on drying containers and absorbing moisture .
Regards