Black mold found on o2 SS diffuser - what to do?

[cannman]

As the title states, I found black mold on my o2 stainless diffuser. I haven't used the puppy in over 6 months. The mold is hard and dried and flakes off with some resistance. I can't unscrew the head from the wand (using hands. Might be chemically bonded, I haven't wanted to use tools in fear of damaging the item). The worry is obviously what's on the inside and what might be harboring inside the 3 micron holes.

The wand is expensive (relatively speaking) so I would like to salvage it. What can I do? Boil it? Bake it? Caustic? Or toss it?

Thanks everybody!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1462063042.902841.jpg

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

First thought would be Clorox , force it down the wand and out the diffuser

 

[cannman]

First thought would be Clorox , force it down the wand and out the diffuser

It's fairly difficult to push liquid through 3 micron and 1/8 diameter . It would be great if I could reverse flush this... Perhaps a bleach soak would still be in order...

 

[schematix]

Bake it at 350F for 2 hours. Then give it a good rinse. Whatever remains will be dead.

Bleach can pit stainless, especially lower grades. If you want to use harsh chemicals I'd (cautiously) use caustic.

Do you clean after every use? When i use mine i go don't even turn off the O2 until it's rinsed throughly... gotta keep pressure on it in order to flush the wort out.

 

[Gavin C]

Boil it. I boil mine after every use.

 

[ram5ey]

yeah boil it. I use an electric kettle and blow some o2 through while boiling before and after.

 

[cannman]

Oh it goes right into sanstar after use. What happened here was that it was left in a rubermaid container outside on accident. The container collected rain dirt snow and leaves and I just found it... So 100% accident.

 

[schematix]

I boil my stone before *every* use and flush it after every use thoroughly. Under normal circumstances this should be fine.

However, in this case i'd bump up the time and temp (thus oven) to ensure sterilization. Some mold spores and bacteria endospores can actually survive boiling.