Unfortunate mashtun.

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duskb

duskb

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So I live out in the country and I’ve noticed a nasty smell in my garage over the last week or two. The good news is found it today the bad news is it was coming from my 5 gal igloo mashtun.
The mashtun is was in good shape until this. Big question is will it be safe to use if I throughly clean and disinfect it or is there too much risk of the plastics retaining a chemical memory of what decomposed fluids may have been at the bottom?

fwiw aside from the odor it doesn’t appear to be stained or anything it looks like the false bottom tubing kept said rodent from completely resting on the bottom.

save or toss?
 
So many things we eat and drink and we don't know much about.

If you can clean it, and I mean thoroughly, using hot, (near boiling) lye solutions and such, it's probably gonna be fine. Use adequate skin, face, and eye protection.

I'd throw out any plastic tubing and such. Any metal parts can be boiled in lye and/or autoclaved.
 
Since you found a dead rodent in it, I'd toss it far and fast. If it was a stainless MT, you could do more to clean it out and make it usable again.

I'd also look to see how said rodent got into the MT and work to prevent that from ever happening again.

Personally, I'd never trust a hunk of plastic that had something dead in it to be safe again. You could bleach bomb it, but there are plastics that don't react well to chlorine. Unless you want that ode de roadkill character to your beers. ;)
 
I would get some unscented Clorox. Put on a pair of gloves, soak a rag in the Clorox and swab down all the surfaces. Squeeze the rag and drip Clorox into all the nooks and crannies. Do not soak anything, rinse with lots of water.

You can follow up with some baking soda +water. Baking soda is cheap, so use more than plenty. If you want to go all out. Soak in a double strength Star San
 
Reminds me of a job I had in the 90's. The boss orchestrated a July 4 picnic and all went well until it rained as the picnic waned. The grill, coolers, etc. got moved into the big cluttered garage.

In September (same year), the boss had an intern clean out the garage as a last task of his summer job. He found a large (picnic/camping size) plastic Coleman cooler and opened it. He was understandably revolted, and almost added his own contribution to the contents when he smelled it. He ran to ask the boss what was in that cooler. The boss' eyes got big and he ran to check. He almost got sick too, but it was partly about having to discard the cooler. He gave some thought to whether it was possible to get it clean. It had raw hamburger, a watermelon and some ice in it two months earlier. Finding a volunteer seemed equally as unlikely.

I still laugh when I tell this story because it wasn't my cooler and I didn't open it. & maybe because I'm not as nice as I should be.

The only ironic connection I can make to brewing is that as the company expanded, they relocated and a brewery bought the building.
 
madscientist451 said:
Ever talk to farmers that raise grain? Dead (and live rodents) are very common in grain silos. Boiling your wort kills any bacteria from the dead mouse/rats.
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I'd be more concerned about bad flavors lingering in the cooler MT. IMO/IME, cooler mash tuns are cheap, so not much of a deal to simply replace it. If the OP decides to 'clean it out' and use it, it could be interesting to see if any off flavors are in the beer(s) that are made with it. I wouldn't risk grains and hops to that effort though.

Of course, I'm using stainless kettles for my setup, so less worries. I also make sure the system is closed so that nothing can crawl into anything and die there.
 
Golddiggie said:
I'd be more concerned about bad flavors lingering in the cooler MT. IMO/IME, cooler mash tuns are cheap, so not much of a deal to simply replace it. If the OP decides to 'clean it out' and use it, it could be interesting to see if any off flavors are in the beer(s) that are made with it. I wouldn't risk grains and hops to that effort though.

Of course, I'm using stainless kettles for my setup, so less worries. I also make sure the system is closed so that nothing can crawl into anything and die there.
Click to expand...

I shoulda known better leaving an open container in the garage. Vermin are a thing out here And they’ve destroyed way more than this. As it is They’ve chewed through the garage door gasket and are able to essentially walk right in even with the door closed.

the loss of the mashtun has at least awakened me to the best way to trap them. A bucket with A small hole in the lids.

to be safe I’ll probably replace the mashtun. They’re not terrible expensive.
 
duskb said:
I shoulda known better leaving an open container in the garage. Vermin are a thing out here And they’ve destroyed way more than this. As it is They’ve chewed through the garage door gasket and are able to essentially walk right in even with the door closed.

the loss of the mashtun has at least awakened me to the best way to trap them. A bucket with A small hole in the lids.

to be safe I’ll probably replace the mashtun. They’re not terrible expensive.
Click to expand...

Again. I would reiterate. There is no reason to throw out the mash tun. Clean it! Clean it good! And, use it! You wouldn't throw away a good dish because it had rotten food in it. Its no different. The only reason you are tempted to toss it out is that it was a rat. It's disgusting. Get past that disgust! If you can't see or smell it in the tun, you certainly will not taste it in the beer. Many others here have suggested great ways to handle this. Boiling water, bleach, etc.. Any of these would be fine ways to clean and sanitize the tun.
If you still decide to throw it away, PM me. Cost depending, I might pay shipping if you're willing to remove the rat and box it up for me!
 
Golddiggie said:
I'd be more concerned about bad flavors lingering in the cooler MT. IMO/IME, cooler mash tuns are cheap, so not much of a deal to simply replace it. If the OP decides to 'clean it out' and use it, it could be interesting to see if any off flavors are in the beer(s) that are made with it. I wouldn't risk grains and hops to that effort though.

Of course, I'm using stainless kettles for my setup, so less worries. I also make sure the system is closed so that nothing can crawl into anything and die there.
Click to expand...
You could fill it with a koolaid mix and let it set for a couple days. Those crappy fake flavors permeate just about anything and will probably mask the dead mouse stench.

But seriously I'd just toss it. I don't think the mental image would ever let your beer taste right otherwise.
Of course I'm the guy who uses a keg found floating in the river. :p
 
I would soak that thing in some strong bleach water for a couple days to begin with. Then maybe a soak of warm baking soda water next.
I have a buddy that is getting started in brewing. I bet he would take it off of your hands rat and all !
 
Homebrew Harry said:
I would soak that thing in some strong bleach water for a couple days to begin with. Then maybe a soak of warm baking soda water next.
I have a buddy that is getting started in brewing. I bet he would take it off of your hands rat and all !
Click to expand...

I do not recommend soaking anything in bleach. A short exposure time (like less than a minute) is all you need. Plus extended exposure time to bleach can have unintended side affects. Most plastics and glass could get "soaked", but I doubt it would be any more effective.

IMO Bleach is an underused product by homebrewers. Cheap, effective, easy to acquire, easy to use.

There is a great book called "The Hot Zone" about how Ebola virus first came to America. In it the doctors and scientists always kept a bottle of bleach around in case of exposure to the Ebola virus. Grab the bottle of bleach and flush the potential virus site with bleach. These guys had access to just about anything for the purpose killing ebola virus. They trusted bleach to be an instant Ebola virus killer.
 
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RufusBrewer said:
I do not recommend soaking anything in bleach. It is not necessary and exttned exposue could causel problems.

IMO Bleach is an underused product by homebrewers. Cheap, effective, easy to acquire, easy to use.

There is a great book called "The Hot Zone" about how Ebola virus first came to America. In it the workers always had a bottle of bleach around in case of some exposure to the Ebola virus. Grab teh bottle of bleach and expose it to bleach. These guys had access to just about anything for that purpose. They trusted bleach to be an instant antiseptic.
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Maybe you can rephrase all this ^
It's makes absolutely no sense, the way it's written now.

Use the [Edit] button on the bottom of your post. Thanks!
 
NickTheGreat said:
This reminds me to check my mash tun. I've had a helluva rodent problem in my basement this fall . . . :ghostly:
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Most years I get rush of mice where I'll catch one about every day for about a week, then it stops till next year. I know where they enter so I set traps on the top of the foundation wall.
I just have to check each morning so none get too-ripe.

I have narrowed their arrival time to between 800 and 2300 hrs. in most cases. So I can sometimes clear and reset the trap before I go to bed. Then there Usually is not another till the next night. I have on occasion caught two in 12 hrs but that is rare.

I am vigilant because I store my grain down there in food-safe pails with Gamma lids. I have never found any evidence of attempted entry to those. I always sweep and vacuum after handling the grain to reduce any bait smell as much as possible.
So far so good but I know it is highly possible that one will get in sometime. That should be obvious because they will have to chew through the polyethylene to get in. I'm not even sure they would.
 
This happened overnight years ago. It chewed a few others, too.
Determined little vermin!
Caught the little b_____d in a spring trap that night.
No tears were shed.
IMG_0657.JPG
 
I am in a consistent fight with mice in my garage as I live out by fields. I trap and keep them out for the most part but there is always one that finds it's way in to the garage.

I don't keep my brewing equipment out there either. I have it nice and clean and put up in the house to avoid these types of situations.

I say give it a shot at cleaning though you may be able to get rid of the nasties. If you can still smell something off after cleaning it trash it then.

My mash tun cost me $20 for the cooler (48 qt Coleman) and $50 for the SS spigot and bazooka screen so not a whole lot of dough anyway.
 
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It's a mash tun. Give it a good clean, a thorough rinse, an hour filled with dilute bleach followed by a good soak in clean water and you should be good to go if it looks and smells clean. It will be in operation for a couple of hours and more at mash and sparge temperature, with every drop extracted given a rolling boil. Boil it for 90 minutes and you can have confident there will be little left to affect your beer.
 
Yes I wouldn't be too stressed about using it, if I could really get at all parts to scrub it clean then being plastic give it a bleach soak. I agree toss any tubing that cant really be cleaned. In the food supply system live and dead rodents are a fact of life even though we want to think it isn't.
One time I somehow unplugged a freezer with a chicken and a box of fudgsicles in it, then was away doing camp work for 4 months before I opened it. It was not a pleasant experience, but i sprayed it out then soaked it with a bleach solution and kept using it.
The grain we use is in almost certainly in touch with rodent feces etc. I either don't notice or don't know what beer would taste like without it
 
That said, I think my wife would say toss it and replace it before I drink anything you make.
 
PCABrewing said:
Most years I get rush of mice where I'll catch one about every day for about a week, then it stops till next year. I know where they enter so I set traps on the top of the foundation wall.
I just have to check each morning so none get too-ripe.

I have narrowed their arrival time to between 800 and 2300 hrs. in most cases. So I can sometimes clear and reset the trap before I go to bed. Then there Usually is not another till the next night. I have on occasion caught two in 12 hrs but that is rare.

I am vigilant because I store my grain down there in food-safe pails with Gamma lids. I have never found any evidence of attempted entry to those. I always sweep and vacuum after handling the grain to reduce any bait smell as much as possible.
So far so good but I know it is highly possible that one will get in sometime. That should be obvious because they will have to chew through the polyethylene to get in. I'm not even sure they would.
Click to expand...

That's my experience too. We have a nice wooded area behind our house. Usually catch one or two a week until Thanksgiving, then I'm good.

I was catching 1 or 2 per day a couple weeks ago!

I don't store any grains, but this is just general basementry things: Christmas lights, old clothes, tools, etc.
 
acrowe said:
Yes I wouldn't be too stressed about using it, if I could really get at all parts to scrub it clean then being plastic give it a bleach soak. I agree toss any tubing that cant really be cleaned. In the food supply system live and dead rodents are a fact of life even though we want to think it isn't.
One time I somehow unplugged a freezer with a chicken and a box of fudgsicles in it, then was away doing camp work for 4 months before I opened it. It was not a pleasant experience, but i sprayed it out then soaked it with a bleach solution and kept using it.
The grain we use is in almost certainly in touch with rodent feces etc. I either don't notice or don't know what beer would taste like without it
Click to expand...
There is even a specification for the amount of allowable rodent hair and insect parts in most grain-based foods.
 
acrowe said:
That said, I think my wife would say toss it and replace it before I drink anything you make.
Click to expand...
Agee with @acrowe. A quick survey of you friends and your spouse if you have one that drink your beer on a regular basis would help you make your decision. I'd take this survey before your all sitting around drinking the rat beer. Never know who might go all mad cow on you!:eek:o_O
 
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duskb said:
So I live out in the country and I’ve noticed a nasty smell in my garage over the last week or two. The good news is found it today the bad news is it was coming from my 5 gal igloo mashtun.
The mashtun is was in good shape until this. Big question is will it be safe to use if I throughly clean and disinfect it or is there too much risk of the plastics retaining a chemical memory of what decomposed fluids may have been at the bottom?

fwiw aside from the odor it doesn’t appear to be stained or anything it looks like the false bottom tubing kept said rodent from completely resting on the bottom.

save or toss?
Click to expand...
Full strength chlorine bleach.... That kills everything... and also kills the smell. I learned from a chef that he uses bleach on cutting boards to remove taste and smell...
 
Golddiggie said:
I'd be more concerned about bad flavors lingering in the cooler MT. IMO/IME, cooler mash tuns are cheap, so not much of a deal to simply replace it. If the OP decides to 'clean it out' and use it, it could be interesting to see if any off flavors are in the beer(s) that are made with it. I wouldn't risk grains and hops to that effort though.

Of course, I'm using stainless kettles for my setup, so less worries. I also make sure the system is closed so that nothing can crawl into anything and die there.
Click to expand...
Since it is just the mashtun and NOT the fermenter, seems like and any issues would be small, since the wort is only in contact for 90 mins at most...
 
Cammanron said:
Since it is just the mashtun and NOT the fermenter, seems like and any issues would be small, since the wort is only in contact for 90 mins at most...
Click to expand...
IMO, I'd rather toss the cheap MT than have any risk of issue. It's not like we can't get new coolers at stores. IF it was stainless, there's a LOT more you could do to get it back to a 'known good' state. If you're taking the time to mash grain, why use anything that you'll have concerns about??

Luckily, I'm no longer using any plastic vessels for my brewing or fermenting.
 
NickTheGreat said:
That's my experience too. We have a nice wooded area behind our house. Usually catch one or two a week until Thanksgiving, then I'm good.

I was catching 1 or 2 per day a couple weeks ago!

I don't store any grains, but this is just general basementry things: Christmas lights, old clothes, tools, etc.
Click to expand...
I sometimes get them in my attic.... My kids saw one running up the wall going up...
I put traps under the overhang along the wall of the house.

This year I got 9 of those little Fockers...
No more for this season , I think
 

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