[quote=“dobe12”][quote=“rebuiltcellars”]I’m pretty much convinced that the “scratches allow bacteria to hide” wisdom is just a myth. As long as the surface is clean, the sanitizer can get into any crack or crevice that a bacteria would be able to hide in, and kill it.
Your BB is fine.[/quote]
Agreed! I get so tired of hearing “Oh… if there’s a scratch you can’t use it anymore!”. My buckets and better bottles are all over 4 years old and ALL have scratches. It’s inevitable. I’m closing in on batch 100 and I’ve only had 1 infection, which was due to the bung/airlock blowing out and the fermentor being open in my fridge for days.
Ferment on… it will be fine![/quote]
I’m pushing the limit to see just how much you can get away with on plastic. The two buckets I use the most for fermenters have been in service for six years. They are scratched and stained. If those two are both occupied, I’ll occasionally use other buckets which I sometimes use for grain storage. I’ve done lacto fermentations in some of them as well. In ten years of brewing, I’ve had 3 or 4 infections total, and EVERY one of them was traceable to adding fresh, unsanitized fruit after the bulk of the fermentation was completed.
Being careful about sanitation is a good thing, but being paranoid about it is crazy. I’m sure that if I was to keep my equipment clean and not use sanitizer, infections would be uncommon. Add a quick soak of Star San to the routine, and I basically don’t worry about it at all - unless I’m adding fresh fruit.
