Mold in my PBC, how best to attack?

[Michael_in_TX]

Oops. I forgot that if you don't use your grill regularly, the universe punishes you with mold. I haven't cooked in my PBC for several months and when I opened it up yesterday, I had some significant mold going on.

The mold (a dusty green with white) is concentrated in just a few places. (Granted, just because I don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.)

It is on the bottom of the barrel and all over the charcoal basket. It is also creeping up about 1/4 of the way up the barrel, but only in a few places. It is also on the rods and around the rod holes. Curiously, it doesn't seem to be on the lid at all.

I've read MeatHead's article on what to do. So, I'll do the fire thing. (I have some old lump I need to just up. I'll have at least two charcoal chimneys of coals going and will let that burn out with the lid off.

Now, the charcoal basket does not extend all the way to the side of the barrel. Furthermore, it will be much cooler near the top of the barrel.

What is my next step, specifically for a barrel-style cooker? I do have a pressure washer. Would that work....or be too much or two little?

Here are some photos:









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[Old Glory]

Powerwash with disinfectant or light a big ass fire

[Max Good]

Check with Pit Barrel, but I believe they don't recommend vigorous washing. You should be able to burn that stuff up then scrape and dump.

[Michael_in_TX]

This actually is a bit of my concern. The PBC, while not fragile, does weaken over time, especially the bottom.

[Attjack]

Heat

[smokenoob]

Mint BBQ…..Nah! Agree with Attjack high heat!

[ecowper]

I sometimes get mold in my WSM .... a hazard of living in the Pacific Northwest and having a tightly sealed smoker that has moisture inside. What I do is first scrub everything inside down with a grill brush and a crumpled ball of foil. I pull my water pan and scrub it well. Then I re-assemble the whole thing, dump two lit chimneys of charcoal in the fire ring, open the vents 100% and let the fire rip for a couple hours to burn everything out that I didn't get while scrubbing.

[klflowers]

This

[efincoop]

What if you spray the interior with a bleach/water solution and let it sit for 30 minutes prior to lighting the fire? I suppose if you were connerned using bleach & water you could use pure distilled vinegar.

[Michael_in_TX]

That is an interesting idea. Let me look into that. I like the disinfect, burn the 'ell out of it, and scrape idea.

[lostclusters]

Michael_in_TX Bleach will corrod the body in no time at all. I would not use bleach, even diluted.

[shify]

The one time I dealt with mold, I'm fairly certain I did burn-clean-burn (vs the opposite). Most of the mold was easily scraped off after the first burn and the 2nd burn was just being extra certain I got everything off.

[Jim White]

I like this plan. Also, I'm a fan of Clorox Clean-Up and a long-handled dish scrub brush with plastic bristles for the cleaning step. Followed by a rinse before the second burn.

[Panhead John]

I’m sure the burn in would work fine Michael, but if not, try this. I bought this stuff at Lowe’s for my pressure washer. Before we put my Dad’s house on the market, I wanted to pressure wash his siding. It had several areas of green mold and mildew all around his house siding. They make this same stuff to put in your pressure washer detergent tank. I sprayed this on the siding of the house and let it sit for about ten minutes. I could literally see the mold disappear before my eyes! I then followed up with pressure washing, the siding looked brand new.

As a test, I tried pressure washing an area without using this, the mold wouldn’t come off, even under high pressure. Highly recommended! No scraping required. Hook this up to your water hose, spray the PBC and let it sit, then rinse.

[gcdmd]

What is the active ingredient? Most mold killers are simply bleach (something (like sodium) hypochlorite). The reason I ask is because of lostclusters comment above.

[RonB]

I'd carefully scrape the mold off, marinate it in your favorite marinade, and grill hot and fast.

Best case - you'd be immune to everything...

Worst case - well, it's been nice to know ya.

[ecowper]

Ron, I love your "innovative" approach to "solving" this problem.

[Dr. Pepper]

After all, they are mushrooms, kinda.

[Troutman]

Just do what T-Roy and I do, FIRE IT UP BABY !!!

[smokin fool]

This happened to my BKK a few weeks ago and I posted up on this site about it.
The consensus seemed to be burn it off so I filled it up with charcoal, opened the dampers lit her up and let it rage.
I initially tried to clean the mold first but it just smeared around and fell into the fire bowl away so let it rage in the 6-700 for a few hours.
Closed the dampers to let it cool off so you could work around it, gave it a light going over with a scotch brite pad on a really really really long pair of tongs and reopened the dampers and let it rage again.
No problems since.

[jfmorris]

I would burn it off. Probably need to crack the lid or run without the rebar for a bit to get the temp up as high as possible for a while, then you can add the rebar to burn those off.

I've had this issue (always) with my offset smoker if I don't clean it thoroughly after use and before covering. The only way I've found around it is to hose it out, scrub down with soap, hose again, then lights a couple of blazing chimneys in the body AND firebox to dry it out good, clean the ash out after it cools down, and cover. If I do that, I never get the mold. Sadly, I opened it recently to stuff like you show all over the grate, and interior, and blame it on a rib cook almost a year ago where I didn't have time to clean properly.

My smoker is stainless for the body, so I'm not worried about washing or pressure washing. With the PBC, I think they discourage washing, but I cannot see where a rinse with a hose to knock off the mold, then a burn to dry it and burn it off would hurt.

[cashelton]

While this was a burn the grease off cleaning instead of burn the mold off...I left the lid off the PBC for 15 minutes and got this...



There was no grease left afterwards!

[smokin fool]

....any eye brows left either....
thats a good burn

[HawkerXP]

Been there done that. Don't leave the lid off for to long after poultry cooks.

It will remove all your built up insulation.

[fzxdoc]

Yee-ha!

[Dr. Pepper]

I don't think there is anything dangerous about that mold, and I would simply make a fire. The honeybees will clean off mold from old comb, and they don't complain about it at all.

[ecowper]

That's why I just scrub it with a brush and then burn a hot fire in the WSM.