I’ve got a copper/stainless steel plate chiller, so bleach isn’t an option.
I’ve also got silicone lines on my cold side. :-\
Really, all this could just be in my head. My last two all-grain batches were infected, and while I’m pretty sure I identified the source of infection as being a blow-off tube I can’t shake the worry that there’s something living in my plate chiller.
Can’t you bake your plate chiller to dry sterilize it?
Many bake their plate chillers in the oven, 375 F for an hour should do it.
You could try paracetic acid. I do not believe that the problem is in your head. Maryland’s hot, hazy, and humid climate is the perfect breeding ground for hard to kill wild microflora.
Yeah, and brewing in an open garage isn’t helping my odds. Still, I’ve got one or two bottles of beer that I brewed last summer that are still infection-free, so that’s a good sign.