I need to kill/clean mould fuzz from timber (untreated pine) shelves etc in cellar (water leaked through roof). After reading about TCA and chlorine in the stelvin thread, I suspect chlorine based bleach type products are not the best method to do this.
Is there another mould killing product I can use to remove and hopefully prevent regrowth of the mould?
Oobviously I will try to prevent future water leaks as well.
thanks
musty
That all depends. Do you plan to _make_ wine in your cellar, or are you just cellaring commercially produced wines?
If only the latter, by all means use bleach (diluted, of course) to clean the place up. Wine that is already under cork and capsule in a bottle is not susceptible to spoilage from external sources; e.g. from lying on a shelf that had been cleaned with bleach containing products, or being stored in a room whose walls had been cleaned with bleach.
IOW, it isn't like Superwine getting too close to green Kryptonite. :^D
Tom S
I like that last line Tom.
Steve,
I've used TSP for similar applications. You can usually find it in hardware stores. It can be rough on the hands though so gloves are recommended, as well as eye protection.
Andy
Yes, TSP would work pretty well - IF you can find the Real Thing. TSP is now a brand name for a cleaner sold here in the US. It _used_ to be straight technical grade trisodium phosphate. Nowadays, thanks to the EPA, it contains no phosphates whatever!
You can still get TSP, but not as easily as before. A chemical or lab supply house would have it, but I'm sure it won't be as cheap as it once was.
Tom S (and no "P") :^)
Like Tom, I would not be too concerned about TCA in this instance. However, there are still plenty of other things you can use: soap and water, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, steam. To prevent the regrowth will be trickier, as you need to leave something on the wood that stays present and active. Typically, wood is treated with copper sulphate solution to retard the growth of molds and other nasties, but I am not sure if a simple application of copper sulfate will really do the job (and it will color the pine an interesting shade of blue-green).
HTH Mark Lipton
Thanks people
Appreciate the ideas & advice. I am not making wine, just storing it, so I may go with the bleach if I can't find one of the suggested alternatives readily.
I did find some timber treatment product designed to prevent mould & other nasties in the paint section of the hardware store; its labelled as "67% hydrocarbons" so I'll give it a go but only after removing the shelving from the cellar to a WELL ventilated area.
thanks again Steve
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