Water Bladders

[Owleyes]

Anyone have any good tips for cleaning out the tubes on water bladders, and just cleaning them in general?? I have a Osprey 3 L Hydraulics Reservoir Hydration Pack. 

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I've had good success with the cleaning kit that Platypus offers when the situation turns for the worse:

https://www.rei.com/product/767114/platypus-cleaning-kit

...but the cleaning was definitely more of a struggle when I used a different reservoir - I've been using a Platypus Hoser for a couple years and the silver-ion treatment they're using seems to work pretty well at keeping things clean when combined with some normal hand washing between trips.

[Owleyes]

Thanks! 

[wspscott]

My other hobby is homebrewing.

After a trip, I rinse water bottles and bladders with hot water and then spray with Starsan. It is an acid based sanitizer that is no rinse. It is cheap and easy to spray in an ounce or so and the just shake it up so all the surfaces are coated. I just leave the sanitizer in the bottle/bladder until the next trip and then give a quick rinse before filling with water.

A little bit goes a long way, this 16oz bottle will last for years if mixed properly (1oz of the concentrate makes 5 gallons of sanitizer, I make a gallon at at time and fill a spray bottle).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064O7Y64/