Mold in my Yxing

[Jayaratna]

Dear teachatters,

I've been so busy I could scarcely read you for some time. So busy I forgot some tea leaves in an yixing pot for maybe one week. It developed mold and now, even if I cleaned it and soaked it in baking soda (I've read some recent topics about this), the pot has that sweetish mold-smell which is clearly discernible when I leave the lid on.

Any suggestion? What should I do? Actually that's my favorite pot, I wouldn't like to loose it...

[olivierco]

Maybe re-season it?

[Rich Perry]

I was taught to soak it in denture cleanser, 4 of those fizzing tablets in a container of water. You can keep it in as long as you need to. Then boiling it for awhile (in water). I've repeated these steps as needed. Also, soaking in a diluted bleach solution and then boiling it (in water).

[betta]

I also had the same experience couple of months ago. Instead of using baking soda I boiled the pot in strong bleach (to kill all germs and spores of those molds) and later on strong citric acid solutions (to remove the rest of the white -carbonate- powder of the bleach) and later boiling in normal water.
I completely removed the musty smell with the expense of loosing all patina I've tried to cultivate.
After that reseason does add up smell of tea to the pot.

[yee]

Just boil for a few hours. I wouldnt suggest you even using soda 'cause the clay is going to absorb anything you treat it with.

[MarshalN]

Bleach it. Chances are you'll feel weird using it if you can smell that sweet smell at all (I've done it twice before) and bleaching should take care of it. No need to boil the bleach, I think, just stick it in somewhat diluted bleach for a while, and that'll do the job.

[Jayaratna]

Thanks for all your advices: but how do I dilute the bleach? How much water and how much bleach?

[MarshalN]

I'm guessing a 1/4 or 1/5 ratio will do for the purposes here of purging the smell. If the concentration is too high you will have those carbonate deposits that will be a pain to remove. I'd also suggest not soaking too long - at most half an hour, if even. If the mold hasn't been growing for that long I think that will do the trick.

It is important to soak the entire pot in it though, and make sure it covers everything. Otherwise you might end up with a very ugly line you have to deal with again.

[coloradopu]

anyone try using citric acid powder??

i just cleaned my zero chi with it and boy it worked well and the stained share pitcher i used to transfer the used water out looks like new.

i would say 1/4 cup dry citric acid to a pot worth of water that covers the tea pot and boil for 20 min.

like new.

replace water and boil another 20 min to remove sour taste and you got it.

works on any pottery too. i bet.

never tried this but from what i saw today it might be a good idea.

[MarshalN]

Citric acid powder works, except that for yixing it does soak up the sour smell/taste a bit, and you have to work to get it off. I'm still working to remove that nasty sour smell from one of my pots, and it's been two weeks.

[betta]

Citric acid powder works, except that for yixing it does soak up the sour smell/taste a bit, and you have to work to get it off. I'm still working to remove that nasty sour smell from one of my pots, and it's been two weeks.

Citric acid doesn't smell strong like vinegar and its solubility in water is high (130g in 100g water even at room temperature). So you should be able to remove it well if you boil it couple of times in tap water.

[MarshalN]

Yeah, just takes time. It's not as bad as vinegar. I'd never use vinegar on teapots.

[beecrofter]

Hydrogen peroxide will oxidize away organic material while adding no smell of it's own.

[Jayaratna]

I tried with bleach this time. I soaked the teapot in a 1/6 1/7 solution for about 20 minutes, then I soaked it in tap water for one night, plus filtered water for one day. Now there's still al ittle smell, but it could be just clay, it's not that strong any more.
I'll begin again with a new tea now...

Thank you all for your support,
A

[beecrofter]

bleach can be neutralized with hypo, talk with an aquarist