Getting Mold Out of A Camelbak Mouthpiece

As I was cleaning out my closet the other day, I dug up an old Camelbak water bottle I used to be absolutely obsessed with. I'm not kidding; I was rarely seen without it. I was always really hydrated. I don't remember why I stopped using it all the time, but I figured I should start up again. It'll be good for my health, after all. The problem was that it'd been a while since I've used the water bottle, so mold had started growing in the mouthpiece. The rest of the water bottle was just a thorough wash away from being usable again, but the mouthpiece was gross and moldy. Obviously, I wasn't about to throw away a perfectly good water bottle for the sake of a moldy mouthpiece, so I was determined to wash it out. 

I tried scrubbing it with some q-tips and scratching the leftovers with toothpicks. I rinsed it with hot water and soap. I let it soak in a baking soda and water solution. Although these methods gave me a temporary fix (the mold grew back the next day), they weren't long-term solutions. I guess I hadn't killed the bacteria. 

Then I tried a bleach solution. 

I'm no stranger to the fact that bleach kills bacteria on contact. I was just avoiding this solution for safety and health purposes; I didn't want to accidentally ingest bleach from a less-than-thorough rinse-out afterward. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily for me, it worked like a charm and was incredibly easy to do. So just in case there's someone out there desperately searching for a way to really get that mold out of your water bottle mouthpiece, let me share my method with you: 

1. I used a plastic pint to put my bleach in. It wasn't being used for anything other than rinsing things out, so it was a safe choice. Whatever container you choose, avoid a commonly used dish for eating. You don't want any unhappy accidents. 

2. I didn't really measure out my bleach. I just put a tiny splash of bleach in my container, just enough to thinly cover the bottom of the container. I filled it the rest of the way up with hot water and give it a good stir. 

3. Now it's the easy part. All you have to do is put the moldy mouthpiece in this solution. Make sure you really poke it down so that it sinks to the bottom. That's it. Walk away and do whatever you have to do. 

4. My mouthpiece didn't have a terrible amount of bleach in it, so after 10 minutes, it was clear of the mold. I left it in for an additional two minutes, though, just in case. Adjust the time according to how deeply your mouthpiece needs cleaning. 

5. This is the important part. Rinse out your mouthpiece. Wash it with hot water and some mild soap, and really thoroughly rinse it. I even rinsed it with a baking soda rinse to make extra sure I wouldn't ingest bleach (I'd sooner accidentally ingest baking soda than bleach). 

And then you're good to go! I hope this has been helpful! 

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