Keeping a brew shed clean

[Zephyr259]

The topic of a shed to brew in comes up every now and then at home, I brew in the kitchen so I take it over for most of a day and the condensation gets everywhere and the house smells funny. But every shed my wife has now has become a habitat for spiders and other bugs, yet pics I've seen look much less infested. Those of you who have a shed, how do you keep it clean and without uninvited guests? Or do you just name them all and enjoy the company?

 

[Sbond10]

Name them all and wipe down all touchable surfaces with special hospital wipes and wash all brew kit before use

 

[Portreath]

I've just spent the last hour cleaning out our store shed, windsurf kit, surf boards, brewing kit, bottles and RATS!! Next door have been keeping chickens in their garden for the last 12 months and now we have bloody big rats . I even had to get rid of our compost heap and they moved into that. I now have the wonderful task of sanitizing all of my kit that was in the shed. arghhh!!

 

[Clint]

I could rent you a jack russel.

 

[Zephyr259]

Rats! *shudder* Some briefly decided to try moving in under our shed a few months back, then they realised we had a dog, large carnivore at your doorstep is a good incentive to relocate it seems. Glad they didn't figure out that our dog would be hopeless if they attacked him.

 

[terrym]

If you have livestock chickens rabbits etc nearby you will get rats and mice..
However rat poison works.
And old fashioned spring traps work well with mice if you bait them with a small piece of cake and place the trap in their run.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I could rent you a jack russel.

A cheaper and effective alternative.

 

[Cwrw666]

I brew in an old outbuilding that we used to use as a stable and now use mainly as a hay store and we keep the washing machine in there. There's hay on the floor and the walls are festooned with huge sheets of cobwebs. Thing is, I brew in my sanitised brewing equipment, not on the walls, so who cares...

 

[Zephyr259]

A cheaper and effective alternative.

That looked kinda brutal... but fascinating at the same time. Just looked it up and as I thought it's a CO2 powered neck snapper. I did laugh when a rat came along and nabbed the dead mouse for lunch.

 

[Portreath]

I wonder if they are the same CO2 bulbs that fit my PB?

 

[Clint]

And here's me getting excited thinking it was electrocuting them....

 

[Portreath]

Well if the littler barstewards even get into my turbo cider..well, that e'll learn em!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I wonder if they are the same CO2 bulbs that fit my PB?

More detailed view here -

The canister will give 24 kills before needing to be replaced.

 

[Sput]

A good seal around the door helps (and ensuring no gaps between floor and walls, e.g. if it's wood that could warp or rot).