A product to dry hydration thingies

Still and all - even if you never buy the device - this is useful info. I do pretty much what zeke does, but only up until the wife decides she needs more room in the freezer.

I’ve never had trouble with stuff growing in the bags themselves, probably because we treat our water with a chlorine-based treatment. But the tubes... yuck. @idahowalker, when you said you cover the tubes in black tape I was thinking that was just to keep from seeing the stuff :D Which actually works for me...

I think the answer is related to the old joke about how much rat feces is acceptable in orange juice. (The best brands still have a little.)

A standup comedian I used to follow always replied "I would like 0 PPM of rat feces in something I drink!" However, as my dad, who worked as a health inspector for the state here, would explain if he was still alive: "That never happens - there's always bacteria present everywhere. In fact, that's not all!"

I read once, that if you could instantly make the earth and all living critters except bacteria (and other microscopic organisms) disappear, and assuming you could still see the microorganisms, you'd still be able to see the trace, the shape, of everything, including the earth's surface, as well as all its living organisms other than the microscopic - as well as the trace of all their innards. They are that omnipresent.

Next subject: "Why we have clean rooms and sterilize surgical instruments"

I usually put something like a golf ball inside so that the sides of the bladder don't touch...to allow air to circulate, and set it out in the sun.

I have a line in my gear room with those "binder clips" and hang water reservoirs and containers upside down, opened up as much as possible, after rinsing them first in hot water (as hot as I can get out of the tap.) I don't use bladders often but my water filters have tubing and I disconnect them all and rinse/hang dry as well. Seems to work for me.

I will say, though, that our tap water smells pretty chlorinated. Maybe if you're on a well, you might rinse with very lightly chlorinated water before drying. I don't have any residual chlorine smell or taste after drying.

That sounds easier than what I've been doing (washing with soap, sanitizing with bleach solution, hanging to dry with reservoirs propped open mechanically). Is there any part of a typical hydration reservoir system or filter tubing (other than the filter itself, obviously) that is adversely affected by freezing?