The question is how to take care of sporadically used camelback?
I have a new one used only a few times and the water seems stinky.
If there is anything to preserve the bladder from growing mold?
I have been thinking about maybe pouring some Coca Cola or Pepsi that may possibly kill everything clean and sterilize.
Any practical tips how to use if safely? Can you pour only clean water of some cordial too?

Keep it in your freezer

Maybe should I pour a bit of alcohol to kill mold and prevent it?

Obviously rinse well this alcohol before next use,

Fill with bourbon, shake well,
place in freezer for 24hrs, this will loosen mold from plastic,
go for a long hike in the sun taking a sip of Icey cold bourbon every few minutes,
the first 200ml will still taste a bit plastic,
but after that you wont notice it anymore and will have a great afternoon.
But please wear a helmet as you may fall over occasionally

If it dosent work, rinse and repeat.

you can get chickory essence from the supermarket, near the coffees.

we used to use small amounts in Cafe Bar Machines to help get rid of plastic aftertast in new equipment or recently cleaned.
Depends if you like coffee taste., might be an option before Coke?

My boat drinking water bags have that same plastic taste also, despite being cleaned.

I reckon PBW brewery cleaner might do the trick, I use that on everything. You could just fill the camelbak with it for storage, then empty and rinse before use. I've left it in various containers (eg beer bottles, fermenters) for months and it keeps them clean and free of any biological matter.

GreenPat said..
I reckon PBW brewery cleaner might do the trick, I use that on everything. You could just fill the camelbak with it for storage, then empty and rinse before use. I've left it in various containers (eg beer bottles, fermenters) for months and it keeps them clean and free of any biological matter.

that's what I use, small container of the stuff lasts years. Roughly half a table spoon with water, let it sit there for 30 min, rinse and dry.
Something like this:
www.bigw.com.au/product/brigalow-home-brew-sodium-metabisulphite-275g/p/202331/
works great, no mold and no aftertaste

Of course you can always buy camelbak cleaning tabs, which I suspect is the same stuff but individually packaged and 10x as expensive.

Another tip: I only put clean water in my camelback, sports drink powder goes to a water bottle, which I can put in dishwasher

hydrogen peroxide

Chuck it in landfill and buy another one made from covid skin or something else sustainable

vodka said..
Vodka

trust you to think of that