another galvanized still

[Tater]

They were?Where did ya come across this info.?

[Washashore]

Just fyi, before stainless, most commercial pots were in galvanized steel.
Ok, I'll just take the door

let's keep it calm, but zinc plated steel is ok for distilling and sugar cooking (like raw copper, which is not ok for cooking but ok for sugar cooking and distillation). In France anyway.
However, given the fact that homemade stills are... homemade, mixing zinc and copper is not a good idea (electro chimic corrosion if the two metals are in contact).

Pipes used to be wrapped with asbestos insulation. Surfaces painted with lead paint. PCB's in window caulk and sprayed as pesticides. Hiding under a desk with your arms over your head would keep you safe in a nuclear attack.

Point is, just because it was done historically (if what your saying is even true), doesn't make it safe.

[Coaster]

.....zinc plated steel is ok for distilling......

@ Soldat Louis,

Your above quoted Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:52AM posting stating that using zinc plated steel is OK for distilling is factually incorrect. To the contrary using galvanized steel utensils in a cooking environment posses a serious heavy metal toxicity health risk. Simple Google Searches will reveal the dangers of cooking with galvanized steel utensils. The below reference is an example ->

http://www.ehow.com/info_8620608_dangers-cooking-galvanized-steel.html

On another note until someone can provide documented evidence that Galvanized Steel Cooking Pots and Pans actually existed Galvanized Steel Cooking Pots and Pans are just an urban legend Old Wives' Tale.

Regards,
Coaster

[Soldat Louis]

They were?Where did ya come across this info.?

Well, obviously in a place where I drank too much ; the fumes might have been be getting to the brain...
According to Dejean (1769) alembics were in copper or in tin plated copper
Galvanization was invented in 1837, named after Luigi Galvani
I've not enough books about distillation from the start of XX century

From various sources (in french) galvanized steel is ok for herbal essence ? Or it might be that many herbal distillers are in low income countries, and prefer to go cheap.

Coaster : galvanized steel is ok for distilling, according to french regulation
http://www.contactalimentaire.com/fileadmin/ImageFichier_Archive/contact_alimentaire/Fichiers_Documents/Brochure_JO/Note_2004_64/Note_2004_64_zinc.pdf

[Kiwikeg]

They were?Where did ya come across this info.?

Well, obviously in a place where I drank too much ; the fumes might have been be getting to the brain...
According to Dejean (1769) alembics were in copper or in tin plated copper
Galvanization was invented in 1837, named after Luigi Galvani
I've not enough books about distillation from the start of XX century

From various sources (in french) galvanized steel is ok for herbal essence ? Or it might be that many herbal distillers are in low income countries, and prefer to go cheap.

Coaster : galvanized steel is ok for distilling, according to french regulation
http://www.contactalimentaire.com/fileadmin/ImageFichier_Archive/contact_alimentaire/Fichiers_Documents/Brochure_JO/Note_2004_64/Note_2004_64_zinc.pdf

err my french aint the best but as i read that document it says okay upto 10% Abv so it would not be ok for high temp high alcohol vapour?
quote-Aliments alcoolisés Éthanol à 10 % (v/v). Cette concentration devant être adaptée
au titre alcoométrique de l’aliment s’il dépasse 10 % (v/v).
also
3.2.2 Teneurs en éléments indésirables
Vérification de la teneur en plomb, cadmium, arsenic.
and
4.1 Teneurs maximales en éléments indésirables
Pb < 0,050%
Cd < 0,010 %
As < 0,030 %
So if its cheap made in wherever out of whatever galvanising who knows how much lead you are encouraging people to injest?

[Soldat Louis]

Il est interdit de placer toutes boissons ou denrées destinées à l’alimentation au contact
direct du zinc, exception faite pour les opérations de fabrication ou de conservation des
produits de la chocolaterie et de la confiserie ne renfermant pas de substances acides
liquides et pour les opérations de distillerie

= no direct contact between zinc and food or drinks, except for fabrication or conservation of chocolate and sugar products without liquid acids, and for distillery.

the "Éthanol à 10 %" is in a table indicating what type of sample to use to test for migrations.

There is also http://www.contactalimentaire.com/fileadmin/ImageFichier_Archive/contact_alimentaire/Fichiers_Documents/Brochure_JO/Arr_t__du_15_novembre_1945.pdf
which says (article 1er)
1° ... all the metals ok for food contact (including tin plated steel, inox, nickel, chrome, tin, glass, some woods)
2° a. for wines and alcohols, tin plated copper and glass/ceramic tiles are ok
b. for solid foods, some woods are ok
c. for vegetables and greens, copper, black steel, zinc and galvanized steel are ok
d. for oils, black steel
e. for distillety, copper

[King Of Hearts]

i wouldnt be caught dead using that stuff....

Oh yes you will.

[rad14701]

So you're basing your stance on content from a 1945 publication, and we're supposed to go by that...??? Lets cut the shit and stop attempting to promote known harmful materials... There are far too many different methods on zinc coating metals and some are still downright toxic under specific conditions...

If you choose to poison yourself and your friends there is little we can do to stop you but we aren't going to allow you to persist in churning up a sensitive safety related topic as though anyone reading shouldn't be concerned... Take the galvanized is okay banter elsewhere because it isn't welcome here...

[Soldat Louis]

I appreciate your efforts to close the topic, but you're somehow forgetting that most of foood regulations are 50 years old wherever you look at it.
I'm not a big advocate of galvanized steel. But I don't like the copper religion going on in most distillation forums. Copper was the material most recommanded in 1769. That's 243 years ago. So, let's not play this game
My current opinion about materials ? inox, with a copper part. Copper, of course, is easier to work with. Polymers joints are ok, as long as it's food grade. I'm open to debate, as long as it's based on facts. But why all are the liebig 'copper in copper' in the pics I see ? Is there some hidden virtue in bathing the cooling water in copper ? And why is there no warning on acidic attack from the mash to the copper ? I read somewhere else that commercial copper alembics have a 10 year life duration, due tu acids in the vapors. So why not dial it down a few notches with the copper religion ?
And why aren't we putting the whole zinc oxydation in scale to all the others pollutants from "store bought" foods we're eating everyday. Let the French have a little trash talk about american food, but I don't think lead traces in bourbon should be the main concern when it comes to food related issues. You're "mocking" me for referring to a 1945 law, but for many other things (in food regulations), you (USA) are way beyond that. I mean, you still drop your chickens in chlore, and you want to scare me about a trace amount of lead or cadmium in a product I won't drink more of 2 liters by month ? Tsss. I eat mostly organic, I have maybe 2 or 3 "pre cooked" meals a year, I fast one month a year. I'm not really worried about PTFE releasing dangerous amounts of chloride in my brandy

Well, all being said, I'm heading to local scrap yards tomorrow, to build my first pot. Don't worry, I'm looking for stainless and copper

[rad14701]

Copper has been analyzed many times since 1769 and proven safe, or at least safer than most other metals, for use in our environment...

This topic has run its course and there is little to be gained by allowing it to continue... Members have always been urged to do their own independent research and that also goes for any site guests who have not registered... The HD Management Team isn't going to be changing the stance on the use of galvanized steel so we'll consider the topic closed...