Forum for the discussion of any material/synthetics.Only posts with info /or links to research info allowed . Any posts recommend the use of any material without copy's or links to show proven research will be deleted
I am looking for a better solution for storage of distilled spirits. Last year I talked at length with a brewer in NC that runs 200 gallons at a time. Anyway...some of his product we were tasting… he had in the classic quart Mason jar. Others he had in one gallon (new) milk jugs. He said that some brew can't be kept on plastic as it would change the taste. Everything we tasted was greater than 100 proof. BTW...(and I didn't know...) that plastic milk/water jugs when manufactured are folded and collapsed for packing and shipping. He had about 25 cases...at 100 to the case! Look at the bottom of the jug the way it is made! The end user “inflates” the jug! ...Who knew!
Anyway...I've started storing some low wines in my used distilled water jugs (Wal-Mart) for reprocessing later. I would appreciate any comments regarding storing "keeper" stuff in plastic until it is needed for flavoring, etc. I have several carboys but when you're only talking about a few gallons of various brew...that's not real practical.
I use 1 gallon glass jugs,and 1/2 gallon glass booze bottles.The gallon jugs cost 3$ a piece.I wouldnt use plastic for anything over 80 proof,and would only use PET plastic,or some of those plastic 1/2 gallon vodka and whiskey bottles.I also have a 3 gallon carboy that I use for storage,and oaking.If you can find them,mason makes 1/2 gallon jars.I picked up a case of them about a month ago for $11.When I went back for more they were all gone.Im going to use them for macerations.
wineo
SOME plastics are okay to store LOW PROOF alcohol in (polycarbonates only, please--unless you really CAN afford PTFE)--NO PLASTIC is good for hot or high proof alcohol.
Don't do it. Don't argue. Or at least don't blame ME if there's ever a problem.
In the course of my work, I've seen many, many plastic bottles with high proof spirits in them. Sent to me by the distillers. I have yet to find one sample that didn't contain detectable amounts of plasticizer. How much di-iso-octyl phthalate do YOU want to eat?
He also later said that small amounts of PTFE (Teflon) are acceptable for high temp and/or high strength alcohol.
Wineo & Hook...
Thanks for the response. I will shift everything out of platic and into glass. I found some 1/2 gallon glass mason jars (6 for $6) and also have several "pickle loving" friends saving me their 1 gallon glass pickle jars. Thanks again!
Every one needs to get to know a bar back. He or she can get you all the fine glass you ever wanted. I have a girl who gets me about 24 liter bottles every week. She doesn't ask for anything but I always give her a US$20 for her troubles. Now that is cheap glass. Since she works at a private club I get high end glass which is a pain sometimes because the high end manufacturers have gone to silk screening. That paint is impossible to remove. But it does make nice storage and travel bottles. I have never been asket what the clear stuff in the Absolute Bottles is.
Fined a bar and get to know the person who stocks the bar and cleans out the trash.
caterers are another good source of wine and likker bottles. Caterers often open cases of wine at a time, and keep the boxes to put the empty bottles back into. One good wedding can mean a lot of good bottles...
I just picked up 20 wine bottles this morning from a local eatery.
Free is good.I have gotten over 400 bottles in the last year doing this,all for free,and they are high quality bottles.Just find out where the wine snobs hang out,and you will have it.
wineo
Personally I only use plastic for beer. Everything else goes in glass. Demijohns for mass storage of neutral spirit, bottles for made up drinks (mostly absinthe).
If you wait by the river long enough, eventually you will see the bodies of all your enemies float by. Sun Tzu
Well...I've removed everthing from the plastic storage containers and have shifted to all glass. I did a little searching and got the "hook-up" with a local wine store. They do wine tasting every friday night and I now have access to their empty bottles!
pintoshine wrote:Now that is cheap glass. Since she works at a private club I get high end glass which is a pain sometimes because the high end manufacturers have gone to silk screening. That paint is impossible to remove.
Pint, I know what ya mean. A friend of mine has gone to playin with paintin flames on things and I asked him if he would mind doin some of his fancy tape work on a bottle. He said sure, and we came up with this. It is a 2 layer job that has a feel to it as I bead blast etched it. It looks real cool in good light and sparks alot of conversations.
I hope these come across good as this is my first picture post.
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If it was easy everybody would do it.
Please join the Partnership For an Idiot Free World.
I need help!!!! Actually, I said that to my shrink some years back, and it sorta helped, but I digress...
Every time I try to make charred/toasted oak I never really know what I'm aiming for and I usually stuff it up and and finish up with a product that tastes like burnt wood. Obviously I overdo it each time.
I put the wood in a tin with a hole in the top and use propane to BURN the shit out of it. I'm sorta looking for a slightly charred oak flavour of Tennessee whisky rather than the strong Bourbon taste.
Could anyone put a pic in here showing the various stages to aim for rather than charcoal or describe the process in intimate detail before I slash my wrists? Thanks.
blanik
Simple potstiller. Slow, single run.
(50 litre, propane heated pot still. Coil in bucket condenser - No thermometer, No carbon) The Reading Lounge AND the Rules We Live By should be compulsory reading
Back again. I seem to have found some pics that help me. I really have been overdoing it.
I'll have another go and report on my progress. Funny thing, that's what I told my shrink.............. many times
Simple potstiller. Slow, single run.
(50 litre, propane heated pot still. Coil in bucket condenser - No thermometer, No carbon) The Reading Lounge AND the Rules We Live By should be compulsory reading
Just today, I have been checking some distillates received from a major rum distiller by GC/MS. They sent it in their half-gallon polycarbonate bottles--at about 70% alcohol. Lo and behold, what do I see: a nice peak for bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate...yum...
The Chemist wrote:Just today, I have been checking some distillates received from a major rum distiller by GC/MS. They sent it in their half-gallon polycarbonate bottles--at about 70% alcohol. Lo and behold, what do I see: a nice peak for bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate...yum...
So you're saying if I drink their rum I'll get my USDA recommended daily dose of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate? Does that mean I can stop eating broccoli?
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
Look at all the stuff it does to ya, yuk. I'll stick to glass, thank you very much.
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance... baffle them with bullshit."
"Don't steal. The government hates competition."
"Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see"
a liquid with the viscosity similar to vegetable oil. It is soluble in oil, saliva, plasma, but not in water.
The EPA limit for DEHP in drinking water is 6 ppb.
While DEHP has a low lethal toxicity, it affects certain organs at low concentration, specifically the reproductive organs (testis and ovary), lungs, kidney, and liver. Studies show that it crosses the placenta and is embryotoxic. DEHP can also be found in breast milk. DEHP does not absorb easily through skin, therefore contact with DEHP-containing products is not likely to be harmful.
DEHP is a peroxisome inducer and as such can lead to liver neoplasm in rodents, however there appear to be no data to link it to cancer in humans directly. DEHP in small amounts commonly present in environment is not considered harmful.
tasty!
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
Not very appetizing, huh...I'll stick with the broccoli, thank you very much.
But an important point is that these are the bottles that they sell their product in, at 40% alcohol, and I'm sure the FDA has tested and found them to be perfectly safe. That does NOT mean that they are safe for 70% alcohol.
The Chemist wrote:Not very appetizing, huh...I'll stick with the broccoli, thank you very much.
But an important point is that these are the bottles that they sell their product in, at 40% alcohol, and I'm sure the FDA has tested and found them to be perfectly safe. That does NOT mean that they are safe for 70% alcohol.
Well over here in the land down under, we are smart enough to have all our spirits sold in glass, actually, I have never seen any alcohol sold in plastic containers here.
Sketchie Wrote
[Well over here in the land down under, we are smart enough to have all our spirits sold in glass, actually, I have never seen any alcohol sold in plastic containers here.]
You can buy Bundy Rum, Jim Beam and various other 40% Spirit in 20 Litre Plastic Drums in The Land Down Under.
Bullshit Baffels Brains
Buggers Science
And Rules The World.............
All Australian Boys Need a Shed
Why not use a glass carboy/demijonn for storing your alcohol ? I know they are more or less used for fermenting, but I figure they would make great storage/collecting containers. I have seem them 4L and 20L in size.
I'm going to change my habits quickly since reading this forum.
I collect and sit my spirit in glass demijohns but after watering it to 40% I palce it in a 20 lt plastic drum. I will be buying a glass one this week. Don't care what the price is.
I've been thinking about the same storage problem. I've been using gallon glass jugs and quart jars for a long time, but I seem to have a lot of them around now...and the possibility of breakage occurred to me. Anyway, after thinking on it, I've decided to start storing in small stainless steel kegs. 3 gal sized. I've taken off the rubber gasket, used for pressurizing it for homebrewers, and cut a natural cork gasket.
I just put the spirit in and add my sticks of wood or whatever. When needed, I'll use a stainless steel racking cane to get it out.
A lot more durable. They are not cheap if you buy them new, but if you have a group of homebrewing friends in your area, I've found that you can find a few on the cheap, or for trade.
Another idea I've had, is stainless milk cans.
~bd~
"If it weren't for the alcohol, beer would be a healthfood."
I've got everything from 1/2 pint to 6 gallon glass. Have never broken one. *knock on wood* So far I've never had enough, at any one time, to overfill my 3 gallon carboy. That may change if I ever get my mashing technique down.
It is the very things that we think we know, that keep us from learning what we should know.
Valved Reflux, 3"x54" Bok 'mini', 2 liebig based pots and the 'Blockhead' 60K btu propane heat
Years ago I had a carboy full of beer break right next to me. Fortunately all I got was a nice cut on one leg. The shards of glass could have caused a lot more damage.
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
glass jugs have steel or aluminum caps with a plastic lining and mason jar lids have some sort of plastic lining as well . How are these plastics affected? or are they some sort of teflon material?
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