Clay in distillation

[ton2790]

Right off the bat, let me be clear that the clay being used will not be commercial, lead glazed clay. If any glazing is used, it will be only salt glazed.

As some of you guys know, wine and alcohols used to be stored in terracotta containers called amphorae - of course, the Romans also used lead plumbing, so this doesn't prove safety by any stretch of the imagination. However, modern wine and beer brewers have begun a practice of using amphorae to age their alcohols. For example, here's a piece from winemag.com on the subject: http://www.winemag.com/2016/08/03/ancie ... rn-wines/
I'm still not 100% convinced of the safety, however, and I'd like to ask some of the more chemistry-minded people out there what toxins could leach into the alcohol. If you can point me towards potentially dangerous materials, I'll age some neutral spirit in the clay and send it to be tested for science.

[guittarmaster]

I would think **some** ceramics should be perfectly fine for out purposes.

Which ones? That depends on what you have access to. Are you a potter or do you have access to a kiln and the tools to make the amphorae? If so you probably have access to all the right stuff to make what would be needed. I took several ceramics classes in college. I'd suggest a high fire stoneware clay or porcelain for the clay body but the higher fired clay the better it usually for functional pieces.

You could do salt fired but I'm not sure why you'd be against glazes. They essentially form a glass shield around the clay that helps make it water proof. Again, if you have access then I'd reccemend searching google and find a couple ceramics/potters forums and search them for food safe glaze recipes.

If you are not a potter or dont' have access to the tools then I"m sure where you'd get one aside from looking for an artist and commissioning one from them.

I hope that helps a little.

Side note: I really like ceramics, especially salt fired and Raku