Plastic Storage Containers

[swampdog 2]

buy pint and quart mason jars from dollar store wal mart sometimes carries half gallon jars

[MilwaukeesWorst]

Sorry was a poor choice to write on that subject, could be taken the wrong way. Should have just said BPA and a handful other types of plastic are bad and let you read the articles.

http://www.infowars.com/study-finds-bpa ... our-brain/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Source -- http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0043890" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 33551.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/scien ... -cups.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

When they first started using it in 50-60's it leeched a lot more then what lvls are found in people systems now.

[friendly1uk]

buy pint and quart mason jars from dollar store wal mart sometimes carries half gallon jars

The lids are coated with pvc components held in a plastisers. It does not get much worse.

[Candykorn+]

Not to sound cheap , but my wife is like alittle bird . I have learned to say " cheap, cheap, cheap" Craig's list has a search for free stuff . I have gotten tons of glass from there mostly free . You gotta be quick , but it's there . Also with the holidays coming , start lookin for home beer kits right after Xmas. Lots of people get them as gifts and get rid of them cheap . Most of the kits come with a car-boy or a large fermenter . They practically give them away

[MilwaukeesWorst]

Not to sound cheap , but my wife is like alittle bird . I have learned to say " cheap, cheap, cheap" Craig's list has a search for free stuff . I have gotten tons of glass from there mostly free . You gotta be quick , but it's there . Also with the holidays coming , start lookin for home beer kits right after Xmas. Lots of people get them as gifts and get rid of them cheap . Most of the kits come with a car-boy or a large fermenter . They practically give them away

Will be eyeballing Craigslist right after x-mas then

[swampdog 2]

guess il be using wine bottles or jugs ,whittle me a stopper out of white oak or something.

[friendly1uk]

guess il be using wine bottles or jugs ,whittle me a stopper out of white oak or something.

I just had an A4 sized sheet of 0.25mm thick pfte from ebay. £4 delivered. It makes quite a few lid liners. It don't get any better than that

[Fiorello]

Standard metal lids are coated in a plasticisers that hold pvc components in suspension. You can get ptfe coated one's though. Glass bottles capped with lids you sourced yourself might be the most acceptable approach. Be sure you get the right lids though.

This got me to thinking about bungs and stoppers made from PTFE. You can buy rods of the stuff and have it machined to size; my neighbor has an entire machine shop in his garage - a couple of homebrews and he'll make as many as I want.

While looking for rod stock, I came across these:



http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

They're PTFE cap liners. You could just take out the liner from a screw on cap for a wine bottle, or those 1 gallon Gallo wine jugs, get a cap liner that is the correct size, or trim down, then just put that inside your cap.

OR ??

[Hound Dog]

Those lid liners are great. Many here use them. Read up on the Gallo wine jugs breaking though.....
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 83&t=10726

[Fiorello]

Those lid liners are great. Many here use them. Read up on the Gallo wine jugs breaking though.....
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 83&t=10726

Thanks for pointing out that thread. Though, the final post really spells out the problem:

One problem I have run across a few times was that in the manufacture of these jugs, (750ml bottles too), in the molding process, the glass is spread very thin in area(s) inside the molds

Over the years, I have had a few bottles of homebrew explode inside the fridge I use for fermenting and bottle conditioning:



Every time it has happened, upon close examination, I discover that the bottle ruptures right at a spot where the glass is almost hair thin. It's just a manufacturing error that is impossible to detect prior to failure, not necessarily an issue with every container.

I save all my Everclear bottles, from making Limoncello, so I plan on using them for storage of neutral after I am up and running (which is a ways off).

Thanks again for the thread tip.

[Durhommer]

I want to rack my washes into 5 gallon plastic buckets to settle for a day then re rack into boiler to strip is it ok to do this I mean alot of us do ferment in plastic so I'm thinking its such a low staring alcohol content it will be fine to do

[OtisT]

I want to rack my washes into 5 gallon plastic buckets to settle for a day then re rack into boiler to strip is it ok to do this I mean alot of us do ferment in plastic so I'm thinking its such a low staring alcohol content it will be fine to do

Lots of folks here use plastic buckets/barrels/liners for ferments and racked beer. It’s the high ABV stuff you don’t want touching plastic.

Otis

[Hoosier Shine9]

I want to rack my washes into 5 gallon plastic buckets to settle for a day then re rack into boiler to strip is it ok to do this I mean alot of us do ferment in plastic so I'm thinking its such a low staring alcohol content it will be fine to do

It is perfectly fine to store your Wash/mash in plastic. It shold only have an ABV of 10 -15%
As you stated the vast majority of us ferment in plastic/PTFE.
I have left some of my finished wash in a 20gal PTFE drum (under an air lock) for about 3 months. I just made sure the airlock did not go dry. btw it was my best UJSSM. I thought it picked up more corn flavor.

[cob]

As you stated the vast majority of us ferment in plastic/PTFE.
I have left some of my finished wash in a 20gal PTFE drum (under an air lock) for about 3 months.

where on earth did you get a PTFE drum??

[Hoosier Shine9]

As you stated the vast majority of us ferment in plastic/PTFE.
I have left some of my finished wash in a 20gal PTFE drum (under an air lock) for about 3 months.

where on earth did you get a PTFE drum??

Sorry, I was thinking of 2 different things when I was typing & I combined them.....
they are food grade....... but not PTFE

[MtRainier]

Probably meant HDPE?

[Hoosier Shine9]

Probably meant HDPE?

yep that is exactly what I meant ....

[6 Row Joe]

I switched from silicone to teflon and I could tell a difference. The silicone seals were original and were skunky smelling for sure.

[Hybrid pot still]

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?

This i would like to know also, i haven't really found a for sure answer besides seeing it done for years. And some of those times i remember them taking the lids off as we was proofing and my job at the time was uncapping and capping back up and i remember some of those masons we had they had some kind of gasket on there but wasn't joined with the lid like a standard Mason lid, it was separate and thick. I never thought of asking then because i was wore out from hauling stuff up there and gathering wood and being a hand while i was there..

[Rrmuf]

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?

The underside of Mason fars are typically NOT PTFE. You can however, amazon rolls of thin PTFE sheets for fairly cheap and screw the Mason jar lid over that. I just pick a corner of the sheet, screw the lid over it, cut it out at the edges. They are reusable, so one $10 roll goes a long way. I *think* I read that people also use wax paper for that purpose.Perhaps someone can confirm/refute that.

The other means of safe storage, especially for higher volumes, are SS milk cans. They come in various sizes. Mine is 20l (4gal). I will use the 5l (1gal) jug or 15l (3gal) demijohn for keeping spirits that will just sit for a while, but use the SS milk jug for anything I need to manipulate (or transport) just because there is no risk of breaking. I have one for mixing jars in and for macerating botanicals in spirits. Again it is wise to line any plastic seal with the PTFE sheet.

[Broken Jug]

“amazon rolls of thin PTFE sheets for fairly cheap, one $10 roll goes a long way.”

Rrmuf,

I went to Amazon to purchase some of the PTFE sheets, but got very confused, lots of different ones listed.

Some say virgin PTFE, some say high heat PTFE, and others say coated PTFE, all of which are in different sizes and thickness.

Can you tell me more specifically which one you’re referring to at”$10 a roll”?

[MtRainier]

For longish storage of higher proof neutral I just use glass jugs or carboys and tear out a square of aluminum foil and squish it on like a lid. It isn't 100 percent airtight, but it's pretty tight and can be reused quite a few times. Seems like you could probably do the same thing with a mason jar.

[Rrmuf]

Can you tell me more specifically which one you’re referring to at”$10 a roll”?

Coated.

[Rrmuf]

For longish storage of higher proof neutral I just use glass jugs or carboys and tear out a square of aluminum foil and squish it on like a lid. It isn't 100 percent airtight, but it's pretty tight and can be reused quite a few times. Seems like you could probably do the same thing with a mason jar.

Never thought of using foil. That is kind of what I do with the ptfe sheet and have done with wax paper.

[Rum Agol]

The underside of Mason fars are typically NOT PTFE. You can however, amazon rolls of thin PTFE sheets for fairly cheap and screw the Mason jar lid over that. I just pick a corner of the sheet, screw the lid over it, cut it out at the edges. They are reusable, so one $10 roll goes a long way. I *think* I read that people also use wax paper for that purpose.Perhaps someone can confirm/refute that.

I use wax paper on all my mason jars - costs less than a £1 for a 10 metre roll

[Rrmuf]

The underside of Mason fars are typically NOT PTFE. You can however, amazon rolls of thin PTFE sheets for fairly cheap and screw the Mason jar lid over that. I just pick a corner of the sheet, screw the lid over it, cut it out at the edges. They are reusable, so one $10 roll goes a long way. I *think* I read that people also use wax paper for that purpose.Perhaps someone can confirm/refute that.

I use wax paper on all my mason jars - costs less than a £1 for a 10 metre roll

In the end, I think that is probably the most economical way to go! I haven't really noticed any downside to it, but perhaps someone might have different experiences!?

[BlueSasquatch]

Wife and I have about 50 Growlers which are 1/2 gallons I think, or 1/4 gallons, anyways tons of micro-breweries sell them, they work great for storage of bulk spirits, otherwise I just use actual liquor bottles that I've saved over the last decade. Works great because a bottle of "home-brew" just looks the same, once you get it oaked, and back into a spirit bottle.