Plastic wine thief and 180 proof White lightnin

[pistachio_nut]

I was using a wine thief to check my abv for a while. It developed this patchy opaque whiteness after a dozen checks or so. This last run I tried it again, thinking I could rotate the thing until I found a window in the opacity to look through. Lo and behold, the thing gave way on the darkest of the white spots and came apart in my hand.

I guess alcohol really DOES eat through plastic.

[olddog]

We toldja so.



OD

[Bushman]

Good lesson to be learned. Thank you HD as we all make mistakes but through this forum we sure save ourselves from many more we would make!

[pistachio_nut]

We toldja so.



OD

I had another one this week that's so bad I can't post it. My balls were up to the roof of my mouth about four times. I was mostly prepared, but had left one critical connection unsecured, and it came apart FOUR TIMES. Lord have mercy. I have since remedied the situation.

[still crazy]

Oh come on now P-nut you have to share the toys if you want to play in the sand box !!!

[beelah]

I too had a scare last week when I was doing a fast stripping run in the kitchen and the wife was getting inpatient about getting her veggies washed and pealed so she could get them in oven to roast ( I had the cooing water running off the kitchen faucet).

She was taking the water comming off the condenser that was running in to the sink and was just warmish which was working fine.

I stepped out of the room for just a second to take a look at what was on the tube, got caught up for a minute or two with what was on, turned to look over at the still and saw steam just pouring out the top of the still!!!! WTF ran over and cut the heat, and looked at the sink and saw she had shut off the water!!!!!

Luckily I cought it in time, but there could have been a big BOOM had I not.

Rules we live by....never leave a still un attended or under the care and attention of someone who dosen't know how to run one!!! She was sorry, it was just a habit to shut off the water after she was done....I had failed to tell her "don't touch anything!" Mybad. Lesson well learned. Don't try to cook and "cook" at the same time...too many cooks in the kitchen at the same time.....

[pistachio_nut]

Bought me some proofin' glass today. A whoppin' sixteen dollars... well spent.

Tell me somethin' gents. I have ten 6-8 gallon food grade containers I bought to use as secondaries. They used to hold fruit juice and have screw on caps that fit a certain bung size very nicely. I was thinking about going ahead with buying the bungs and airlocks, and using them as secondaries for Deathwish. I know you can use plastic primaries and it's no big deal. But, if you start hitting 12-14% with your wash, is that going to dissolve some plastic into the drink? And iff'n it does, will it go up the column?

I don't care about the money for the plastic secondaries, I'm happy to use them to store water in case of emergency.

What is your assessment of the health risk for this equipment? Should I dump the plastic and spend a couple hundo on replacing the plastic with glass?

[Ayay]

Beelah, happened to me with the wife an the garden tap! She would turn the tap on full-blast and pop the hoses to the condensor an flood the workshop. Now the garden tap is moved to another location separate to the still.

Plastics are OK for fermenting a wash in the 12% range. Stillin hot concentrated alc is another story.

[rtalbigr]

I understand the concerns on this forum about plastic but not all plastic is bad. Go to the likker store and you'll find all kinds of booze in plastic bottles. That being said though milk jugs and plastic like that is definitely a no-no. I know some old moonshiners who have delivered in milk jugs and for some reason their likker has been described as "harsh." I stay away from plastics just cuz I don't know which ones are acceptable and which ones aren't.

Big R

[rad14701]

I understand the concerns on this forum about plastic but not all plastic is bad. Go to the likker store and you'll find all kinds of booze in plastic bottles. That being said though milk jugs and plastic like that is definitely a no-no. I know some old moonshiners who have delivered in milk jugs and for some reason their likker has been described as "harsh." I stay away from plastics just cuz I don't know which ones are acceptable and which ones aren't.

Big R

The topic of plastic liquor bottles has been discussed in these forums previously... They are intended for short-term storage only, are lined to withstand short-term storage until additional air contacts the lining, and will eventually deteriorate on the shelves if not sold and consumed before their expiration date... Well, they won't deteriorate immediately, but will start the process... You don't see expiration dates on glass liquor bottles...

We, the HD membership, do not recognize ANY plastic as being acceptable for high proof alcohol storage because we are more concerned with safety, health, and wellbeing, than corporate businesses... We actually know, personally, the people who we will be sharing our spirits with and that makes a big difference... We don't have a bottom line and board of directors to appease...

[rtalbigr]

You misunderstood my intent Rad, or more correctly I didn't communicate it well. I don't use plastic, except for drinking occasionally, and whole heartedly agree with this forum's stand on plastic.

I was just making a comment.

Big R

[rad14701]

No misunderstanding on my part at all, nor your intent... I was merely re-iterating the stance of these forums regarding plastic liquor bottles for any new members who have not found the other topics regarding them yet...

[rtalbigr]

Ok Rad, Good! I get some of my store bought likker in plastic. Always throw it away but keep the glass ones.

Big R

Oh ya, knew of a guy who put a plastic picnic cup on his night stand full of 100P when he went to bed sos he'd have a drink when he got up next morning. He woke up to a pile of melted plastic.