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So I just messed up. I was ph treating some feints I was planing to run next week and I thought I was using sodium bicarbonate, I grabbed the wrong container. What I actually used was sodium carbonate and I use a a lot.

My question is is this still going to be safe to run?

id say yes because the first time you ran it you removed any leftover nitrogen so you should have no problems.

It wasn't one of my finer moments. I must have used over a cup. Anyone think it might give a weird taste?

I just went to wiki and this is what it says about sodium carbonate:

UsesThe manufacture of glass is one of the most important uses of sodium carbonate. When it is combined with silica (SiO2) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and heated to very high temperatures, then cooled very rapidly, glass is produced. This type of glass is known as soda lime glass.

Sodium carbonate is also used as a relatively strong base in various settings. For example, sodium carbonate is used as a pH regulator to maintain stable alkaline conditions necessary for the action of the majority of developing agents.[citation needed] It is a common additive in municipal pools used to neutralize the acidic effects of chlorine and raise pH.[2] In cooking, it is sometimes used in place of sodium hydroxide for lying, especially with German pretzels and lye rolls. These dishes are treated with a solution of an alkaline substance in order to change the pH of the surface of the food and thus improve browning.

In taxidermy, sodium carbonate added to boiling water will remove flesh from the skull or bones of trophies to create the "European skull mount" or for educational display in biological and historical studies.

In chemistry, it is often used as an electrolyte. This is because electrolytes are usually salt-based, and sodium carbonate acts as a very good conductor in the process of electrolysis. Additionally, unlike chloride ions which form chlorine gas, carbonate ions are not corrosive to the anodes. It is also used as a primary standard for acid-base titrations because it is solid and air-stable, making it easy to weigh accurately.

In domestic use, it is used as a water softener during laundry. It competes with the ions magnesium and calcium in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used. Without using washing soda, additional detergent is needed to soak up the magnesium and calcium ions. Called Washing Soda, Soda crystals or Sal Soda[3] in the detergent section of stores, it effectively removes oil, grease, and alcohol stains. Sodium carbonate is also used as a descaling agent in boilers such as found in coffee pots, espresso machines, etc.[citation needed]

In dyeing with fiber-reactive dyes, sodium carbonate (often under a name such as soda ash fixative or soda ash activator) is used to ensure proper chemical bonding of the dye with the fibers, typically before dyeing (for tie dyes), mixed with the dye (for dye painting), or after dyeing (for immersion dyeing).[4]

I would run it and see if it improves your abiltiy to seperate the heads and tails as you do when you use soda Bicarb.

It will help in reducing heads I know that much but I used about 5 times as much as I usually would. I'm wondering it using that much will be a problem.

PH adjusting feints? I've not heard of this. What were the feints from? I've adjusted the PH of a mash, but never thought of adjusting the PH of the feints...

Care to share?


Bull.

Some years ago many on the Swedish forums used sodium carbonate http://www.brygg.info/index.php?name=Fo ... topic&t=63&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow (use http://www.google.se/language_tools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ) but now most people use bicarbonate instead just because it's safe to eat out of the bag so it's impossible to harm you.
In practice it should not matter as the low wines are distilled so you will not digest anything harmful (except the ethanol itself).
I don't think you can overdo the pH treatment (pH buffering etc), too much is just wasting bicarb (or whatever used). Do you have pH measuring sticks?

The feints were from everything I'm not going to make again.

I have a PH meter, I've actually not used it yet but it may be a good time to start. I've always just used the papers and I'm pushing 6.4+ on this stuff.

Coming from a chemist...
Yes it will be fine. Adding more sodium carbonate before distillation is no more harmful than dumping a cup of table salt in there. Most salts such as sodium carbonate will not distill over. As long as you dont add it to a final product, you will be fine (sodium carbonate is used in some food processing as well). I have seen some sources state that carbonate will work much faster than bicarb anyways.

J

jrj626 wrote:Coming from a chemist...
Yes it will be fine. Adding more sodium carbonate before distillation is no more harmful than dumping a cup of table salt in there. Most salts such as sodium carbonate will not distill over. As long as you dont add it to a final product, you will be fine (sodium carbonate is used in some food processing as well). I have seen some sources state that carbonate will work much faster than bicarb anyways.

J

That is my understanding too.
The reason to use bicarb even though it less efficient is that you cant make anything dangerous with it no matter how much you screw up.

That's why I usually use bicarb, I have them both sitting in glass half gallon jars and I had a Homer moment. So i guess I should be ok from what I can gather.