Home Distiller

iv been wanting to make a cardboard teflon tape gaskit for my milk can boiler. its 10'' across beveled, than ya got to go over the lip an down. its impossible with cardboard [ trust me iv tryed several times] it just will not contort to that shape without ripping or holding the shape. now im thinking natural chamios leather, its soft pliable and should form a seal. after googleing it says you can use it for gasoline and harsh solvents. has anyone got an opionion on the use of leather as a gaskit for our use? if it was safe and durable it should work, but is it safe?

@ dakotasnake,

Perchance are you aware of all the nasty chemicals (chromium, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, sulfuric acid) that are used in leather tanning process?

Ask yourself if you would want to drink a bottle of booze that someone had soaked a natural leather chamois in for a couple of hours.


Regards,
Coaster

How about the real un dyed felt? Maybe that's where Lamb's Navy got it's name

humm ill check into the felt, i no its made of wool and water, lots of compression and vibration. oh and i found a company in canada [ moose river chamois co.] that claims to make a safe food grade chemical free chambois for use in commercial kitchens. ill check them out also. coaster, a little chromiam wouldent stop me after all its in the stainless steel we use all around us, but good point on the formaldihide, i dont want that in me till im pushen daisy's. thanks for the info. im not trying to reinvent gaskits just looking for something safe, ez to use and reuseable many times.

How about cork? Or maybe sheet gasket material which is paper, comes in different thickness.

The leather will disintegrate in the presence of the heat and moisture. I have tried leather for a gasket in other applications (not distilling) and believe me it doesn't work.

Big R

For what its worth in my Aviation days we used Mil-W-5521, AN6244, and AN6246 Leather gasket back up rings in numerous aircraft applications which were subjected to water, oil, hash chemicals, extreme temperatures and these Leather gasket back up rings never experienced any type of deterioration.

This does not mean that Leather seals, gaskets, grommets, or O-rings are appropriate for use in a home hobby Still used for distilling alcohol sprits for human consumption.

Regards,
Coaster

i found a natural wool felt at a music store [ used in piano's ,organs ect. ] iv cut into strips for my gaskit. i aint used it yet but plan to next sat. UNLESS of course someone can give me a reason not to. its undyed, unbleached. it may or may not work but ill have my trusty standby lasagna noodles handy if theres any leaks.

I did a little research on felt. Here is and excerp of what I found on wikipiedia...


"It is also possible to produce artificial felts. If made using the wet method, an artificial felt will contain a minimum of 30% wool fibres with the rest being artificial fibres. This is the minimum composition necessary to hold a fabric together with the fibres alone; it would be difficult to form a stable fabric by hand below this ratio. Wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts.

An alternative felting process involves a steam roller rolling over the unwoven fibres in a shallow pool of water with the cloth rotating as the steam roller passes over it. This method is widely used in small towns in India where mass manufacturing of clothing is performed."

A statistic From drinkingwaterforindia.org: 4,000 chidren will die today from lack of clean water

The are three things that worry me: Wool is a protein fiber, it needs oils to remain in it's current state. It's oiled prior to being worked and I would hypothesize that it would become brittle in gaseous alcohol making a delicate gasket in the conditions used for distilling.

The next thing is that the water used to make this stuff is in India and China alot of the time, I wouldn't drink it, so I wouldn't use something made in it for something I am going to drink. The final thing is that my search for "food grade felt" turned up alot of carbon fiber felt that first, is not wool, and second Would probably tase really bad if you got it hot in alcohol vapor.

Since I have had to re-build a complete setup since I found this site I have started doing alot of research trying to find what will defenitly work and what may not. Surely there is a schematic that will overcome your gasket issue. If not post some pics of the problem maybe someone can help out.

-A

Good cautionary post. How about something more along this line of product and manufacturing practices -

http://www.etsy.com/listing/27202093/or ... hick-white" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Just a thought ...

blind drunk wrote:Good cautionary post. How about something more along this line of product and manufacturing practices -

http://www.etsy.com/listing/27202093/or ... hick-white" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Just a thought ...

+1 Good call , That would be the only way to go, or at least something equivalent.

To the OP if you do use this material please keep an strong eye on it's condition. I'm not saying it won't hold, I just don't want somethin' to go horribly wrong. I would also make sure to use something like whats in blind drunk's link to avoid Indo-Chinese "goodies" from the ground in my drink. The list of metal contaminants goes on forever in some places in the world and whats safe to wear might not be s' good to drink.

If you use it keep us updated on how it works I'm curious. Might be good research.

just an update: i used the previous mentioned natural wool felt as a gaskit on my milk can boiler. i washed 1st then soaked in high proof alcohol-let dry. made 2runs now with it. conclution-- it works great, no leaks at all and no deteriation of the fabric as of yet, but of course i'll keep a close eye on it.

How is the felt holding up ? I suppose you have done a few runs since you last posted. Any off tastes or smells to your distillate?

after about 50 runs or so using the felt, so far so good. no off taeste or anything. the felt is beginning to flatten some, so im thinking of some new felt or wash and dry and see if it puffs up again to original. its worth it to me using it just from not cleaning up a mess all the time.