Home Distiller

Ok, ok, dont throw crap at me yet. I know I shouldn't be storing alcohol in plastic bottles. Maybe it isn't even a bad thing, but better safe that sorry.

But what about dunders? Like Hook's Rum dunders.
After all, they have (almost) no alcohol left and they aren't more acidic than a standard coke. Cokes have a pH=2.5, so Yeast wont ever go that acidic.
SO they should be safe to store dunders, aI think.

It would have less alcohol then when fermenting. And many use plastic buckets or drums for fermenting.

It's when you get higher ABV. That its a concern.

HDPE, aka <2>, is fine for fermenting and storage of backsets and dunders. Just keep the high proof stuff away.

On a sligtly different topic, I've been considering using HPDE disks cut from milk jugs as Mason Jar lid liners for storage of 40% to 60% distilled product for storage and aging. I'm using PTFE liners from http://www.usplastic.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow for quart jars. However, they do not have a convenient PTFE disk size for half gallon Mason Jars.

The following is from The Dynalab Corp. web site. They provide extensive lab and science products -

HDPE Resistance
•Excellent resistance (no attack) to dilute and concentrated Acids, Alcohols and Bases.
•Good resistance (minor attack) to Aldehydes, Esters, Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Ketones and Mineral and Vegetable Oils.
•Limited resistance (moderate attack and suitable for short term use only) to Halogenated Hydrocarbons and Oxidizing Agents.

http://www.dynalabcorp.com/technical_in ... hylene.asp

PDF's located on the same page indicate "Excellent Resistance / No Attack" for the following.

- Butyl Alcohol
- Ethyl Alcohol
- Methyl Alcohol

Thoughts?

What Jimbo said...

'minor attack' from aldehydes and esters. Youre aware there are aldehydes and esters in our drinking stuff right? We dont make pure ethanol.

If youre ok with the chemical byproducts of 'minor attack', go for it. But we have a rule around here because most of us arent. So if you do it, I recommend you not tell us here if you dont want to hear the backlash.

Good luck,

Cheers.

As a side note, my brother went to England years ago and brought back some "scrumpy", a cider based drink as I recall. He brought it home in plastic bottles, and by the time I got a swig, it just tasted like liquid plastic. You know, the aftertaste you get sometimes drinking out of a plastic container. BTW, the containers were used alcohol bottles, but the "scrumpy", managed to break them down some how

Many stores in the States have/sell cheap vodka in plastic bottles.

DAD300 wrote:Many stores in the States have/sell cheap vodka in plastic bottles.

Not only vodka, but dozens and dozens of lower shelf products upwards of 80 proof are sold in platic, but the plastic used for those is PET, ployethylene terepthalate. Coke bottle plastic.

Note that every bottle of Everclear or other 190+ proof product I've ever seen is found in glass.

Of the two common plastics, HDPE and PET, I think PET is superior. I personally have no issues with lower proof products in PET containers. But that's COOL ethanol at a lower proof.

Everyone must make up their own mind. PTFE is all I'd have in a still with hot, high-proof ethanol.

Well, PTFE it is then. Looks like USPlastic.com has 3.5" diameter disks at .77/ea that can be trimmed down to fit a half gallon mason jar lid.

Asedefecio wrote:Ok, ok, dont throw crap at me yet. I know I shouldn't be storing alcohol in plastic bottles. Maybe it isn't even a bad thing, but better safe that sorry.

BZZZT wrong it is a bad thing, not some times but always particularly a finished product. Hell even beer stored in plastic for a say 6 months is undrinkable (believe me I know)

But what about dunders? Like Hook's Rum dunders.

Yep no worries but i would use a plastic bucket, forget about PET plastic like soft drink bottles, it is just shit for any long term storage of anything even soft drink