Broken Alcometer Contents in Stripped Run

[rvn]

Hey All,

We (my wife :) ) managed to break the alcometer during a stripping run and about a teaspoon's worth of the little ball bearings from the tube made it into the container with the stripped wash.

I've continued with the strip as I more or less know by volume where I'm at (was aiming for 20%) but do you think I should be paranoid about contamination? (from the alcometer contents?)

There is no discolouration of the liquid. The alcometer is just the standard HBS style (<$10) and the balls that spilt out really do just look like regular (steel?) ball bearings in use for their weight.

Is there much risk? Would a second strip help?

Cheers!

[scythe]

I wouldn't risk it, you have not lost much but the time it took to strip the wash and a couple of bucks in the ingredients.
I thought the balls were lead myself.

[rvn]

I wouldn't risk it, you have not lost much but the time it took to strip the wash and a couple of bucks in the ingredients.
I thought the balls were lead myself.

Now that you mention it....they do look like lead x_x

[The Stig]

They are lead , no if’s or buts sorry

[rvn]

Thanks for the confirmation :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[OzDistilling]

Dispose of the batch.

The balls are LEAD and the encasing is either Petroleum Wax (paraffin) or paraffin jelly.

At $0.12/c a litre as your cost, just play it safe.

[mick_mack]

I made a similar mistake today. I was wondering how I was able to defy the laws of physics and yield 100+% ABV.
Seems I dropped the alcometer into the parrot a little early and broke the bottom of it. Great ! Now I need to try and clean the parrot to a point where I don’t get lead poisoning.

[The Stig]

A parrot that small won’t be hard.
Handy hint , drop a small wad of stainless or copper mesh into the bottom of the parrot , you’ll never brake another alcometer again :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Wellsy]

Welcome to distilling guys.
I don’t think there are many on here who have not done that. It is all part of the learning curve

[NFI]

I too had this unfortunate experiance recently - sucks.
But the small balls were able to be picked up with a magnet so pretty sure they are not lead.
As for the wax - god knows, better to be safe than sorry I guess.