Containers safe to store 43 percent alcohol

by **Valoren** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:02 pm

Hey guys, just wondering if the no plastic rule applies when dealing with cut spirit, does alcohol act as a solvent when below a certain concentration or at such a reduced capacity that it's safe to store in food grade plastic, tons of filters out there have plastic components and parts (Anyone who's used a Z or EZ filter knows what im talking about!

If plastic is still totally unsuitable would food grade steel drums be better? are there any non reactive containers that aren't glass, stainless or ceramic?

Post if you've got any innovative ideas or solutions

by **SBB** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:11 pm

Personal opinion is Id rather be safe than sorry, None of my booze goes near plastic, I stick to Stainless or Glass at any ABV. As for ceramic Id say it would be alright.

by **Brendan** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:32 pm

No innovative ideas or solutions sorry...

Plastic is not 'totally' unsuitable, it will hold your liquid, but there's a reason why everybody that knows what they're doing doesn't use it. The fact is, the plastic does leach into spirit, so you can decide if you want to drink that.

Ever drank water out of a bottle after a few days and can taste the plastic?? Now put a solvent like ethanol in there which will amplify the process that occurs with water, and store it away...

Yummmmy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **bt1** » Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:07 am

Yeh,

glass, SS or oak barrels is the go.

Sam posted a picture of a simple seal in a glass jar a few months ago...think it's in a storage thread...spirit looked like thin silicone/mikly in I think about 6 hours only.

bt1

by **Sam.** » Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:26 pm

Yeah that was in high proof spirit so I did it again at 40% with the same seal and only took a couple of days and it tasted real bad.

by **Kimbo** » Thu Apr 18, 2013 5:25 pm

:text-+1: On what the others said mate, what sort of volume are you wishing to store?

by **Dino61** » Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:51 pm

I used to give some 40% to mates when they had parties ,for the punch, and last year they discovered a few bottles they hadnt used, under the bar, which I'd taken in in plastic coke bottles...they mustve been there a couple of years at least, I took it home, and drank it , and it was fine, still here!No discernible taste of degradatioon of the bottle...I reckon if coke doesnt do anything to the plastic alcohol wont...

by **JayD** » Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:59 pm

Dino61 wrote:I used to give some 40% to mates when they had parties ,for the punch, and last year they discovered a few bottles they hadnt used, under the bar, which I'd taken in in plastic coke bottles...they mustve been there a couple of years at least, I took it home, and drank it , and it was fine, still here!No discernible taste of degradatioon of the bottle...I reckon if coke doesnt do anything to the plastic alcohol wont...

fair point, when I was new to this I collected in a small coke bottle (Plastic) for around 20 to 30 seconds, as I was holding the bottle I could feel it starting to swell up real fast ! I never did that again and I dont store in ordinary plastic bottle only ones I buy from a brew shop...but I do this as little as I can these days as I have a swag of old clean whiskey bottles we got from the tip. Back to your two year old booze in plastic bottles you found, you might not even realise it done something to you as it could be related to a smoke, one nail at a time. just saying....
J

by **Dino61** » Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:15 pm

I tend not to do it generally just in case, but suffer from a lack of bottles often also...so if I'm giving some away I'll do it for ease of transport...I bought a whole lot of HBS bottles once, but they all dissappeared eventually somehow...

by **Urrazeb** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:53 pm

At this stage plastic is unsuitable. However I was talking to my boss whos a technical engineer in the plastic industry.

He firmly believes that plastic will take place of glass either sooner or later and he says there is development directly aimed at producing a inside layer to the PET bottles to allow a barrier between high ABV and the nasties in plastic. Its gonna happen its just a matter of time he says.

And he knows plastic better than anyone I've ever met. :geek:He really does love the shit.

No matter what happens I have enough glass to see out the domination of plastic and will never use it to store alcohol;-)

by **SBB** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 5:52 pm

Ive yet to see a bottle of spirit of any kind sold in a bottle shop in Australia in a plastic bottle. I believe some countries do allow it to be sold that way though.
Also a very large majority of Distilling forum users world wide frown on the idea of storing alcohol of any ABV in plastic.
Those reasons are good enough for me.
Im also aware that a large majority of the worlds population believed the world was flat once, doesn't change a thing...glass it is for me.

by **BackyardBrewer** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:16 pm

SBB wrote:Ive yet to see a bottle of spirit of any kind sold in a bottle shop in Australia in a plastic bottle.

THIS! Sorry but people who say "oh I drank some 60% out of plastic and I'm fine"... I would say long term you don't know the health risk of what you ingested. See Sam's photos of a supposed food grade silicon seal after being soaked in 40% neutral - if you drank that you'd be sucking back toxins.

Now we all know that modern mass market distillers need to make as much money as possible to stay in business. If they COULD get away with plastic don't you think they would? The reason they ALL use more expensive glass is because you simply can't store a solvent like alcohol in plastic.

So glass & stainless and that's it. Find jars, or stubbies or anything but not plastic.

by **crow** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:15 am

earthenware is fine too, you can sometimes pick up one to five gal demijohns quite cheap in second hand joints and ebay for cheap as, I also have loads of 750 ml crocks you can get from salvo's and vinnies type shops for around 1 to 2 bucks . i reckon they are shit hot as they are insulated and light proof :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **wynnum1** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:02 am

20 litre plastic drums where used ,do not know if are used today , i have a couple of bunderberg rum ,they are yellow and have white lid .

by **Dominator** » Thu May 23, 2013 6:55 pm

I have done some searching but not much luck. I understand no plastic for alcohol and everyone says either stainless, glass or ceramic but what about alloy. I need something for storing low wines and I was thinking a 20L alloy stock pot with a silicone seal on the lid. Is there any problem with this?

by **blond.chap** » Thu May 23, 2013 7:09 pm

Dominator wrote:I have done some searching but not much luck. I understand no plastic for alcohol and everyone says either stainless, glass or ceramic but what about alloy. I need something for storing low wines and I was thinking a 20L alloy stock pot with a silicone seal on the lid. Is there any problem with this?

Do you mean aluminium? There's some research around aluminium leaching into food and having health impacts, however this been debated by other sources. Personally I would look at a stainless keg or glass carboy if you need to store large volumes of low wines.

by **Dominator** » Thu May 23, 2013 7:27 pm

Yeah I was talking about Aluminium. I might just stick with SS and glass.

by **Stevem109r** » Thu May 23, 2013 7:30 pm

Don't use alloy for long term storage, unless it is sealed,

Sent via electronic carrier pigeon :)

by **Hobo** » Thu May 23, 2013 8:03 pm

I have done a fair bit of research and thinking about this subject, so many things are claimed to be SAFE and then suddenly deemed to be toxic. For anything storage, it is not that hard to find containers that are not plastic, sauce bottles, wine bottles, stubbies, longnecks, etc.
Heck even store your spirits in a stainless Cornelius keg. I found a supplier on Ebay selling 20l polished stainless jerry cans with a tap for $72.00
Beg, borrow, scrounge (don't steal) get glass or buy staino or oak.

by **Brendan** » Fri May 24, 2013 1:04 am

Hobo wrote:I have done a fair bit of research and thinking about this subject, so many things are claimed to be SAFE and then suddenly deemed to be toxic. For anything storage, it is not that hard to find containers that are not plastic, sauce bottles, wine bottles, stubbies, longnecks, etc.
Heck even store your spirits in a stainless Cornelius keg. I found a supplier on Ebay selling 20l polished stainless jerry cans with a tap for $72.00
Beg, borrow, scrounge (don't steal) get glass or buy staino or oak.

Good advice there Hobo :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds like you've ditched the old vegetable oil bottles (or whatever they were?) ;-)