Food grade tubs for storage of strip-low wines ?

fadge

Hi all, this is only about low wines or stripped runs for short term storage proir to final runs.

Q. Is it ok/safe to use food grade drums/tubs to store stripped product?

Eg ex olive tubs are around in 80-200 lt sizes. If using these should the low wines be diluted or just as is?

I have 4 spare 50lt kegs to use now, but thinking one or two large single tubs would be much more convenient to handle..

I did put 15lt in a white food grade 25lt once with the lid on it, then sort of forgot l had it. 6 weeks later opened it up and shit it stunk and had turned purple ! I chucked the lot out.

Thanks

Fadge

Lloyd

I don't trust plastic for storing high strength booze. Wash under 12 to 14% is OK by me but much over that I'd go with glass or stainless. I don't make a strong wash anyway.
Lots of folks poo poo plastic but for fermenting I don't see the big deal. Once it goes through the still it shouldn't touch plastic, just my humble opinion. Lots of strong feelings about that subject so let your conscience be your guide.

I've seen more than one or two USA distilleries on TV store high proof in plastic totes.
This can of worms has caused wars on other distilling forums so the subject makes me nervous. My opinion is clear: plastic is OK for low proof but not OK for high proof.

Where that line is is not set in stone but, for me, around 20% max. YMMV.

I seriously discount that heavy metals like lead can work its' way up a column but I have no idea if plastic molecular fragments can or cannot do so.

punkin

Yep commercial 40% is sold in hdpe cubes here but i choose not to store alcohol stronger than wine in plastic. It's beer kegs for me despite the inconvenience of the weight.

You may be better being on the lookout for a stainless 200 l drum Fadge?

Thanks for recommending me to your neighbour btw. :)>-

Law_Of_Ohms

I use 10L hdpe water cubes from aldi. I have never had a problem with %80 alc stored in them. bonus is they cost $4

punkin

@Law_Of_Ohms said: I use 10L hdpe water cubes from aldi. I have never had a problem that i know about with %80 alc stored in them. bonus is they cost $4

FTFY

fadge

I should add short term is 6 mths or more.

Doing a grain based sugar whiskey wash that's taking around 4-6 weeks per generation. 2 x 60lt ferments works out a fair amount of strip-low wine's to store and combine or mix together.

Fadge

Law_Of_Ohms

Look at my teeth! no problems I tell ya!

Every time this topic crops up, ppl post links to information...

here is one... lol

Are All Plastics Bad?

At least on this forum you wont get banned for saying you use plastic

DistilliTraK

I had someone ask me if I knew if the grains I used are GMO or natural... Like that makes any difference in the cost of tea in China.

I read early on that using plastic even HDPE was only at the wash level .. So I've been a glass carboy for low's e'er since... Thankfully, I have a number of wineo musicians that come around here and drink the cheap wine I buy to get the gallon jugs out of.... ;)

punkin

:))

211

I wouldn't but that's just my opinion. Glass demijohns or stainless steel kegs for any longer storage than say 24hrs at 20% or more in my whare...

No science behind those numbers just my own prejudice against plastics. I see booze in plastic at the bottler but it tends to be the cheaper brands of rotgut vodka.

SDeurope

Same here, I just don't trust any kind of plastic and try to avoid it whenever possible. It's an endless discussion on how bad it really is, which remembers me on a wheat beer sold in plastic bottles by a supermarket chain in Germany, something that just would not work here in Austria. I mean, would you buy a beer in a plastic bottle?

Lloyd

I've bought 40% booze in a plastic bag.

Only in China.

And I liked it.

But to the rest of the world, "Don't do this at home. I am a professional"

....famous last words

Chalmer

Hey just watch Moonshiners they have it in old plastic milk jugs.... :-O must be ok if they do it. :D

DistilliTraK

@Lloyd - at a recent musical event here, a fella brought a bottle of "Early Times" to consume over the course of an evening.. (I guess it's called early times because it taste's like heads to me)

The damn thing was in a clear plastic bottle. ISTN.. packaged this way from the liquor store.

( ISTN - I sh*t Thou Not)

bentstick

Lots of PETA bottled liquor on the shelfs any more!

Prairiepiss

And I walk right by any alcohol on the shelf that's in plastic. Now anyway. Back when was young and dumb. I bought a box of Jim beam. Yes I said box. That box was full of single serving packages like you get ketchup in the drive through in. This was in Africa in the early 90s.

Now the only time my alcohol touches plastic after it goes through the still. Is when its added to a red solo cup with coke and ice.

Lloyd

@Prairiepiss said: ...single serving packages like you get ketchup in the drive through in...

That sounds like a handy item in any first aid kit. :))

DistilliTraK

@SDeurope said: Same here, I just don't trust any kind of plastic and try to avoid it whenever possible. It's an endless discussion on how bad it really is, which remembers me on a wheat beer sold in plastic bottles by a supermarket chain in Germany, something that just would not work here in Austria. I mean, would you buy a beer in a plastic bottle?

@SDeurope - Budweiser US packages a ton of beers in plastic bottles any more - cheaper - But what does one expect for the piss of Clydesdales.. Folks bring them over here to consume while music is played. I picked up 16 of the damn things this mornin'...

They aren't even any fun to take out back to the gun range and shoot with our pistols.... Just don't shatter like one would expect! (The plastic bottles.. not them horses; ) )

FullySilenced

fill em up with water....

DistilliTraK

@FullySilenced said: fill em up with water....

Duuh.. :) I will!! Wife wants to shoot the Ar15 today before football... She can't be bothered once football starts...she's glued to the set.

I'd complain, but you boys'd laugh me off the planet...