Food grade buckets??

[Gwen]

Can anyone tell me if these buckets are food grade. Not trying to be a cheap skate but the bird fat balls came in them and if I can repurpose them into brewing buckets I could get a couple of more brews on tomorrow Thanks

 

[An Ankoù]

Are they about 5 litres? If so I've used similar. One type has a knife and fork sign on the underside so I suppose that means food grade. The other hasn't but I used it anyway. Both used to contain fat balls for birds.
I think the first photo is the one.

 

[Gwen]

Haven't measured out but I would think it more 10-15lts

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I think An may be right, I found this…

 

[roboto]

The PP logo means poly-propylene which is food safe too. You should be good to go.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The spring water bottles i used to use when i started had this symbol on them i have checked a couple of different pop bottles in the fridge and they don't now have them unless i have missed it.

What does PET stand for?

polyethylene terephthalate

PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate, is a form of polyester (just like the clothing fabric). It is extruded or molded into plastic bottles and containers for packaging foods and beverages, personal care products, and many other consumer products.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Probably worth giving them a good soak in sanitiser to remove any smell of whatever fat the bird food balls had in them...

 

[Hop_it]

The PP logo means poly-propylene which is food safe too. You should be good to go.

The spring water bottles i used to use when i started had this symbol on them i have checked a couple of different pop bottles in the fridge and they don't now have them unless i have missed it.



View attachment 56298

What does PET stand for?

polyethylene terephthalate

PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate, is a form of polyester (just like the clothing fabric). It is extruded or molded into plastic bottles and containers for packaging foods and beverages, personal care products, and many other consumer products.

It is worth pointing out that not all PP vessels are designed, nor are they suitable for packaging and/or storage of food and beverages. So, if it doesn't say so, then it may not be so. The "food safe" symbol is a good guide, but may not be present in all cases. So, if in doubt I would suggest not to use it.
The short term use of a non-food approved container for homebrewing is unlikely to make you seriously ill, but some unpleasant additives are used in the production of many common plastics. These could leach out, and at the very least taint the taste of the beer.

The PET/1 symbol is only intended to be a means of identification for the purposes of recycling. There are a whole load of other similar symbols with different letters and numbers for other polymers. "PP", "PE" and "PET" are probably the most common in packaging applications. However, you are likely to see the same type of symbols on the plastic mouldings of other consumer goods, i.e. toys, electronics, automotive parts etc., which are not suitable for food contact applications :hat:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The PET/1 symbol is only intended to be a means of identification for the purposes of recycling.

That explains it, all the bottles have "widely recycled" or similar on the caps and labels so i guess they did away with the PET1 symbol.

 

[Hop_it]

That explains it, all the bottles have "widely recycled" or similar on the caps and labels so i guess they did away with the PET1 symbol.

Yes, but it is also possible that the modern process for blow moulding PET beverage bottles does not lend itself to "moulding in" the symbol in the same way that can be done with injection moulded articles, like the buckets and pales that we all use. It's not impossible to do it, but there is a risk that the definition/readability may not be sufficiently reliable. At least if you print it on the label you know that it can be easily read . . . . . even if too few people take any notice of it

 

[Irishwizard]

This subject was discussed on this Forum a few years ago and a member posted up all the codes and what they meant. Its possible perhaps an older post has been deleted????

 

[Hop_it]

This subject was discussed on this Forum a few years ago and a member posted up all the codes and what they meant. Its possible perhaps an older post has been deleted????

I didn't see that one. Sorry for the repetition.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I didn't see that one. Sorry for the repetition.

No need to apologise we have never pulled members up for not searching its not how we do things here.

I have searched and cannot find anything.

 

[Irishwizard]

It was deffinately there Chippy, once, because even I was surprised at all the different plastics, since I occasionally use fat ball buckets

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It was deffinately there Chippy, once, because even I was surprised at all the different plastics, since I occasionally use fat ball buckets

You are right it was and i remember it well as i used PET back then but i cannot find it, i have found if you google and ask something specific like "pet bottle home brew forum" it often throws up threads the search here doesn't find, i did try this and still couldn't find it so i don't know what happened to it.

 

[user 43495]

Can anyone tell me if these buckets are food grade. Not trying to be a cheap skate but the bird fat balls came in them and if I can repurpose them into brewing buckets I could get a couple of more brews on tomorrow Thanks

I use those to transport my spent grain to the farmer's wife across the lane. She feeds it to the sheep. I wouldn't like to use them for brewing though. What pennies you might save you lose hand over fist if you have to thrown 5 galls of beer away.

 

[Gwen]

Thanks everyone. Maybe I shall just keep using them for bottle label soaking and storing bits in them.

 

[Hop_it]

Thanks everyone. Maybe I shall just keep using them for bottle label soaking and storing bits in them.

If you want some good quality, food safe PP brewing buckets, you might like to try this company (see attached). I bought several large buckets/pales from them a few years ago, and they are excellent.
At the time I bought them they did not do business on-line, but they now sell through eBay

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

If you want some good quality, food safe PP brewing buckets, you might like to try this company (see attached). I bought several large buckets/pales from them a few years ago, and they are excellent.
At the time I bought them they did not do business on-line, but they now sell through eBay

Can't find that supplier on eBay... do you have a link?

Looks like they do trade online - their price for a 30L pail looks like £5.78 (£4.82 + vat) ... but unfortunately the site says "Ordering as a private customer will be possible again shortly!"

In the meantime you can get the 25L ones via Amazon for £7 each, delivered (so long as you don't mind getting five of them...)
I got a load of these last year and the plastic is marked 'PP' with the '05' triangle

 

[Hop_it]

Can't find that supplier on eBay... do you have a link?

Looks like they do trade online - their price for a 30L pail looks like £5.78 (£4.82 + vat) ... but unfortunately the site says "Ordering as a private customer will be possible again shortly!"

In the meantime you can get the 25L ones via Amazon for £7 each, delivered (so long as you don't mind getting five of them...)
I got a load of these last year and the plastic is marked 'PP' with the '05' triangle

View attachment 56413

Hmmm . . . . . Sorry about that, and no I don't have a link. I didn't bother searching eBay for Auer products because I remembered them informing me shortly after I had bought from them that they were setting up an on-line sales channel for buyers of small lots (like us homebrewers). It's a shame that they have had to suspend it, but I can understand that the additional work and handling is more difficult to manage whilst c'rona is still amongst us.

The RPC buckets look fine to me. They mention in the text that the buckets are suitable for fermenting etc, so you can be sure that they are safe. RPC are a reliable multinational manufacturer of plastic packaging, so they know what they are doing.

The reasons I mentioned Auer Packaging are that their buckets are shorter and wider than many others on the market, they also offer the option of buckets with or without handles and/or lids (both of which suited my intended purpose at the time), and their service was excellent.