Plastic bottles

[Chippy_Tea]

I have a been making my wine in plastic water bottles and glass DJ,s, having read that Moley only uses his plastic ones four times before binning them i decided to do a little research as i also store my wine in PET bottles.

I have often wondered if the alcohol could react with the plastic in some way letting chemicals into the wine.

I found this that says in the short term putting wine in PET bottles makes ageing quicker which is a good thing if like me you don't have much storage room so don't age it for long periods, it does not say anything about chemical leeching.

What are your thoughts?

The study found that in the short-term, wine stored in glass and plastic tasted similar, but the wine stored in the plastic bottles started to deteriorate after about eight months and is best consumed within 12 months of bottling.

The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are permeable to air, which oxidises the wine. Wine bottlers can limit the amount of oxygen that enters the bottle with an oxygen scavenger - sachets containing material including fine iron powder covered with sea salt - but these are effective for only about 12 months.

"Oxygen permeates the wine and it becomes oxidised," Portavin managing director Ian Matthews said
Homemade wine is often bottled in a "reductive" state (the opposite of oxidised) in which case there may be short term benefit from using plastic bottles, but generally if you want to age your wine don't use plastic bottles.

 

[Vossy1]

Plastic bottles do let air/gases in and out with time. I had a load of out of date Ribena bottles which I use as door stops and after a year they were no longer carbonated and you could squeeze the bottle easily, so for that reason alone I wouldn't entertain using them long term :thumb:

 

[tropicalpisshead]

A few weeks back I bottled some pawpaw wine in plastic bottles. As it wasn't a very pleasant wine to taste I wasn't too worried about using plastic. To back sweeten and to try and get some sparkle in it I tried using sparkling grape juice as an additive. Well a few nights ago, SWMBO and I were watching tv when there was a mighty explosion in the garage. Well suck me dry and call me Dusty one of the paw paw bottles had exploded and when I say exploded I dont just mean a small hole in it I mean it really exploded beyond recognition.
LOL I may have to label these with a message saying DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOMELOL
Has anyone else had a similar experience ????

 

[bobsbeer]

Ferment on plastic, mature in plastic, bottle in glass. Never had any exploding on me yet.

 

[alanwh]

I have two brews in 5 litre Pet bottles a plum and a dandelion that have been there for Just over 2 years and taste fab. I intend to bottle soon as they are just ready for drinking. Some O2 is essential in the ageing process it is an art though recognising which brews are best young and which are best left to age. Some wines get better some worse with age.

 

[alanwh]

A few weeks back I bottled some pawpaw wine in plastic bottles. As it wasn't a very pleasant wine to taste I wasn't too worried about using plastic. To back sweeten and to try and get some sparkle in it I tried using sparkling grape juice as an additive. Well a few nights ago, SWMBO and I were watching tv when there was a mighty explosion in the garage. Well suck me dry and call me Dusty one of the paw paw bottles had exploded and when I say exploded I dont just mean a small hole in it I mean it really exploded beyond recognition.
LOL I may have to label these with a message saying DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOMELOL
Has anyone else had a similar experience ????

When I was a kid in the 60's When Dad first started home brewing he did an ale which for some reason he racked into a large empty plastic vinegar container and put it above the cabinets in the kitchen. We'll it blew up over a couple of days like A football and went from square to a fat round shape. Mum warned him then pleaded with him to let out some pressure to no avail. We'll it went bang big style in the middle of the night covering the whole kitchen and all the food on the cabinets with beer. Dad never heard the last of it and it served him right lol

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Ferment on plastic, mature in plastic, bottle in glass. Never had any exploding on me yet.

Do you use the plastic 5 litre water bottles? How long do you age your wine in them before racking to glass bottles?

 

[bobsbeer]

I use polypropylene containers for maturing, and some have had wine in for 12 months or more. They hold 20lt so perfect for 25lt brews. They were originally used for storing bulk pharmaceutical pills.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Putting unstable wine into a sealed container which cannot hold much pressure is asking for trouble. However the gas permeable quality of PET can be a great aid to the maturation of red wine, because this is exactly what an oak cask does. The slow oxidation it causes improves the wine over time. It can also improve white wine in the short term, but say after no more than 3 months, it should be bottled, to prevent too much oxidation, which will spoil it. Further improvements will occur in the glass bottle. With red wine in PET, it's best to exclude light to preserve the colour, and in both cases a stable, cool temperature is preferable.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks Tony & Bob :

 

[Tramps Vest]

Yes, i believe that there would be a chemical leech out in time from plastics.
I say this as a personal friend who is an industrial chemist for a MAHOOOSIVE chemical company has been on secondment to a project which is being jointly funded by the food and chemical industries, for the last 12 months.
It would be unfair to say the company names, whilst also rather unfair to spill certain beans on an open forum. So in the interest of fair play an not wanting to get sued to death, i cannot divulge what she has discussed with me.
What i would say is that the bill was massive and the food and beverage industry all ready recognise that there is potential for cross contamination.
However, i am sure that we have all ingested loads of whatever over the years, so does it now matter at this point?
I think it boils down to personal preferance on how and what you brew and keep/age your grog in - lots of folk dont even give it a second thought

 

[tonyhibbett]

It took a long time for asbestos to be admitted as lethal, that lead in pipes, paint and petrol fumes very harmful, living under high voltage cables, the stressful effects of aircraft noise and so forth!