Why food grade plastic?

[ammiteur connoisseur]

This may be a silly question to those in the know, but why is it so important to use a food grade FV? eg the food grade plastic buckets as opposed to say an empty 25 litre paint tub?

At the end of the day, if its washed & sterile what's the difference? :wha:

 

[Mark1964]

the chemicals can get into your beer etc if they are not food grade also they can withstand boiling too

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

the chemicals can get into your beer

Really? Oh. . . . OK,

Best not then!
Thanks Mark :thumb:

 

[artiums_enteri]

Yeah everything that touches your beer, especially on the hot side really should be food grade. There are a lot of chemicals used to paint buckets, seal them, make them so caustic chemicals inside wont eat through the walls of the bucket when stored. These chemicals can be anything from lead to things used in Chinese factories. It is very easy for hot liquid to carry that nasty stuff into your beer.

Food grade tubing and lines should be used as well. Any lines on the hot side while transferring can have the same issue as non-food grade buckets. Food grade stuff is easy to come by, and shouldn't be much more expensive than a bucket you'd store transmission fluid in.


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[dennisking]

The tubing I use, between polypin and handpump, I bought from a tropical fish shop. I'm assuming it's food grade as tropical fish are delicate little things, anyone know.

 

[Mr BR]

hi all just spotted a 45l bin in asda 6pound with the 5 in the triangle and an 80l for 9quid square storage box and 110l square box for 11quid with 5 in the triangle logo and the knife and fork logo if not for fv you could cobble a mash tun together maybe out the 2 of them with insulation inbetween, maybe exspanding foam any thoughts ??? :idea:

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

What exactly does the 5 in the triangle actually mean anyway? I've seen plenty of items with this logo & some with other numbers in the middle. (I presume it's some sort of grading of the plastics, but if it is what's good & what's bad)?

 

[Shug]

Its the plastic type put there for recycling purposes.
Doesnt necessarily make any difference to whether its 'food safe' or not.

 

[Moley]

The number in the triangle is the resin identification code, which tells you what type of plastic it is, no.5 being Polypropylene.

That alone doesn't tell you whether or not it's food grade, but Mr BR's tubs also carried the fork and glass symbol, which is what you need to look for.

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

That alone doesn't tell you whether or not it's food grade, but Mr BR's tubs also carried the fork and glass symbol, which is what you need to look for.

Oh ok, I thought that the knife & fork thing just meant it was dishwaher safe. :shock:

 

[klaus]

What makes polypropylene food grade - is it through the manufacturing or some other treatment?
Just wondering.

 

[Shug]

I'd imagine it would be the chemicals used, or treatment of the plastic. i.e, dyes, release agents on moulds,

 

[oldbloke]

That alone doesn't tell you whether or not it's food grade, but Mr BR's tubs also carried the fork and glass symbol, which is what you need to look for.

Oh ok, I thought that the knife & fork thing just meant it was dishwaher safe. :shock:

International food-grade symbol is glass and fork, but the Germans seem to be using knife and fork as well (or instead)
There's no standard for dishwasher-safe

 

[Mr BR]

on the food grade side my fv sold by youngs doesnt have a knife and glass or a knife and fork symbol on the bottom all it carries is the 5 in a triangle can anybody throw some light on this ???? :wha:

 

[bobsbeer]

Plastic code 5

Description: Polypropylene has the lowest density of the resins used in packaging. It is strong and is resistant to chemicals. Since it has a high melting-point it can be utilized in applications requiring that a container be filled with a hot liquid.

Packaging applications: Yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles

Recycled products: Signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, and trays

 

[Moley]

on the food grade side my fv sold by youngs doesnt have a knife and glass or a knife and fork symbol on the bottom all it carries is the 5 in a triangle can anybody throw some light on this ???? :wha:

:lol: Typical!

My spare FVs are all in the shed up the garden and I can't be bothered to go and read their bases with a torch right now, but I would think that any white/translucent polypropylene or HDPE is probably OK.

 

[klaus]

Just to further confuse, the water cooler bottle I have got has a 1 in the triangle and says for drinking water only ... I have used it foir fermenting. All my other FVs have the 5 and no mention/sign for food use. I am not worried having used the gear for years - ok I might have damaged myself ....

 

[oldbloke]

Last time I looked at the plastics codes it seemed like only 1 2 and 5 are food-safe, but that number alone doesn't tell you it is, just that it may be, and the other numbers almost always aren't.
Annoying, isn't it?

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

on the food grade side my fv sold by youngs doesnt have a knife and glass or a knife and fork symbol on the bottom all it carries is the 5 in a triangle can anybody throw some light on this ???? :wha:

Yeah mines the same, try under the lid, thats where my fork & glass are!

 

[Loetz]

ok so I get plastics, but what about metals? I always assumed that all metals are fine, but I just bought a ball valve at Obi and it really smells weird. I'm worried that it's going to put off flavors into my wort. Am I crazy?