First of all, I fully endorse, agree with, and to the best of my ability follow the safety rules here. (Same for all the rules, but we're talking about safety at the moment.) I've done some searching and I haven't really found a whole lot that I consider a suitable answer, so here goes. Can anyone comment on the safety of using enamel coated ferrous pots, or of glazed ceramic cooking vessels?
I know that stainless and copper are the preferred metals for stills, and all that I use in mine. But I would like to learn, for purely academic reasons (and perhaps to be able to give a good answer if anyone ever asks me the same question), is it known to be safe or unsafe to use either an enameled steel or cast iron pot in any bit of the system which comes into contact with alcohol? For example, let's say a friend of mine says he wants to build a still using one of those large enameled canning pots. He's going to replace the lid with a stainless or copper bowl which he can solder his fittings to, and he's going to use a flour paste seal, meaning that he will be making zero modifications to the pot itself and therefore have no exposed steel. While I would start off by telling him that he would be better off with a keg or a large stainless pot, I want to be able to definitely say "this might/definitely will poison you" or "not ideal, but there's no immediate safety risk." Currently, I don't have the knowledge to answer that. All I can do is to say that the HD community would probably take a dim view of the idea, that I tend to trust you guys, and that I wouldn't recommend it for that reason alone. But I never have been one to accept "because I said so" as an answer, so I figured I'd ask and hopefully learn something.
Ceramics are actually more interesting to me personally. I had a "partly cloudy" (it's like a brain storm, but nowhere near as impressive or significant) regarding using a large ceramic crock pot as a small still. The logic being that the gentle, even heat would prevent scorching of things like gin botanicals, mashed grains, fruit pomace, etc. I know that the ceramic pot is food safe, though that doesn't take hot alcohol vapors or other byproducts into account. I also know that some people use some ceramics as reflux column packing, so there must be some that are known to be safe. The idea would be to make a metal (or maybe oak? glass?) lid for the pot, to which I would attach the condenser. Only safe and approved materials used, naturally. Seal it with flour paste. Turn the pot on and let it go. This would presumably be for a stripping run, unless making gin. For the sake of argument and of learning something, I'm far more interested at the moment in learning whether it would be SAFE, not whether it would actually be a good use of my time and resources, or whether it would make a good still.
Again, I am not trying to push anyone's buttons, buck any trends, break any rules, or cut any corners. I am merely trying to learn and have not been able to do so on my own yet. I am hoping that someone here can help with that.Steve, you’re way behind time. This is not 38, but it’s old 97. You must put her into Spencer on time. |
Post time 2022-10-14 18:08:08
