pint of lager
brewing on the verandah
- Joined
- 9/5/04
- Messages
- 2,287
- Reaction score
- 12
The triangle with arrows on it with a number inside indicates what sort of plastic the item is made from. This makes it easier to identify and recycle. It does not indicate if it is food grade or not. Different chemicals need to be contained in different types of plastic.
For fermenters, the plastic must be food grade, which is not indicated at all by the triangle.
The manufacturing process may make an item unsuitable for containing food, no matter what type of plastic.
I read somewhere on the web that a 2 in a triangle made the item food grade, and repeated this as fact. Now I realise that this is bad information.
Buy containers that are designed for food. You definitely do not want plastisiser or some other chemical leaching into your beer. The long term risks to your health are not worth the few dollars saved.
Ethanol is a solvent, and needs to be stored in the correct container. Plastic is easy to handle and cheap to make and makes economic sense to retailers and distributors. But is this balanced against the risk?
For fermenters, the plastic must be food grade, which is not indicated at all by the triangle.
The manufacturing process may make an item unsuitable for containing food, no matter what type of plastic.
I read somewhere on the web that a 2 in a triangle made the item food grade, and repeated this as fact. Now I realise that this is bad information.
Buy containers that are designed for food. You definitely do not want plastisiser or some other chemical leaching into your beer. The long term risks to your health are not worth the few dollars saved.
Ethanol is a solvent, and needs to be stored in the correct container. Plastic is easy to handle and cheap to make and makes economic sense to retailers and distributors. But is this balanced against the risk?
h34r: 
