picnic cooler plastic taste

squiggy · 11-11-2007, 12:00 AM

I made a mash tun out of a 60qt ice cube. Today I heated up 15 gal. Of water to a boil and put it in the mash tun and let it sit for 45min. I am trying to soak out the plastic flavor. The first filling had lots of plastic taste to it. I did it a 2nd time and that water even seemed to have some sheen to the top. I am heating some more water now. Will I ever get rid of the plastic taste?

**WortMonger** · 11-11-2007, 12:12 AM

I always worried about that. I will keep watching this thread and hopefully someone with some expertise in this area can answer both our questions.

mr x · 11-11-2007, 12:25 AM

I get some smell off my rubbermaid round cooler when its full of hot water and has the top on for a while. But I can never taste anything wired in the water. One of these days I'll dig out the conductivity meter and see if anything is being picked up.

Cheesefood · 11-11-2007, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squiggy

I made a mash tun out of a 60qt ice cube. Today I heated up 15 gal. Of water to a boil and put it in the mash tun and let it sit for 45min. I am trying to soak out the plastic flavor. The first filling had lots of plastic taste to it. I did it a 2nd time and that water even seemed to have some sheen to the top. I am heating some more water now. Will I ever get rid of the plastic taste?

It's not meant to hold boiling water. You don't need to get the water hotter than 180'. Most likely you melted the sides or severely compromised their integrity with boiling water.

**AiredAle** · 11-11-2007, 01:25 AM

From igloocoolers.com FAQs:

"5. What materials are used in making coolers?

The exterior of Igloo hard-sided coolers is made of high-density polyethylene, while the interior liner is made of polypropylene."

Polypropylene has a melting point of about 165 Celsius, or 330 F. The liner won't melt at 212 F but will expand so much it pulls away from the foam insulation and distorts.

I didn't see if the PP Igloo uses is food grade or not, but I bet it is, because most makers of equipment that comes into contact with food or beverages will use it to minimize liability.

I work for a supplier of processing additives for polyethylene, and without exception our customers, whether they are resin suppliers or processors, insist that our products have to be FDA Indirect Food Contact compliant. Their reason for this is that they never know what the resin with our additives will be used for. It might be sandwich bags or trash bags. and they play it safe by mandating nothing but food grade materials in their plants.

So, does that mean that the cooler liner is food grade? No 100% certainties, but I'm not concerned about mine poisoning me.

Mash away, or email the manufacturer and ask, they will tell you, usually happily.

abracadabra · 11-11-2007, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesefood

It's not meant to hold boiling water. You don't need to get the water hotter than 180'. Most likely you melted the sides or severely compromised their integrity with boiling water.

I agree with Cheese. You mash at 150*F-170*F + or - a few * putting boiling water in a cooler is not a good idea and all you are going to accomplish is F***ing up your cooler.

But if you're concerned about it Buy a keggle and insulate it.

**Brew-boy** · 11-11-2007, 11:08 AM

Don't add boiling water, like someone else said it is not made for that. I never go over 150F for my pre-heat water in the tun. I have the same cooler as you and I do not ever get a plastic taste.

squiggy · 11-11-2007, 05:12 PM

well I soaked with boiling water twice and it did for mess anything up. on another forum I was told to wash it with simple green. now it smells like simple green. I am soaking it with baking soda and 175 F water now.
I used mash in a keg, but maintaining a temp was too much of a PITA.

**WortMonger** · 11-11-2007, 05:43 PM

I bet the baking soda gets the smell out. Never use simple green on anything you don't want to smell like simple green, lol. You can also try leaving it set with 3oz (3 tbsp) pure bleach, fill halfway with water then 3oz (3 tbsp) distilled white vinegar, fill remainder of 15 gallons. This has taken smells out for me before and you can even use it as a no-rinse sanitizer. Caution!!!!! use exactly as I stated or you can get chlorine gas in your lungs which is not good

. Always have that much water between bleach and vinegar additions and always use on a 1oz/5 gallon/1oz scale. I have heard putting the bleach in last is ok, since it is such a diluted mixture at that point. I am interested to hear more about your issue as I am thinking of going bigger than that when I make the move from kegs. I have to refill my HLT right now and it is a b!tch.

Funkenjaeger · 11-11-2007, 07:12 PM

Where are you getting your 1oz/5gallon/1oz ratio from? I have used 1oz/1gal/1oz based on the following info, which calls this ratio a no-rinse sanitizer. If you are using only 1/5 that concentration I doubt it's as effective a sanitizer as it could be.

From another forum, but listing info from a sanitizing expert:

Quote:

Did anyone here hear the interview that James from Basic Brewing did with Charlie Talley (the inventor of Star San) about using bleach to sanitize.

Then, if you heard the interview, I would love to know if anyone has tried what Charlie suggested as the correct way to use bleach for sanitization.

It seems that Charlie spent the early part of his career working for a company that produced sodium hypochlorite and selling it to Purex. According to him, bleach is used at one ounce to the gallon, followed by one ounce per gallon of white vinegar to neutralize the excess caustic in the bleach. Again, according to the interview, this should give you 20 ppm active chlorine, and that is the killing species that you are looking for. And at that level, once you have poured out the sanitizer solution and let it drain for a few seconds, there is no need to rinse, because there is not enough remaining to taste.

For those who are concerned about adding acid to bleach, the vinegar is added after the bleach is diluted to one ounce per gallon. Unless you add vinegar directly to the bleach, no chlorine gas will be produced.