Silicone sealant not curing?

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albannach

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I had a small leak in my MT so I removed the valve and applied some aquarium silicone sealant around the exterior of the MT where the washer and o-ring contact MT. I put the MT back together and tightened it back up.

It's been about 48 hrs and I can still rotate the valve around; I'm worried that since the silicone isn't exposed to air, it may not be curing. Does anyone know if this is case (or what I should do at this point), I'm thinking I should have used NSF-51 plumbing epoxy.
 
Hmm I actually used silicone caulk (bathroom and kitchen..) to help seal a small leak on my sight glass connection (on the HLT, the caulk is on the outside). I know silicone caulk needs air to dry and I imagine sealant does as well. You may want to look into using an exposy (JB weld is supposed to be food safe once cured)
 
Silicone won't stick to polyethylene. If the silicone is on the cooler itself it's likely cured but is just not sticking to it.
 
Ah good point! I was working on a sanke keg myself so I was thinking stainless.

An epoxy might still work, just need to rough up the plastic and find one that works with plastic. Alternatively you could get it to seal with the O-rings you do have (or get some thicker ones) I ended up cutting in to the outside of my cooler until I could seal on the inside wall and not mess with any of the compression issues you get with the insulation.
 
Well that explains why the fitting will still "rotate". I guess if air can't get to it, then water/mash couldn't get to it either. I'm gonna go do a water test right now and see if it still leaks. If it does I'll get some food-grade plumbing epoxy and use that.

BTW, from my understanding and searching, JB Weld is not food safe. It isn't FDA approved (which doesn't mean much anyways) and it isn't NSF-51 certified. I looked at the tubes and the steel tube says it contains bisphenol-A which is an endocrine disruptor. I keep it away from any food contact surfaces personally.

Bisphenol A - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Endocrine disruptor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Yes you should be able to get it to seal without caulk/sealant/epoxy.

JB Weld's site says it is non-toxic. Also I've read a lot of people that use it in direct contact with food and none of them have 3rd arms yet. (Though that would be cool...) So I suppose it is a "use at your own risk", from what I've read though the alcohol in the beer is far worse than any slight contact with cured JB Weld would be.
 
I have two fat silicone o-rings, one on the outside of the MT and one inside. I filled the MT with water and haven't had any leaks in over 2 hours, so the leak is fixed. I just hope any potential uncured silicone doesn't leach ammonia and methanol into my mash. Thanks all.
 
I've run into a similar issue when trying to cure my silicone on my MLT. I placed the ball valve near a heat source (space heater) overnight to warm it up and aid in drying. Looks like your issue is solved.
 

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