Heatstick Epoxy Question - JB Weld

With a lot of help from those generous enough to share information on this board, I constructed a heatstick a week ago using a process similar to this.

Tonight, I ran her through some boil trials and noticed a pretty terrible odor coming off the exposed JB weld epoxy. It smells similar to wet paint. Steam coming off a rolling boil has the same off odor. I have read that others have used this type of epoxy in their heatsticks and understand that its not an FDA approved use. Have others experienced this odor? Did it go away after a few hard boils?

My concern is if anyone has experienced off flavors or other ill affects in finished product that they attributed to using this type of epoxy in direct contact with strike/sparge water or wort.

I certainly don't want my boil shortcut to jeopardize a batch of sweet sweet brew...

Cheers
8

I have considered building one of these, but have had the same concern with the jb weld.

Check out my tweaked design that eliminates any J-B Weld contact with the wort. It was also discussed on a recent Basic Brewing.

Can you post pics?

There's been a lot of discussion in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/heatstick-awesome-142803/

I've got mine built in a way that no jb weld is exposed. I posted pics in the above thread showing how i did mine.

Gritsak said:

Can you post pics?

Click to expand...

Pics are on the page, but they're not terribly informative. Details are in the build instructions. I did cross-post to that other thread.

Looks like a pic of J-B weld to me. I get it, not exposed to the wort..derp.

I have JB Weld on the outside of my heatstick and never noticed any off odor during the boil or in th beer. You made sure to let it dry fully before testing, right?

The JB weld had a full week to cure before I tested it. [other things got in the way]

Gremlyn1 - After boiling for awhile unplug it, pull it out and smell your exposed JB weld. It was very apparent coming off mine.

HSM - Your heatstick [pictured in the heatstick = Awesome thread] looks very similar to mine. During this first boil I noticed some oily residue floating in the water after I was done. I imagine this was also due to the exposed JB.

Thanks for the write up jkarp - I think I'm going to build another one that limits JB weld exposure to liquid. [and use a non zinc lock nut] My existing one may be just fine but replacing it will afford me piece of mind and give me another project to tinker with.

Why use the stuff at all? RTV silicone is FDA approved and temperature rated to handle the boil. It will smell like vinegar for a week or so while it off-gases. It's working fine on all four of mine.