Just say no to plastic spoons.

[piemaker1976]

The lesson of this post is to never, never, as in not even once again, use a plastic paddle to stir your boiling wort.

Basic intuition to some, but it took me a completely wasted brew day to learn this simple lesson.

Today was snowy, cold, and perfect day to brew. Started out with 17lbs of grain, 12 oz of Molasses, 2 oz Columbus and 1 oz of Warrior hops. Mash, sparge, most of the boil, all uneventful.

I normally keep my spoon in the sanitizer, but today, decided to place it on the counter next to the stove because I got distracted. Fast forward to the last 5 minutes of the boil as I'm turning over my hop bag, and boom, I notice that the paddle is a melted gnarly mess, and that I have just been stirring it in my wort.

I spent 30 minutes trying to justify to myself that it would be ok to just ferment it out as planned, and bottle it for Christmas, but the thought of handing someone a bottle of flecked plastic chips, and/or cancer juice, made me throw out the entire 5.5 gallon batch. Ironically, I mulled over whether it was safe or full of carcinogens while I smoked a cigarette on the back porch.

In the end, steel is your friend. The worst that can happen to a steel paddle or spoon is that it burns you a little - at worst, a lot, but the beer won't be ruined and you'll probably heal. That's a much cheaper lesson.

(I did taste a sample after I had pretty much made my mind up to pitch it out, and I definitely made the right choice....it tasted like candy wrappers smell.)

 

[MaxStout]

Hmmm...I have one of these, never had it melt or even soften when used in a boil.

Was your spoon designed for brewing, or was it something else?

 

[neo71665]

The real lesson is if you use plastic on the hot side of things use heat rated plastic. Stealing your wife's serving spoon doesn't cut it.

 

[piemaker1976]

It was made for brewing, similar to this:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/7/3/7310.jpg

Came in my first home brew kit several years ago. Probably not the best idea to use it as I was (obviously) but it only melted because of the stove, not the wort.

 

[corax]

That appears to be a mash paddle. I can see how they would make that out of less heat-tolerant plastic than they would a kettle spoon.

 

[hungry4hops]

It was made for brewing, similar to this:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/3/image/245x245/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/7/3/7310.jpg

Came in my first home brew kit several years ago. Probably not the best idea to use it as I was (obviously) but it only melted because of the stove, not the wort.

I've used this exact one in 20+ extract batches with out a single problem maybe its because you had it to close to the flame

 

[Cathedral]

I've been using that same paddle for mash and boil for probably about 10 AG batches. As a matter of fact, I just finished up another batch not ten minutes ago. The problem is not the paddle; the problem is where your brain was while brewing. One too many homebrews, my friend?

 

[Hello]

I think this is user error not a PSA against plastic spoons. Sorry but it sounds like it melted because it was too close to a flame. If it were a metal spoon it would have heated up and burned you. Right?

 

[piemaker1976]

I have used this paddle many times myself without incident. It was definitely the stove, I've found drips of it on the counter. I wish could blame one too many homebrews, not even a drop today as I was brewing....maybe that was the problem?

 

[SpeedYellow]

I've been using the exact paddle for almost 20 years. The only lesson here is dont stick plastic near your burners. No huge surprise there.

 

[mgrennie]

Same as most everyone else, I have the same paddle. I did leave it resting on the kettle handle one day for a couple minutes, and it did take on a slight curve, and for that reason I will be making a new wood one.
No homebrew is most definitely a big problem. Most stressful brewday I had started "too early" for beer, until I had to crack one to realize why I was doing it.

 

[Darwin18]

The real lesson is to not put plastic items near an open burner. It's not the spoons fault that you melted it and put into your wort. Boiling temperatures should not melt your spoon and affect the flavor of your beer....FWIW I have a similar plastic spoon that I've been using the last five years without issue.

 

[bizarrojosh]

So much hate in this thread. User error or not plastic is just cheap and ugly. Aluminum is a good alternative as is wood and ss. I personally made a mash paddle out of wood and since it's much more dear to me than a cheap o plastic spoon I make sure to take care of it. I mean use what you have but as we all know the plastic stuff is much more prone to melting than the other choices .

 

[Darwin18]

So much hate in this thread. User error or not plastic is just cheap and ugly. Aluminum is a good alternative as is wood and ss. I personally made a mash paddle out of wood and since it's much more dear to me than a cheap o plastic spoon I make sure to take care of it. I mean use what you have but as we all know the plastic stuff is much more prone to melting than the other choices .

What's going to happen when you put wood next to an active burner, let it burn for a while, and then stir your mash?

The point that most people are making is that it wasn't the plastic spoon that caused the off-flavors, rather it was the user error that resulted in off-flavors from the plastic getting into the beer.

 

[Gixxer]

PSA... Pay attention when you use PVC parts around your kettle... I had a piece end up in the kettle and happily boiled away for 60 minutes... Had to throw that batch away before I even started the chiller.

 

[bizarrojosh]

What's going to happen when you put wood next to an active burner, let it burn for a while, and then stir your mash?

The point that most people are making is that it wasn't the plastic spoon that caused the off-flavors, rather it was the user error that resulted in off-flavors from the plastic getting into the beer.

Hate hate hate. I wonder how many people in the cooking world, home brewing aside, have actually burned their wooden equipment to the point of being unusable vs those who have melted cheap plastic from being next to a flame.

 

[Nightshade]

Hate hate hate.

It is not hate, it is discussion of the actual issue.
Nothing disparaging had been said until you began calling the people responding "haters".

 

[bizarrojosh]

It is not hate, it is discussion of the actual issue.
Nothing disparaging had been said until you began calling the people responding "haters".

Nice job using a meme to make a point. It's really effective. It almost contributes to the point of the thread but doesn't since you only came to tell me how I'm being disparaging to the people in the thread. It's too bad it doesn't actually give reasons as to why plastic sucks or doesn't suck.

 

[Nightshade]

You were trolling for a response so I gave it to you.

Plastic spoons such as he used are not the issue at all, the issue is setting them on hot surfaces and not being mindful of the condition of your gear before using it in any aspect of brewing.

So in short it is kind of a non-issue really.

 

[SpeedYellow]

It is not hate, it is discussion of the actual issue.
Nothing disparaging had been said until you began calling the people responding "haters".

LOL! Nailed it with the pic.

All I see is normal discussion here. Nothing rude or aggressive except one guy accusing others of "hate."