melted my siphon in my wort...

[schadelh]

So, I pulled my wort off of the stove, hooked my siphon up to a counterflow chiller (on ice) I pieced together with about 15 feet of copper tubing, dropped the siphon in and started the flow. about 10 minutes into siphoning (the chiller has a really small diameter to keep the flow slow to get the wort cooler) the flow was slower than usual, so I looked at the siphon to maybe pull out some hops that might be clogging it, and it was good and distorted: the black plastic tip was bent/compressed into a weird shape, and the clear plastic tube was bent

so, 3 questions?

Should I be worried about melted plastic chemicals being in my beer?

Fermentation has not visibly started yet (~24 hours after pitching), could the plastic chems. have killed or inhibited my yeast? Still going to wait another couple of days before I call the fermentation stalled, but this is the longest I have had to wait to get signs of fermentation.

What temp are plastic siphons good for before they melt? ~200*F is apparently a bit too high...

 

[Bobby_M]

Clear racking canes are acrylic so they melt at about 180F. You can make your own with a piece of copper or stainless. What you really need is a bulkhead and valve on that pot.

 

[schadelh]

Clear racking canes are acrylic so they melt at about 180F. You can make your own with a piece of copper or stainless. What you really need is a bulkhead and valve on that pot.

upgrading that cheep 5gal POS pot is definitely up on my list (the metal is as thin as paper, and has poor heat distribution from the burner, not to mention 5gal is a bit small). If only I could find one cheap.

 

[RegionalChaos]

Keep looking on craigs for a keg. Or contact a local distributor and see if they have any they would sell.

 

[wyzazz]

Ummm, yeah... ...lol, plastic autosiphon/racking cane + boiling wort = bad day.

I wouldn't worry too much about he leeching chemicals, those plastics are made to be food safe. Wait 72 hours before you call this stalled, however I'd pick up a packet of dry yeast (I always have some in the fridge) just in case.

 

[springer]

So, I pulled my wort off of the stove, hooked my siphon up to a counterflow chiller (on ice) I pieced together with about 15 feet of copper tubing, dropped the siphon in and started the flow..

You have me confused here a counter flow chiller has a copper tube inside another tube/garden hose . The inner is for the wort and the outer holds the running water. If yours is just a copper tube its an immersion chiller. Does it look something like this?

 

[JetSmooth]

I thnk he probably has what I had planned on using which is an IC dropped in a Cooper of ice. The wort passes through the coils which exchange heat with the ice. I figured it would be beter than running tap water.

After a lot of research, I opted to build a real IC instead. Less movement of hot wort until I make a real Bobby_M CFC.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

I don't think you'll have to worry about any chemicals leaching into your wort. It was hot and caused the plastic to collapse but I sincerely doubt hot enough to cause any real degree of chemical release. I also sincerely doubt it would have caused the yeast to die off. As long as you cooled it to a good pitching temperature you're fine.


Spring - sweet DIY chiller!

 

[schadelh]

we have fermentation. thanks everyone

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

I have done this as well. The second batch I brewed this year, after buying my brand spanking new syphon, that I was so proud of, I got overly excited and started transferring from boil pot to fermenter way to quickly! Melted my new syphon. I will never do that again. Anyway, the beer came out fine. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.