Non-food grade dip tube

[MarcGuay]

Hi folks,

I've added a small L-shaped plastic adapter to my bottling bucket spigot as a dip tube but I'm pretty sure it's not food grade, just PVC. Any concerns with this? The beer is room temperature and only in contact with it for 30 minutes or so.

Marc

 

[mredge73]

I bet you drink water brought to you through PVC pipes.
The only concern about adapters like this will be how you clean and sanitize it after you use it. Cracks, groves, scratches, pipe joints, etc are all good hiding places for bacteria.

 

[MarcGuay]

But beer is more acidic than water and that's why it's important to use food grade containers as fermenters, no? Thanks for the tip on cleaning.

 

[mredge73]

But beer is more acidic than water and that's why it's important to use food grade containers as fermenters, no? Thanks for the tip on cleaning.

For fermentors you need to use food grade, you don't want a plastic that will leach chemicals out into your beer. Recycle codes help if you are using plastic, #1 for PET and #2 for HDPE are food safe containers. PVC is #3 and most PVC is food safe. If you don't know for sure I wouldn't keep beer in it long term.

Always insist on food grade stamp if you don't know what it is made of, for example many buckets have a #7 stamped on the bottom signifying a propriety plastic resin.

 

[MarcGuay]

Are you saying that the difference between a fermenter and a dip tube is exposure time (and since the dip tube isn't exposed for long, what it's made of doesn't matter), or that the PVC dip tube I'm using is probably food grade and not to worry about?

 

[mredge73]

A bit of both.
I am really just trying to say RDWHAHB.