Plastic

[dan18can]

Hi thinking of starting homebrew.
Are plastic demi johns ok for cider.
Wanted to try apple juice sugar and yeast recipe. Thanks

 

[bleme]

#1 plastic is good. #7 plastic is usually good.

 

[dan18can]

Thinking of a 5ltr water bottle with airlock in the lid

 

[dan18can]

Like this

 

[bleme]

It will have the plastic code on the bottom of the bottle.

 

[dan18can]

It will have the plastic code on the bottom of the bottle.

Thanks

 

[bleme]

#1 and #7 are the most common. They work fine as long as you aren't aging them for years.

 

[bernardsmith]

The thing is that water tends to have a pH of about 7 and your cider may have a pH closer to 4. That and water does not contain very much alcohol and alcohol is a great solvent. Plastic bottles designed for water can leach chemicals when exposed to acids and alcohol. If that is not a concern then so be it. But some of the chemicals that leach are known health hazards. PET bottles which are plastizer free and BPA free are OK to use.

 

[andrewmaixner]

#1 plastic is good. #7 plastic is usually good.

#2 HDPE is also very good, and heat-tolerant.

 

[bleme]

#2 HDPE is also very good, and heat-tolerant.

I ferment almost exclusively in HDPE buckets but I've never seen demijohns made of it so I didn't mention it.

 

[dmf38]

I age my cider in PET carboys for several months or a year. They work perfectly. I've had no oxidation or any other problems.

 

[andrewmaixner]

That's right, I am not aware of HDPE carboys.

I use the buckets from BSG with the thick black lid and gasket seal in the lid.

The white thin lid buckets have a poor seal, no gasket.

 

[bernardsmith]

And when wine making (wine, cider or mead) you really do not need a seal or gasket on the primary. Most seasoned wine makers loosely cover their fermenting buckets with cloth. The CO2 produced is enough to keep out the air and the cloth keeps out dirt. A loose cover encourages you to degas and to ensure that any fruit is always kept wet and is not allowed to form a firm cap that will prevent CO2 from escaping.
You need a bung and airlock for the secondary but then the yeast are no longer pumping out CO2

 

[Chalkyt]

Your containers look similar to some that I tried when I made a couple of two litre test batches (same juice, different yeasts). It worked O.K. but the downside was that because the plastic is soft and not rigid, if you pick them up and/or squeeze them, the air and or juice can be pushed up into the airlock and when the container is released there is a risk if sucking the airlock water and/or outside air back in to your cider.

 

[MarkKF]

I use the buckets from BSG with the thick black lid and gasket seal in the lid.

The white thin lid buckets have a poor seal, no gasket.

I only use buckets for primary. 7-10 days, 14 days max. Gasket doesn’t matter. Some folks only cover with a towel during primary.

 

[Crysta Waston]

Go forward, because I am also using Plastic Demi John's, its light and easy to use, almost as good as the Glass ones!! Each Demijohn is made from food grade PET plastic.