New plastic smell :(

[StuartFromMelb]

Hi Guys,

I have a brand new 30 litre plastic fermenter with airlock, tap at the bottom and new type of lid which comes in two pieces (it is supposed to leak less than the one piece lids)...

I am currently cleaning it as I want to siphon out my current batch into this new container.... I am cleaning it with hot water and a large amount of sodium percarbonate but... there is a VERY strong "new plastic smell' coming from the thing.... I realize that hot water would increase this smell but I am still concerned about it as "New Plastic Smell" is not a good name for my first mead batch is more than 10 years...

Should I be worried? is it just due to the hot water and everything will be fine??? or is there a special way to clean plastic for the first time which takes the smell away???

Thanks,
Stuart.

 

[akueck]

Have you left the percarbonate solution in there overnight? That usually gets rid of all sorts of odors for me.

 

[LostCargo]

Hi Guys,

I have a brand new 30 litre plastic fermenter with airlock, tap at the bottom and new type of lid which comes in two pieces (it is supposed to leak less than the one piece lids)...

I am currently cleaning it as I want to siphon out my current batch into this new container.... I am cleaning it with hot water and a large amount of sodium percarbonate but... there is a VERY strong "new plastic smell' coming from the thing.... I realize that hot water would increase this smell but I am still concerned about it as "New Plastic Smell" is not a good name for my first mead batch is more than 10 years...

Should I be worried? is it just due to the hot water and everything will be fine??? or is there a special way to clean plastic for the first time which takes the smell away???

Thanks,
Stuart.

This is why i like glass. Also, its hard to clean (not sanitize) plastic because its affinity with oils. It has a similar molecular make up to fats (maybe because its a fossil fuel/oil product), so its hard to truly clean residue off the sides as well.

My only suggestion is to keep rinsing with warm (not hot) water until the plastic smell goes away. Some food grade containers still give water that sits in it a plastic taste...

Wish i could suggest more.

 

[Chevette Girl]

My favourite way to get plastic smell (or any smell) out of plastic is to run it through the dishwasher... however, this not being practical with a bucket (not in my dishwasher anyway!), a good soak in the pink cleanser I use has been pretty good for me for getting rid of smells and stains in plastics, just don't leave clear tubing in it for longer than 15 min or it starts going cloudy.

Glass is great for secondary, but carboys make fruit management a real pain if you ferment your fruits in primary like I do, so I almost always use plastic buckets or wide-mouth glass jars for primary.

Most of my plastic fermenters had a previous life holding honey or grape juice so I haven't had any new plastic smell issues... If you want to find out if it's going to transfer to your must, you can always leave it full of water (start with cold) for a couple days and then taste the water. I have a few new rubber stoppers that are headed for a trip through the dishwasher soon, as I have discovered that they are the culprit for a rubbery smell in a few small batches (6 gallon batches don't absorb enough of it to matter but the 1 gal batches sometimes do, I'll be switching suppliers for my stoppers if the dishwasher doesn't do it).

 

[StuartFromMelb]

Thanks Guys and Gals, I have left it soaking with a high amount of sodium percarbonate overnight... going to open the lid in about 1 hour and see how it went.... I would love to use glass for my secondary but funds are an issue right now... or I should say my home brewing "allowance' ran out... I recounted "The Little red Chicken Story" to my wife last night.... lets see who is laughing in a few months time hey???