Sparger question

[bitter_dave]

I popped into the local garden centre today and bought this watering can head thing on a whim because I thought I might be able to use it for sparging purposes.



Luckily it fits snuggly on the end of the Polypropylene hose I have. Just tried it with water at 80 C and it seemed to work fine, giving off a nice light spray. The metal head should be fine, as it's made of brass. However, I may be being paranoid, but I'm sure it gave off a plastic-y smell when I was using it. It's made of a bendy plastic and made by Finastrain (no. 11, 'Weed spray'). I showed absolutely no sign of damage after quite a long exposure to very hot water.

Is it worth the risk using it?

[Andy]

Collect some of the water going through it, let it cool and drink some. If you can taste plastic then it's a big no-no B)

[Road Runner]

I've been sparging for a year or so now using a cheap £5 plastic watering can from Wickes. I fill the can with the 80'c water & just water my grain bed with it. Seems to do the job ok.

The watering can smelled slightly plasticy on it's first outing, but didn't affect the beer at all. But it's fine now, no smells.

[bitter_dave]

Excellent stuff

I'll run a few more gallons through it tonight at 80 C and see if the platic-y smell returns, I'll then drink a sample of the cooled water and decide what to do.

Cheers :beer