StillSmart

Hi,

never store your product in plastic containers, always use glass with a good seal ((lakeland plastics make a good one ) or grosch beer bottles are also good) if you mix your product with essences to mimic commercial products use the origal makers bottles and see if your pals can tell the difference

Which I prefer not to do - mainly because I'm testing the differences between the commercial flavourings not trying to con anyone into believing that they're drinking the original product.
Hence I prefer to keep it in plain glass and then offer them a "schlurp" and just ask them what they think (I just don't show them the bottle).
Most of my efforts have been well received so far - for instance, the still spirits Tennessee bourbon is quite close to the likes of Jim Beam/Wild Turkey and the Kentucky Sour Mash bourbon isn't a mile away from Jack D's - hence me and my mates are pretty happy drinking it.
One of the more difficult tastes to copy/emulate is a decent brandy. So far, only the more expensive one by "Prestige" has been, IMO, any good - though even that tasted as if it was high in vanillins from the oak. No one seems to do anything that comes close to my "fav" brandy - Armagnac, as opposed to Cognac.
The gins I've made have also been well received.
As for not keeping your brews in plastic? Well I'd say that's quite an obvious one as the alcohol/ethanol, apart from being good for getting pissed up, is a solvent. While it might not actually cause any damage to the plastic, it's quite feasible that it might draw some of the plasticisers from it - similar to making sure about the cling wrap you use in the microwave is safe, because the heating can cause a type of contamination from the plasticisers.
just my 2 pence worth!

In terms of bottles, the best I have found so far are from Ikea - they're 1 litre with a flip-top, similar to a Grolsch bottle. I think they're about a quid each, and they seem to be sturdy and don't leak. They do decent mason style jars too for about 2 quid, great for flavouring and aging with oak chips.

Ikea eh ?
Probably the last place I'd think of going for bottles, but gotta be worth a try.
With swing tops, they'd be excellent for carbonating some of the mead I've got ageing/waiting for the bottle.

They're actually called 'Slom' and they're 1.49 each - I would never have looked there until a friend suggested that she used them in her kitchen! The jars are also called Slom, and they come in 4 sizes - 1 litre is 1.49 and 2 litre is 1.99.

Looks like a trip up to Croydon is in order then (nearest Ikea)

Oh dear lord, I don't envy you that - what a horrible place!

Erm, no. The only good thing is that you know when you're nearly there as those damn chimney's can be seen for miles.
Oh, and if you check out Home Brew Wales they do packs of 12 "grolsch" type swing top bottles (500ml's) for £12.50. So if the price for shipping was less than £18 and a couple of gallons of petrol then apart from the size of the bottles it'd work out cheaper - and without the hassle of going into Croydon

Re your Slom bottles. These type of bottles are currently in Waitrose filled with Sicillian Lemonade, 750 ML. £2.29. So if you like posh lemonade it has to be worth a quid you\'ll be getting the bottle for £1.29.

750ML is a perfect size for a three bottle essence from the Still Spirts range.

Re your Slom bottles. These type of bottles are currently in Waitrose filled with Sicillian Lemonade, 750 ML. £2.29. So if you like posh lemonade it has to be worth a quid you\'ll be getting the bottle for £1.29.

750ML is a perfect size for a three bottle essence from the Still Spirts range.

Cheers for the tip Opus 27.
The 750ml size is why I just get green wine bottles from the local HBS. They work out at less than 50p each and a plastic topped cork is about 20p. It makes it just look like an unremarkable and cheap bottle of spirits. I can re-use them (and the corks) so it keeps the cost down.
Plus it matches the 3 bottle Still Spirits flavouring, and the 1 bottle Prestige and Ambrosia brand flavourings.
I\'m not so fussed about fancy looking bottles. I just prefer to get my stuff tasting similar to how it should/how I think it should...........
If you really want fancy bottles, then this bloke has some very fancy looking ones.....

As regards storage i always store my leftovers @40% in a glass demijohn with a cork and had no problems 5 gallon demi-john 50p from car boot was also thinking of ale bottles with cap (leftovers from beer brewing ).Flavoured mixes in glass bottles with labels removed and hand written white labels caps from local brew shop.Lots of people have bottles they cant be bothered to take to recycling bin. I just use the sterilising solution from cleaning racking bin to sterilise the bottles.

Sorry for all these questions folks. I\'m just starting out and I\'ve found this site and the people who use it VERY helpful thus far so....With the base distilled spirit that isn\'t going to be used (ie flavored for drinking) straight away what is the best \'spirit\' to store? Do you store as straight distilled 60%ABV or mixed down to,say, 40%ABV with water first. If 40%ABV, is it best to filter before storage or wait and filter when ready for flavoring etc. BTW, for storage I intend using some of those 1 litre glass SLOM bottles from IKEA (thanks for the tip Jimmy)

I tend to mix it down to 40%, filter, store and then re-filter as it doesn\'t take too long (and I reuse the carbon).
The big problem with not mixing it down is that it is highly flammable at over 53/55% so if you did have a fire then it\'s only going to make it worse.
Also if you have really clean odour free spirit then you have a container of what looks and smells like water but isn\'t.
At least at 40% the effects of any accidents that could happen are reduced.
Just my 2p worth.

Quick question re the Slom style bottles and the jars...I have found something similar to these very cheap near home...they have a orange/red rubber seal as they are normally used for preserves...I cannot see the alcohol coming into contact with the rubber but was wondering if anyone has had experience with these seals...I am wondering if the evaporated alcohol will perish or cause foul tastes to leach from the plastics...I guess I can drop out the seal ...it will just increase the angels share...gotta love them angels. any thoughts appreciated as these are the cheapest alternative I have found....I kea is 6 hours drive from my home. Thanks for any help.
Stephen

I use similar bottles and jars but remove the "rubber" seals of unknown material and replace them with silicone ones that I cut from Silicone cookware/cookie sheets.

I do not know if it is an improvement or not, but it makes me feel better knowing that I have tried.