How to plug a tap hole in a fermenter?

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I would find some food grade plastic, maybe a sauce bottle or similar, cut a circle larger than the hole and superglue/silicon seal it to the inside. I think superglue is food safe, many silicon's are and a surprising number of plastics.
 
I wouldn't overly worry about food grade this or that. Soft plastics like PVC are more likely to leach plasticisers than hard ones and most of us use whatever PVC pipe we have to syphon our brews anyway.
Heat is a factor too but I doubt you will be boiling in it.
You are likely to absorb more by wearing vinyl gloves or using a computer keyboard than that bung will give out.
 
50+ years ago I started brewing in a 15 gallon black plastic dustbin shared with others as a student. When the small band of fellow student brewers disbanded I bought myself a smaller 5 gallon orange plastic dustbin to continue on my own. I carried on using it without mishap for over 20 years complete with scratched internal surfaces. Foodsafe or paranoia about what you consumed in your food probably hadnt been invented then. But I'm still here and many others like me.
 
I covered an unwanted hole in an FV lid with two pieces of duct tape, one above and one below.
I acknowledge that the join was not below the liquid surface, but I reckon that would work in terms of liquid-tightness for an FV tap hole. Cannot speak to the plastic-leaching question.
 
I carried on using it without mishap for over 20 years complete with scratched internal surfaces. Foodsafe or paranoia about what you consumed in your food probably hadnt been invented then. But I'm still here and many others like me.
Whilst I do get your point here, 2 out of 3 people could say the same about how smoking is perfectly safe as they have done it all their life and not got cancer....
 
Whilst I do get your point here, 2 out of 3 people could say the same about how smoking is perfectly safe as they have done it all their life and not got cancer....
With respect, you may have misunderstood my comment in that my use of 'non-foodsafe' plastic brewing equipment was done because there was nothing else available at the time. It was not a deliberate choice, but it appears to have done me no harm. However I am not suggesting that people should do the same when nowadays there is an abundance of food safe brewing equipment.
Even so I often see posts on here where people get overly concerned about the possibility of barely measurable quantities of plasticer being leached into their beer, yet they have no qualms about consuming significant quantities of alcohol which, over time, is known to present identified health issues, including addiction and organ damage in extreme cases.
So in the case of the OP the potential risks associated with using a small non foodsafe plug to seal an undoubtedly foodsafe and much larger plastic container should, in my view be balanced against the relatively much greater alcohol risk from the beer within it.
Finally in relation to your smoking vs. cancer comment, years ago I smoked all sorts of tobacco products when it was not deemed to be much of a health risk, but when the evidence available increasingly suggested I should stop, I did so.
 
With respect, you may have misunderstood my comment in that my use of 'non-foodsafe' plastic brewing equipment was done because there was nothing else available at the time. It was not a deliberate choice, but it appears to have done me no harm. However I am not suggesting that people should do the same when nowadays there is an abundance of food safe brewing equipment.
Even so I often see posts on here where people get overly concerned about the possibility of barely measurable quantities of plasticer being leached into their beer, yet they have no qualms about consuming significant quantities of alcohol which, over time, is known to present identified health issues, including addiction and organ damage in extreme cases.
So in the case of the OP the potential risks associated with using a small non foodsafe plug to seal an undoubtedly foodsafe and much larger plastic container should, in my view be balanced against the relatively much greater alcohol risk from the beer within it.
Finally in relation to your smoking vs. cancer comment, years ago I smoked all sorts of tobacco products when it was not deemed to be much of a health risk, but when the evidence available increasingly suggested I should stop, I did so.
I wonder, as a chartered engineer, if you were specifying a suitable plug for this application for an international client, would you use an item manufactured from non-food safe material in a factory with "industrial" not "food" standards approvals? Asking for a friend wink...
 
I wonder, as a chartered engineer, if you were specifying a suitable plug for this application for an international client, would you use an item manufactured from non-food safe material in a factory with "industrial" not "food" standards approvals? Asking for a friend wink...
Tell your 'friend' it's homebrewing for mostly personal consumption we are dealing with here not the pharmaceutical, food, space or nuclear industry who have different and exacting standards. Choices open to the individual about personal life decisions are often able to be relaxed, when often that would not be possible in a corporate environment. But I'm sure your 'friend' already knew that.
 
Tell your 'friend' it's homebrewing for mostly personal consumption we are dealing with here not the pharmaceutical, food, space or nuclear industry who have different and exacting standards. Choices open to the individual about personal life decisions are often able to be relaxed, when often that would not be possible in a corporate environment. But I'm sure your 'friend' already knew that.
Was there an answer to my question in there somewhere? :laugh8:
 

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