Perspex/Acrylic Sheets food grade?

[newtonsshed]

Hi I'm looking to make a false bottom for a keg conversion I have some spare Perspex/Acrylic Sheets laying around that's clean not been used and I'm wondering if I could use this to make a fb but not sure if food grade and suitable to use, I' also thinking about making another one for the boiler and again wondering if suitable it is quite thick but have no idea of the make up other than it's clear Perspex/Acrylic Sheets.

Also on a side draining keg do I need the centre hole on the FB, not quite sure of the purpose of having a centre hole in fb. The FB be a few inches off the bottom of the keg with the tap outlet under the fb depending on dead space I get as the tap is also a few inches from the bottom I might look to convert to a bottom drain on the mash tun - I didn't really bother on the hlt or boiler as I'm on a propane gas burner and was worried about the connections leaking over the flame.
Thanks
Andy

[Fil]

Dont do it.. I did and it didnt work out too well. i initially bought an off the shelf Viking brand camping gaz modded cold box tun which came with a 1mm thick clear plastic FB which worked wonderfully. So come the big shiny tun build i didnt have any qualms copying my coldbox tun fb design, I bought a 450mm x 3mm disk of perspex sheet, drilled a centre hole and spun it against a sanding block till it was a snug fit in my 80l thermopot. drilled loads of holes, sat it on feet in a denser pattern than the original, BUT come its 1st brew it softened buckled and turned ultra brittle so that on removal a slight knock shattered it.



I slowly came to the conclusion that the original i copied must have been polycarbonate and not perspex/acrylic.

[newtonsshed]

Ah good point -thanks for that Fuil, I'll do some testing first before spending time cutting and drilling will try putting the sheet in boiling water see what happens. Thanks Andy

[newtonsshed]

Given up on the Perspex, although its 3mm thick, I guess its still brittle and will shatter, but I did find in the back of the garage a few pieces of thin plastic like for plastic windows in sheds. So I cut a bit off and chucked it in a domestic kettle and boiled it a few times and left it soak, when I removed the plastic it was still in tact. So next thing is to try drilling a few holes and boil this again, to see what happens. I'm still not sure if food grade and if anything is leaching out of the plastic into the water/wort, I couldn't smell anything but will try tasting the boiled water once cooled, to see if any off taste. I'm also not sure how to cut into a nice circle and whether it would take the weight of grain, I think it should do as although thin, it's flexible, so I guess unless supported, it may just bow / sag under the weight ...