hist-brewing: Historical "non-sanitization"--any experience?

[bjm10 at cornell.edu]

On Sat, 8 May 1999 PBLoomis at aol.com wrote:

> 	They used some tough stuff in those pre-EPA pre-OHSA days.
> 	Quicklime is CaO, or unslaked lime, just as it comes from the 

To elaborate, just to make sure that people understand the safety issues
really well:  Calcium is the third most reactive metal ion known, right
after kalium (potassium) and natrium (sodium).  Oxygen is highly
oxidative.  Hydroxides are actually safer than CaO. 


> 	Oil of vitriol is pure H2SO4, or concentrated sulfuric acid, one 
> of the nastiest chemicals known.  It is so violently hydrophilic that

We wear gloves, goggles, coat, and recommend a face shield when using the 
dilute stuff in the lab, and the concentrate is to be used only within 
the confines of a fume hood.  Even the fumes of sulfuric acid can destroy 
your mucosa.


In other words, I'm *glad* that my curiousity is only theoretical in this 
case.  I'll stick to ordinary surfactants and steam for my work, but the 
information has been nice to have.


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