Flask query...

[matei]

Hi all...

I figured I'd post this in the smoky environs of Th Connoisseur, as it pertains to alcohol-related paraphernalia.

I have a metal hip flask from Petersons of Dublin, in which I had left some palincă for perhaps a month. When I went to have a wee nip during a long train ride from București to Vienna, I discovered to my dismay that the spirit had caused the neck of the flask to oxidise. It left a greenish crust, sort of what you'd see on a copper penny left in the boot of your car.

Needless to say, I did not partake of the spirit and dumped it down the sink in my compartment.

When I got home, I left some vinegar to sit in it for about an hour, and it seems to have dissolved the crust... however when I washed it out, it seems that part of the chrome (?) coating has come off as well!

I don't know what the underlying metal is - it has a slight yellowish or reddish hue, perhaps I'm seeing things.

My question at the end of this long tale is... is it safe to use said flask? I don't wish to poison myself if I can avoid it.

Has anyone else ever seen this happen?

 

[dnjan]

I had a flask develop an off flavour after leaving some sherry in it for a while. Haven't used the flask since.
Probably wouldn't kill me, but I will always have the memory of the tainted beverage, and won't trust it.

From now on, I will only get a flask if it is stainless steel. (no more chrome-plated brass)

 

[Adcurium]

the booze kills all the bad stuff?

I tried to respond earlier. I think I sent my response out into the interwebs never to be read again. If I double post, my bad...

I had the same thing happen to a flask a few months ago and I threw it in the trash b/c I wasn't sure how I would explain to my wife or my mother that I got lock-jaw after drinking from a rusty flask. Maybe it would have been OK after a rinse but, again, I didn't want to have the conversation which would inevitably go something like this: "And you, being a grown man who won't eat breakfast at our local diner b/c you don't think they wash the cups and plates well enough, thought there was nothing wrong with taking a gulp from that rusty, corroded flask?"

 

[Tomasso]

I will only get a flask if it is stainless steel.

Ditto

 

[matei]

Hmm... sound advice.

Rumour has it that the flask is stainless steel, but I would tend to doubt it in light of the reaction to the spirit being left inside.

 

[dnjan]

They normally don't chrome-plate stainless ...

 

[matei]

They normally don't chrome-plate stainless ...

Good point.

I think that it might be just the collar/neck that is plated brass? In any event, Mrs. Matei took one look and said that I won't be using it any longer. ;-)

 

[dnjan]

If the flask itself is stainless and just the neck (and cap) brass, I wonder if the corrosion started at the solder joint between the two metals?

 

[matei]

It is hard to see, the opening is rather small. I can see a ring of corrosion at the bottom of the neck, probably the join.

Mrs. Matei, who possesses superior vision for details, was able to look a bit more closely at the flask and determined that the body appears to be of a different metal.

In any event, the flasks aren't all that expensive, so I'm in the market for a new one. No sense in risking lockjaw or foul-tasting drink.