PeterZ
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Parafilm is the trade name of something that can be found in any chem lab. It is a film made from parafin with a waxed paper backing that stretches and seals bottle caps, glass stoppers in bottles, etc. It comes in rolls about 2" wide, and I don't know how long.
Here is my Parafilm story. 20-some years ago, when I was making wine in Houston, I made a 5 gallon batch of red Zin from grapes the club bought. You may recall that story from my intro post.
By Christmas of '84 the Zin was in a 5 gallon carboy, bulk aging with a solid rubber stopper wrapped with Parafilm to hold it. I probably used a 2" x 4" piece, and it stretched enough to go around the stopper and the neck of the carboy, from above the top of the stopper three or foutr times. Like I said, it stretches.
That December I took a job in Memphis. When the movers arrived 12/26 one of the things they packed was the carboy of Zin. They took the carboy, laid it on its side on a half inch pile of packing paper, and rolled it up. Into a box with more paper for padding, and onto the truck it went.
To make a long story short, I bottled it 6 months later, and won a red ribbon at the Mid-South Fair that September.
The only problem with Parafilm is that it dries out with age - about a year - and will no longer stretch. If I bought the smallest quantity available - one roll - and used it every time I put a stopper (with or without an airlock) into a carboy, I would throw 90% of it away. Even you high-production types would waste 50%.
So why do I bring this up? Because George could buy a roll and test the waters selling it by the foot. Let's face it, none of us would buy a 100' roll of 1/2" tubing, but I'll bet George goes through a lot of them. I know that if George sold it by the foot, I would buy a couple of feet at a time, just to have it. He could just cut it off the roll and put it into a ziplock baggie.
So what do you say, George. Want to try it?
Here is my Parafilm story. 20-some years ago, when I was making wine in Houston, I made a 5 gallon batch of red Zin from grapes the club bought. You may recall that story from my intro post.
By Christmas of '84 the Zin was in a 5 gallon carboy, bulk aging with a solid rubber stopper wrapped with Parafilm to hold it. I probably used a 2" x 4" piece, and it stretched enough to go around the stopper and the neck of the carboy, from above the top of the stopper three or foutr times. Like I said, it stretches.
That December I took a job in Memphis. When the movers arrived 12/26 one of the things they packed was the carboy of Zin. They took the carboy, laid it on its side on a half inch pile of packing paper, and rolled it up. Into a box with more paper for padding, and onto the truck it went.
To make a long story short, I bottled it 6 months later, and won a red ribbon at the Mid-South Fair that September.
The only problem with Parafilm is that it dries out with age - about a year - and will no longer stretch. If I bought the smallest quantity available - one roll - and used it every time I put a stopper (with or without an airlock) into a carboy, I would throw 90% of it away. Even you high-production types would waste 50%.
So why do I bring this up? Because George could buy a roll and test the waters selling it by the foot. Let's face it, none of us would buy a 100' roll of 1/2" tubing, but I'll bet George goes through a lot of them. I know that if George sold it by the foot, I would buy a couple of feet at a time, just to have it. He could just cut it off the roll and put it into a ziplock baggie.
So what do you say, George. Want to try it?
