Should I dump my brew, Galvanized steel elbow

So, While building my new brew pot I decided I wanted a pick up tube installed. Pieced everything together brewed a 5 gallon batch and saw a black film floating in the wort. I figured it might have been protein rest. Nothing else seemed odd. Transferred my wort into my glass carboy, pitched the yeast and it started fermenting within 24hrs. Today I was moving my gear around and noticed some rust on the 90* street elbow of my pick up tube. Turns out that 90* elbow is galvanized and not stainless steel. I guess I am dumping this batch and chalk it up as a loss .

That's not even galvanized its black steel it's not safe for drinking water it's a gas pipe fitting. It contains some lead not sure if it would ruin the batch with the little contact time. Even though it could be the cutting oil used to make the fitting giving you the film

SlowDrains said:

That's not even galvanized its black steel it's not safe for drinking water it's a gas pipe fitting. It contains some lead not sure if it would ruin the batch with the little contact time. Even though it could be the cutting oil used to make the fitting giving you the film

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Do you think the oil can ruin the batch? Should I just dump it and move on?

I wouldn't drink it with the oil in it but I've only done one batch so far I'm just going off what I know as a plumber. Your going to want to take those fittings out the bushing in the elbow is galvanized. Use lead free brass or copper if you get it from a home store don't know that they carry ss fittings like that. I'm using brass on my mash tun

I would move on.

One of the few times Id say dump it.

I will dump it and move on. I will also replace my fittings and thoroughly clean my pot.

I believe even brass and copper may be a bad idea for the boil pot I think they shouldn't go above 180f and also wort is acidic I believe which would cause some leaching

Just looking at that would make me dump it. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

My parents house had and still has a lead water pipe coming up from the basement. Most of the established municipalites use a large amount of lead in water mains..... Food for thought. If it doesnt taste right or has an oil slick on it I wouldnt touch it, but if it tastes fine................. In the mean time replace that elbow with food grade SS. For any metal part you want to wash it with dawn, boil it, wash it with dawn and boil it again before first use, as most if not all metals are cooled with oil during manufature.

I do believe the words Lead Poisoning comes to mind. Dump it why take the risk.

olz431 said:

My parents house had and still has a lead water pipe coming up from the basement. Most of the established municipalites use a large amount of lead in water mains..... Food for thought. If it doesnt taste right or has an oil slick on it I wouldnt touch it, but if it tastes fine................. In the mean time replace that elbow with food grade SS. For any metal part you want to wash it with dawn, boil it, wash it with dawn and boil it again before first use, as most if not all metals are cooled with oil during manufature.

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I agree a lot of plumbing has lead in the materials I would bet if most people saw the inside of their water lines they wouldn't drink from the tap unfiltered again. That being said you are not running boiling wort through those lines either

Since the oil is on top, you could siphon underneath the slick. Leave a couple of inches of wort at the bottom. It might work. You have probably eaten, inhaled or drunk worse things.

In the meantime, definitely change out that fitting.

A little late for that... and even then... Dump that ****... Boiling black steel is just not an option...

Kinda looks like a galvanized fitting in the Black pipe elbow. I'd be sure to change them both.

Just dumped my batch this morning. It looked normal great color and had the usual beer smell. Oh, we'll better to be safe than sorry.

Spam for Christmas?

dkennedy said:

Spam for Christmas?

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Maybe the mods can send him a present: the bill for a vendor account.

I know the last post is almost 2 years old, but I still wonder what the OP was thinking buying and using galvanized (which is what it looks like to me) or alleged black pipe fittings in his brew kettle. They don't look anything like copper, brass or SS. When you screw them together a light bulb should appear.