Has my boil kettle been poisoning me for 2 years?

I have a brass fitting in my boil kettle, an elbow that acts as a diptube. I've been boiling this thing for 2 years now. Did I poisin myself with lead at any point in this process? I searched "brass boil" and came up with conflicting reports on the brass (some people saying the some brass has surface lead, some saying it's a myth and it's safe). Does anyone have any real information on this subject? I'm assuming that if the lead content was a surface issue, I've consumed (yikes!) all the lead by now. Thoughts?

I washed my brass fittings in vinegar and peroxide. You should of seen the water. Yuck. I dont think there's enough lead in there to really do a lot of harm.

I'm a competition shooter and there was a time where I was shooting indoors quite a bit and exposed to quite a bit of lead dust in the air. After about 6 months I figured I should get my lead level checked... normal is 0, mine was 7. A friend of mine nearly died from lead poisoning... his level was 25+. I don't think you have anything to worry about. If you are seriously worried about it, go see a doctor and tell them you want a lead test... I think there are also home lead blood tests available as well.

I Think you're fine, lots of people use brass fittings. For my MLT cooler conversion, I used brass fittings. On the package for the fittings it mentioned that they contained lead but at a level acceptable for drinking water. "This product complies with federal standards for lead content but contains greater than 0.25% lead, which exceed limitations mandated by some states when used in drinking water systems." Beware Californians everybody else is okay.

Lots of kitchen faucets are brass...my guess would be that the lead exposure from brass fittings in your brew pot is between miniscule and zero.

If your worried about it go buy a stainless elbow. $5 - $10 is cheap insurance. Me personally I don't have any brass on my rig. Better to be safe than sorry.

You're still alive, I think you'll be okay.

Heavy metal poisoning isn't something that will just spring up and kill. There are symptoms prior to it getting serious.

The way I see it....the lead can`t make me any dumber than I already am.....

Yes there is lead ......but first an elbow has so little lead you could probably eat all of it. At once and be ok. Let's also not froget yeast also absorb heavy metals (probably every bit that got into your wort).

So, is it surface lead or is the lead throughout the piece? If it's surface, I'm not worried anymore. Otherwise, I'm replacing the piece with stainless.

VegasBrew said:

The way I see it....the lead can`t make me any dumber than I already am.....

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Maybe true.. But smart enough to pick a rocken Avater!!:rockin:

Just saying....

Depending on where you live (especially older cities), there is a very good chance that there are still some lead pipes in the system that delivers water to your home.

I wouldn't worry about it, but if you're still worried you can get a lead test done (as was already mentioned), and if you're still worried after that (or before) just replace it.

bigbeergeek said:

So, is it surface lead or is the lead throughout the piece? If it's surface, I'm not worried anymore. Otherwise, I'm replacing the piece with stainless.

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Well, the surface lead is the only lead that will leach into water, the rest of the lead in the fitting is bound up in the structure.

Nothing to worry about.

bigbeergeek said:

Did I poisin myself with lead at any point in this process?

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Yes, now go get tested.

The lead will be throughout the piece. The lead is added when the metal is cast to make it easyer to macheine later.However you have already removed the surface lead running acidic wort through it. As long as you don't feed your beer to kids (children are more susceptible to the effects of lead) the concentration will not be harmful.

LordUlrich said:

The lead will be throughout the piece. The lead is added when the metal is cast to make it easyer to macheine later.However you have already removed the surface lead running acidic wort through it.

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The correct answer.

As long as you don't feed your beer to kids (children are more susceptible to the effects of lead) the concentration will not be harmful.

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Cheers!

Since you live in CA like I do, take a look next time your in Home Depot and all the brass fittings will have small print somewhere on the package that will say "Lead free" it's a CA thing, maybe other states as well. You should be good to go.

Here's the thing; you were worried enough to ask the question, why not put speculation aside and get tested?

It would seem to me that both ends of the age spectrum are at risk, no?

Just a guess.

Horace said:

It would seem to me that both ends of the age spectrum are at risk, no?

Just a guess.

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Lead is more of a risk for developing brains. Not to say it is not a problem for adults it is just less of a problem, and higher concentrations are required to be dangerous. (If I remember my contaminants correctly)

Since Jan 1 of 2011 IN CALIFORNIA all metals in contact with potable water must be "lead free". Lead free means <0.25% lead. Vermont is another state that has lead free drinking water metals. Before the lead law in CA (AB1953) this year, lead content was typically around 2% or so.

2% or 0.25% it's not enough to worry about. Besides if you live in any place other than CA or VT than you have been drinking water in contact with 'leaded' brass for years.

I didn't bother to read this thread, but the answer is "yes".

Yes, you were poisoned. And you have AIDS.

EarthBound said:

Yes, you were poisoned. And you have AIDS.

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Ale Intake Disorder? I hear it's highly contagious.

I've had a brass tube connector (can't remember the "real name"TM) to connect two rubber hoses for our water faucet together. Kids were just tested for lead at yearly physical and found none. I think you should be ok. But if you die don't blame me

For me the first thing to do would be - Just buy stainless in the first place. Even if there is a slight risk, do you want to be slightly screwed up by it. What is the price point between the valves. $15?

Well worth the upgrade IMO

CidahMastah said:

For me the first thing to do would be - Just buy stainless in the first place.

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What? SS can "leach" too?

Bottom line - it's about exposure level. There just isn't enough surface lead present on the brass fittings in your homebrew rig to raise any concerns. You'll have a higher exposure to lead:

• Shooting guns at an indoor gun range.
• Eating wild game killed with leadshot.
• Playing with cheap chinese toys.
• Working at a lead consuming chemical plant.
• Living near a lead consuming chemical plant.
• Drinking water in a home built with lead pipes or solder.

Now, if you'd like to fund replacing all of the brass and/or lead-containing fittings between the municipal water supply and your house...I'd love to see the cost estimate.

lamarguy said:

What? SS can "leach" too?

Bottom line - it's about exposure level. There just isn't enough surface lead present on the brass fittings in your homebrew rig to raise any concerns. You'll have a higher exposure to lead:

• Shooting guns at an indoor gun range.
• Eating wild game killed with leadshot.
• Playing with cheap chinese toys.
• Working at a lead consuming chemical plant.
• Living near a lead consuming chemical plant.
• Drinking water in a home built with lead pipes or solder.

Now, if you'd like to fund replacing all of the brass and/or lead-containing fittings between the municipal water supply and your house...I'd love to see the cost estimate.

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Well i happen to have a special form of space age stainless that I bought....

ha!

in all seriousness though - the leaching of lead from brass fittings in a house *i thought* wasn't a concern unless you have acidic water + heat. *I thought* the leaching of lead from valves was due to, 1 acidity of the wort 2 heat of the liquid.

But I never really cared too much about it - just bought stainless and called it a day.

I did use the google and get this though:

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=11604
rockin' '04 study!


concur with the rest though. Probably the beer you are brewing is worse for you than the lead consumption at the levels present.

concur with the rest though. Probably the beer you are brewing is worse for you than the lead consumption at the levels present.

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What? Beer is good for you.

Yeast have an affinity for metals and take it out for you.

Kokopuff829 said:

I washed my brass fittings in vinegar and peroxide. You should of seen the water. Yuck. I dont think there's enough lead in there to really do a lot of harm.

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Lead plus H20 and vinegar creates lead acetate which is an extremely deadly chemical that cannot be neutralized by household chemicals. No one should ever put that stuff down the drain. Dispose at the county haz mat center.

You know, one of the few things I hate about HBT is that when the correct answer to a question is, "There's a theoretical risk, so you should probably avoid it in the future, but it's probably not a big deal that you did so in the past," there''s always half a dozen people who are like, "zomg call the doctor NOW, if you don't then your head will explode so violently it will take out half the county!"

I wish I could give credit for whoever said this in another similar freak-out-over-very-little thread, but I can't remember who, so here goes:

The only way to be safe now is to nuke your boil kettle from orbit.

Sorry for bringing back an old thread; I was searching for brass safety. But, this is damn funny...

jsweet said:

You know, one of the few things I hate about HBT is that when the correct answer to a question is, "There's a theoretical risk, so you should probably avoid it in the future, but it's probably not a big deal that you did so in the past," there''s always half a dozen people who are like, "zomg call the doctor NOW, if you don't then your head will explode so violently it will take out half the county!"

I wish I could give credit for whoever said this in another similar freak-out-over-very-little thread, but I can't remember who, so here goes:

The only way to be safe now is to nuke your boil kettle from orbit.

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By the way; I used my brass elbow in my boil kettle.

wilserbrewer said:

Lots of kitchen faucets are brass...my guess would be that the lead exposure from brass fittings in your brew pot is between miniscule and zero.

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yes but the water in those lines is not acidic and you are not supposed to consume water form the hot side of the plumbing anyway..

augiedoggy said:

yes but the water in those lines is not acidic and you are not supposed to consume water form the hot side of the plumbing anyway..

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I thought the recommendation to not consume water from the hot side comes more from what could be in your water heater. Specifically, in older homes where they may not have been replaced recently.


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My tap water has uranium in it.

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heckels said:

I thought the recommendation to not consume water from the hot side comes more from what could be in your water heater. Specifically, in older homes where they may not have been replaced recently.


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actually many of the newer heaters and tankless heaters are now made in china and rebranded and distributed by big names (big surprise) anyway they often have a warning right on them or in the literature that they are not to be used for potable water.... I can only assume this is because of lead or other heavy metals used in the heat exchanger...

in an old hot water tank you are completely correct that they are full of sand ,rust and all sort of nasty sediment.

snowtires said:

My tap water has uranium in it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

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so does most... it is a natural element... its the levels that matter.

This is the kind of stuff the culligan man will try to use as a scare tactic to get you to give up your left nut for a water system....

The truth is though that legal limits are the only thing municipalities look at even though the levels may be well above whats considered "healthy"...
Just another one of those things in life that contribute to health issues that eventually effect all of us... if its not one thing..

Risk is a constant in life.

Risk can be high or low, but it is never zero.

Think about the risk of what your doing when you brew, and then compare it to all the other schit you do in your life.

IMO, brewing is pretty darned safe.

This is a 3 year old thread. OP are you still alive?

63belair said:

This is a 3 year old thread. OP are you still alive?

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lol I only posted because people are still drawing off of it for information...

Totally true in regards to everything having risk....
I guess if it comes down to using a brass ball valve or spending $7 on a stainless one from ebay or amazon why not go the safer route?
your probably fine either way as with not wearing a seatbelt but if you have the choice and its an easy one why not take the better one?

we take bigger chances everyday eating mas produced foods...especially those coming from overseas...

Good example is the "beef" being distributed in frozen meals by aldi's that actually turned out to be Horsemeat (not that horsemeat is bad for you but still you just dont know what your getting these days) people that consume a lot of chocolate usually do so completely unaware of the amount of rat feces usually found in cocoa and what the legal "safe limit" is allow by the FDA.... sometimes Ignorance is Bliss...

I am REALLY sorry I resurrected this thread; I just thought Post #29 was funnier then $h!t

Please do not any of you remember that LEAD WAS BANNED in the 70's.... and by the 90's all brass plumbing fixtures had to be lead free. If you purchased your brass plumbing fittings in the last 10 years then THEY HAVE NO LEAD!!!

Allow me to correct myself
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ380/pdf/PLAW-111publ380.pdf

No grand fathering so they can no longer be sold as of 4JAN14

But I have been purchasing them for years at Lowes and I always look for the LEAD FREE label