New stainless base elements showing brass color?

So, I'm upgrading my 5 gallon rig to 10 gallons and decided to buy the new stainless steel base elements. After receiving them, I noticed that there were quite a few scrapes on the elements and the areas where that dark grey coating on the elements were scraped were showing a brass color through, has anyone else seen something like this on their elements? I'm just confused because the elements themselves should also be stainless and I'm not sure if this is normal. My old elements that don't have a stainless base have a few scrapes on them as well but silver is showing through on those, not a brass color.

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Probably only the base is is stainless, the elements are the zinc covered copper ones

Where did you get it? If BrewHardware, ask Bobby and he will provide info.

-BD

The ads are fairly clear, only the base is stainless. Or maybe not real clear, kind of.

They don't look like ours. Our elements are 100% stainless. I just scraped one of my ripples and it's silver underneath the coating.

Bobby_M said:

They don't look like ours. Our elements are 100% stainless. I just scraped one of my ripples and it's silver underneath the coating.

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No, they aren't from you. They are the Camco 02965 ones. Is this the model you sell Bobby?

Bobby_M said:

They don't look like ours. Our elements are 100% stainless. I just scraped one of my ripples and it's silver underneath the coating.

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Can confirm, got mine a week or so ago and they have a few dings in them from shipping and its silver under.

dmcman73 said:

No, they aren't from you. They are the Camco 02965 ones. Is this the model you sell Bobby?

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No, I don't sell "camco" branded elements but ours are also made in the US.

Just out of curiosity, is there anything concerning about being with zinc covered copper elements? I just built an eBIAB rig and I'm pretty sure I have one of these camco elements.

most elements are coated with incoloy

Bobby_M said:

No, I don't sell "camco" branded elements but ours are also made in the US.

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Camco just rebrands elements anyways right? I didnt think they actually made them.

FuzzeWuzze said:

Camco just rebrands elements anyways right? I didnt think they actually made them.

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Yup... the same elements are sold as "ACE hardware" or other store brands

hannibalmdq said:

Just out of curiosity, is there anything concerning about being with zinc covered copper elements? I just built an eBIAB rig and I'm pretty sure I have one of these camco elements.

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In many countries and states bare copper is now illegal to sell for food cooking use.... This is possibly why they are coated in the first place ... of course these elements arent intended for food or potable water use anyway... notice the quote from the link below about copper with acidic compounds? guess there is some truth to people saying they tasted the copper in thier beer after using a copper immersion chiller in a fermenter...

"Cookware

When acidic foods are cooked in unlined copper cookware, or in lined cookware where the lining has worn through, toxic amounts of copper can leach into the foods being cooked.[11] This effect is exacerbated if the copper has corroded, creating reactive salts.[12] Actual cooking may not be required for copper to leach into acidic liquids if they are stored in copper for a period of time.[13] Many countries and states prohibit or restrict the sale of unlined copper cookware.[citation needed "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_toxicity

That being said many here use copper wort chillers (including myself for a while) and some older breweries are still using copper kettles although now I'm curious if they are lined... I know many have abandoned using them like stella.... my guess is you would have to have a lot of exposure for it to be an issue.
I have a copper theme going on in my kitchen and all of the real copper pots and such are lined...
Theres even a bones episode where a couple nuns died from copper poisoning from old copper cookware where the lining was worn away in the nunnery kitchen...lol highy unrealistic I think though.

of course there are plenty of folks that made shine with lead riddled copper stills for years and we all know that stuff had no health risks at all right?

long story short if it were me the $20 would be worth the piece of mind to replace them with stainless elements if we were talking about the boil kettle.

So Bob, are your elements stainless base and stainless elements? I was told that the elements I have are stainless all around, not sure what to believe.

augiedoggy said:

In many countries and states bare copper is now illegal to sell for food cooking use....

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This might not apply to brewing when using a copper element or chiller.

From BYO:

Copper is a double-edged sword in brewing. It is beneficial before fermentation, but detrimental afterwards. Copper ions react with the hydrogen sulfide produced during fermentation and reduce it to insoluble copper sulfide, which is left behind with the trub and yeast cake. Switching to all stainless steel brewing equipment can lead to noticeable quantities of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur off-flavors and aromas in the beer. The use of copper wort chillers will provide all the copper necessary, as will including a short piece (1 inch) of copper tubing in the boil.

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