Brewing with a serious nickel allergy

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nickbrew

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A recent diagnosis of a serious nickel allergy has been linked to some health concerns I have had since before starting homebrewing. I did notice that drinking homebrews gives a bad reaction and generally commercially produced beers are alright. I am wondering if there are certain products or materials that I should stick to when I create my new brewstand in the new year (modeled after a Brutus 10).

I always tried for Stainless Steel for tanks and pipes and brass when I can't find SS parts. I know that there is some nickel in types of SS and often nickel 'contamination' in other materials without specifically being stated to contain nickel.

Looking for any information, I would hate to give up brewing just because of an allergy! Maybe there are other possible sources of nickel in the brewing process that I am not thinking about.
 
Not every homebrewer has stainless steel components but just about any commercial brewery will. Most stainless is about 10% nickel and you're going to find stainless steel prep tables, mix tanks, plumbing, fermenters, storage tanks, and other bit is virtually all food and beverage facilities. What kind of medical advice have you received concerning stainless steel?
 
Not every homebrewer has stainless steel components but just about any commercial brewery will. Most stainless is about 10% nickel and you're going to find stainless steel prep tables, mix tanks, plumbing, fermenters, storage tanks, and other bit is virtually all food and beverage facilities. What kind of medical advice have you received concerning stainless steel?

I haven't received any medical advice about SS, I just used it previously in my past brewstand and know from experience that most homebrewers I have talked to generally gravitate towards SS equipment for its food grade and durability.

All I have been told from my doctor is to avoid contact with nickel wherever possible and even switch most of my cookware and utensils to be nickel free so reduce the amount of contact for things that I am ingesting. My patch test two weeks ago had contact with nickel for 2 days on my skin and the irritation is still quite flared up.

Other than reducing contact with keys, money, etc, I thought I would look to my process for homebrewing to see if there is any reason to believe that it would be really impacting me that much or if it was a coincidental reaction that I myself attributed to the beer.

Im assuming that there really wouldnt be that much transference of nickel into the beer itself from equipment, however I would speculate that it would only occur during periods of high heat like a boil but I admit that is just a guess.
 
I haven't received any medical advice about SS, I just used it previously in my past brewstand and know from experience that most homebrewers I have talked to generally gravitate towards SS equipment for its food grade and durability.

All I have been told from my doctor is to avoid contact with nickel wherever possible and even switch most of my cookware and utensils to be nickel free so reduce the amount of contact for things that I am ingesting. My patch test two weeks ago had contact with nickel for 2 days on my skin and the irritation is still quite flared up.

Other than reducing contact with keys, money, etc, I thought I would look to my process for homebrewing to see if there is any reason to believe that it would be really impacting me that much or if it was a coincidental reaction that I myself attributed to the beer.

Im assuming that there really wouldnt be that much transference of nickel into the beer itself from equipment, however I would speculate that it would only occur during periods of high heat like a boil but I admit that is just a guess.

Although I am not an expert in metallurgy, I don't believe homebrewing components are particularly susceptible to nickel exposure. I know AISI 304 stainless is 8% nickel by weight, but it's also pretty low on the galvanic series and fairly impervious to dissolution. Commercial breweries use the same material for their kettle / HLT construction as homebrewers do. Additionally, commercial beers spend an even longer time in contact with nickel, fermenting in stainless conicals.

So theoretically you should suffer even more from commercial brews. Just saying.
 
For your cookware and brewing needs, I know that most 'induction ready' cookware will be very low, or zero, nickel. The presence of Nickel makes the material non-magnetic or paramagnetic. For example, the inexpensive Jarhill 410 Stainless Steel kettles on ebay are 0% Nickel. I think they're 15/0 or 18/0. A warning though on cookware is that just the bottom surface could be inductive, like a tri-ply bottom, and the sides would still be regular 8-10% Nickel.
 
What water are you using to brew? If you are using tap then I'd get that checked. I'd get it checked anyway just to make sure since you also use it to clean and cook.
 
You could do the test patch test with stainless steel of known nickel content.

Disclaimer: I don't even stay at Holiday Inn so this advice is far from medically recommended.
 
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