Stainless Steel or Red Copper and Beer Taste

[Elijah]

Hey all,

In the whiskey industry almost all prestigious distilleries will curse you if you say "steel" more than once. Copper seems to be the holy grail in the industry.

Some will even claim that you cannot make good whiskey using steel.

When it comes to beer, however, copper becomes an eye-candy and a maintenance-burden rather than useful.

I never had the opportunity to compare whiskey distilled using the different metals, but I trust the old Highlander Scotsman on this one.

As for beer, I have seen some boutique breweries using copper in the whole process, I know it might be just for display, and I am unsure any of the big players use copper, but I was wondering if it will affect the taste of beer?

 

[Teromous]

I believe copper is used in distilling because of its inherent ability to remove sulfides. Source: Too much Discovery Channel.

 

[Conan]

Teromous is on it- copper shrubs sulphides. However some pros use SS too. Copper is generally easier for people without tig welders to work with and is probably one driving force as to its initial use in that industry. Many breweries are copper but they tend to be quite old. Stainless resists harsh chemical cleaning, is less fragile, and doesn't scratch as easily and so harbors less potential for bacteria to hide out. I use copper in my system at home because it's cheaper and easier to work with. I doubt there's a taste difference. Kyle