Cancer-Free Hose Fittings

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

My semen causes birth defects when I am in California. You two better do your business across the border

Get some stainless tri-clamps from Derrin (brewershardware.com), or just pickle your brass ones ala John Palmer's "How to Brew".

 

[tnlandsailor]

For brass fittings, the lead is there to enhance machineability and workability. The end process puts a lead film on the outside which is very very thin. Water doesn't do much to this film, but acidic liquids tend to dissolve the lead - like beer wort. The good news is that after the first few batches, the fitting will have effectively de-leaded itself. I am a fan of the "pickling" process described by Palmer - mostly because it makes the fittings really bright and shiny in addition to removing the surface lead. Lead is not so much cancer causing as it is poisonous. However, I am supremely confident that you would die of cirrhosis of the liver before you drank enough of your homebrew to die of lead induced cancer or lead poisoning from a brass fitting.

40,000 people a year die in traffic accidents. I don't see California in a rush to ban the wheel - maybe they should. It would probably save more people than banning brass fittings.

 

[elkdog]

I'm with the OP in wanting to find the safest way to proceed; the rhetoric about CA and its regulations, which are not always to be taken as gospel, is well taken, but lead exposure can reduce sperm count, sperm motility, and lead to abnormal sperm in men, and lead to miscarriages in women (I don't know if this refers to pre-pregnancy exposure or not). So it's up to the individual to decide how much to worry about it, but when it comes to conceiving a healthy child, I gotta think that doing a little reading on the topic is not out of line. There are few more important things to worry about, and you'd hate to spend time later wondering if buying a different fitting would have made a big difference, so you do everything you can with what you know now.

It's just a bit disappointing, even on a homebrew forum where we tend to be cynical of government anyway, to see a valid concern like this dismissed so mockingly. Thanks, though, to those who have shared some helpful info- I've learned quite a bit from it.

 

[maztec]

It's just a bit disappointing, even on a homebrew forum where we tend to be cynical of government anyway, to see a valid concern like this dismissed so mockingly. Thanks, though, to those who have shared some helpful info- I've learned quite a bit from it.

At least I didn't ask about hosing. I've hidden it from SWMBO, but garden hoses and vinyl hoses are no longer rated as being for use with potable water :\. Partially due to the fittings, and partially because both dissolve in the water. Alternatively, may be able to blame China for making these things out of cheaper materials.

But, sure, what flexible hosing would people recommend .

 

[ghart999]

Use the white RV hose. Period.

 

[Shooter]

Use the white RV hose. Period.

That's what I use. Also, if I haven't used the hose in a while ,I don't just start running water through it into the brew kettle. I let a bit run through on to the ground for a couple of seconds to clear out any old water or crap in the hose.

 

[bob1852]

my favorite t-shirt ever "Stop Plate Tectonics"

 

[Cliff897]

***********1. Enforce rules only against their foes (i.e., anyone who does not suck up to them) while exempting their friends from similar or worse behavior.

2. Silently boot someone and then proceed to trash talk the person as if the person was still there with an opportunity to respond.

3. Boot someone and then start a thread for the sole purpose of boasting about having removed the person, so as to bask in the praise of sychophantic members applauding the moderator's bold action.

4. If a person is being stalked or trolled, scold, warn and threaten both the victim and the perpetrator to stop it. If the victim protests, boot the victim for having defied the moderator's authority. Add injury to insult by allowing the troll or stalker to stay because the stalker or troll didn't talk back to the moderator.

5. If the moderator loses an argument to another member, selectively delete the member's comments so that the thread no longer makes any sense.

6. Selectively enforce the tribe's rules only against newcomers, newbies or people who are not friend with the moderator.

7. Speak about their actions as moderator in the passive voice, use the royal we, and otherwise take on a haughty, authoritarian tone. I mean, dude, you're just a moderator. ***************