Chinese brass fittings

[maltster450]

so i am planning on building a new false bottom mash mash tun, but when i went out the buy some of the parts, the guy at home depo asked what they were for, and when he heard what i was using them for he said not to use the brass fittings since 98% of the brass you buy in america now comes from china and they has looser regulations on how much lead can be in their brass, which could leak out into the work, and poison people. which i just can't have as i am a social bird and can't go poisoning the rest of my flock.
is there any truth to this? i hadn't heard of this before this weekend, but then again i don't deal with much brass on a daily basis

TL;DR is it safe to use brass parts in my mash tun

 

[Quaker]

I don't deal with brass on a daily basis, but I deal with China on a daily basis. We struggle with our local aluminum and stainless suppliers to meet specifications. So I'm sure there's a good chance the lead content could be wrong. I can't comment on what the chances for leaching are or what potential health risks could be.

 

[bja]

http://distillapedia.org/index.php?title=Pickling_brass

 

[SittingDuck]

I was ay Home Depot yesterday looking for some new fittings and saw flags on most of the brass saying it us greater than 25% lead and not for use with drinking water.

I know about pickling, but frankly, with that label, I decided to just go stainless or copper.

The Home Depot brass ball valves, on the other hand, are made in Italy.

 

[maltster450]

what about the mash tuns they sell at homebrew.org they have a bunch of brass fittings, anyone use those?

 

[dutchoven]

I've heard in California, all brass water fittings must be "lead free" due to Prop 65. Home Depot wouldn't be able to sell high-lead fittings, in California at least.

 

[processhead]

I know about pickling, but frankly, with that label, I decided to just go stainless or copper.

I thought pickling involved treatment with acid.

Isn't beer wort pH less than 7, aka "acidic"?

 

[SittingDuck]

I've heard in California, all brass water fittings must be "lead free" due to Prop 65. Home Depot wouldn't be able to sell high-lead fittings, in California at least.

Yeah, I think that's why all these were flagged not for use for water.

 

[bullywee]

http://www.bargainfittings.com/