Is aluminum really bad?

[dcbrewmeister]

And they didn't have SS in Egypt when the beer brewing started.

Kinda a weak arguement - no? They didn't have aluminum either so why use an example of what they were doing 100's and/or 1,000's of years ago...

That being said, I kinda wish people would stop using Palmer (and mis-quoting him) for an arguement about AL vs. SS. This page that has been refered to many times, every time this debate comes up. The only line that mentions it says: [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Do not clean aluminum shiny bright or use bleach to clean an aluminum brewpot because this removes the protective oxides and can result in a metallic taste. This taste-detectable level of aluminum is not hazardous. There is more aluminum in a common antacid tablet than would be present in a batch of beer made in an aluminum pot." I bet there are a lot of AL kettles nice and shiny inside.[/FONT]

Palmer may be metalergist, but he is not a doctor... forgive me for not taking his word as "the-law-of-the-land", but that's ok, you won't remeber what he said anyway.

I use SS, that's my "choice". Get a keg and convert it, you can buy them from scrap metal places as scrap. I found them any where from $16 - $33 per keg... bring the guy a couple brews and he may even give you an extra one.

15.5 gallons for $33 for a SS pot. Beats the heck out of any AL pot I've ever seen.

IMO - if you are waiting for ANYBODY to ever come right out and say "AL causes alzheimer's", I think you will be waiting til a very warm place gets very cold. In the meantime, I would rather NOT find out that it does. The thought that I may be adding to the chances of getting alzheimer's is enough to keep me from considering it when there are other resources out there.

 

[brewhead]

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/en/aluminium.pdf
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Facts_about_dementia/PDF/i_aluminium.pdf
http://byo.com/mrwizard/1019.html

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Facts_about_dementia/PDF/i_aluminium.pdf

There have been numerous conferences on aluminium and health ever since the idea that the metal might be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease was first proposed. The medical research community, international and government regulatory agencies and the aluminium industry all review the evidence at frequent intervals. The overwhelming medical and scientific opinion is that
the findings outlined above do not convincingly demonstrate a causal relationship between aluminium and Alzheimer’s disease, and that no useful medical or public health recommendations can be made, at least at present.

It has proved extremely difficult to devise studies which could resolve this problem one way or another. Alzheimer’s is a common disease with multiple causes, while aluminium is widepread in the environment and there are no methods that allow us to measure an individual’s ‘body burden’ or lifetime exposure to this element.

wonder what would happen to the argument and arguees if it was found that the precious ss caused alz. hmmmm

alcohol can cause a myriad of problems. no one ever talks about that - it's just al vs ss

 

[dcbrewmeister]

I really didn't base my decision on the health argument because it never really went any where constructive. I based most of my decision on this statement - "removes the protective oxides and can result in a metallic taste. This taste-detectable level of aluminum"

A good tasting brew without any "outside" undesirable flavors is hard enough to make without adding the possibility of it tasting like a chunk of aluminum. The health issues came second and I personally would rather not find out that aluminum does cause Alzheimer's.

When someone says SS causes cancer (or anything else) I'll take it under advisement, until then, I'll brew with my SS. You can "What-if" this issue all-day, every-day, and until "something" comes out stating SS causes XX it's pointless. AL has been named as one of the possible causes to Alzheimer's, even that posted study basically says - "no useful medical or public health recommendations can be made, at least at present." Meaning they are not saying it is linked to it, but they also did not come out and say it isn't.

You just put a $50 price tag on your health... mine is worth more than $50.

 

[brewhead]

You just put a $50 price tag on your health... mine is worth more than $50

then i would advise you not to drink at all much less brew. additionally don't inhale - aluminum is also air borne

i along with a lot of ppl in our club have been brewing with aluminum for many years and i would challenge anyone to a taste test: ss vs al.

Meaning they are not saying it is linked to it, but they also did not come out and say it isn't.

yes but that's the kind of double talk I'd expect from "those in the know" in such a litigious environment. succently they have said nothing.

so here we have it. can't prove nor disprove al and alz

and we have many hundreds of perhaps thousands of homebrewers successfully using aluminum pots to make soem killer non aluminum tasting brew

 

[Tony]

Man this is one of the biggest dabates in homebrewing, and is the same in the medical community. Doctors and scientists still don't know the exact origin and causes of Alzheimer, and are still trying to determine the cause. AD was first studied around 1900 and no real advances were made towards diagnosis, treatment and deterence until around 1972. And still it's a mystery.

They blame it on old age, mutated genes, genetics, and many other things. Aluminum was found in the grey matter of certain AD patients, and many doctors blamed it on aluminum toxicity, and pointed that blame to aluminum products in general. Even though aluminum is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Other doctors claim the aluminum found in the grey matter is a result of AD. So who they heck really knows?

All major countries mine bauxite ore to produce aluminum, and it's many forms are used in buildings, vehicles, cookware, Rolaids, Tums, and other antacids and many other products. It's in the clay in our soil, in our air, it's definately everywhere. It's even a part of our water treatment facilities. It has though been proven to retard growth of roots and plant structures in plants that grow in acidic soils, but on the other hand, it doesn't harm neutral ph or alkali ph grown plants.

My opinion is that in about 10 or 20 years scientists and doctors may pinpoint what actually causes AD, but for now, they don't know. So to me, the brewing debate on if it causes AD can't be proven either way.

 

[MariaAZ]

I got my aluminum bias from my mother, who never used aluminum because of off-tastes when cooking some foods like tomato sauce. I never even heard of the alleged connection between AD and aluminum until I'd already purchased my own SS cookware. I have an aluminum canning pot that I once cooked a rice dish in, and the pot came out so "blotchy" that I just stuck in in storage.

Right now I'm using a porcelain over steel canning pot for brewing. I also use this same pot for cooking ; at this time, any cookware I use for brewing has to perform this double duty. So as far as I'm concerned, I'll stick with SS because I find it stains less.