Stainless Vs Brass

[phishheadmi]

Hello all,

I recently purchased my first all grain brewing setup, which includes 3 keggles. One of the Keggles has stainless ball valve and fittings with a brass quick disconnect. All the fittings on both other keggles as well as hoses is brass. Seller mentioned I'd want to switch the two keggle ball valves to stainless...why do I want stainless valves? Is it common to use stainless valves and brass quick disconnect hardware, or do I want to just switch everything over to stainless from the get go? What's wrong with using brass?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I think that brass is not considered food safe because it may contain lead.. I'm interested to hear others input on this though.

 

[mkirkland]

Hello all,

I recently purchased my first all grain brewing setup, which includes 3 keggles. One of the Keggles has stainless ball valve and fittings with a brass quick disconnect. All the fittings on both other keggles as well as hoses is brass. Seller mentioned I'd want to switch the two keggle ball valves to stainless...why do I want stainless valves? Is it common to use stainless valves and brass quick disconnect hardware, or do I want to just switch everything over to stainless from the get go? What's wrong with using brass?

Some brass contain small amounts of Lead i think. At least thats what i remember reading from most brass fittings/parts you can buy at Lowes/Home Depot

 

[WrQth]

Brass
Brass is a group of alloys made from copper and zinc, with some lead thrown in for machinability. The lead percentage varies, but for the alloys used in plumbing fittings, it is 3% or less. It is this lead that can be dissolved off by the wort. While this teeny, tiny amount of lead is not a health concern, most homebrewers would be happier if wasn’t there at all. (See the sidebar on page 61 for a method to remove surface lead from brass)

Brass can be readily soldered and brazed to copper and stainless steel. The thermal conductivity of brass is similar to aluminum, but the corrosion resistance of brass is more similar to copper. The reason that brass fittings are not commonly used in commercial breweries is that the clean-in-place (CIP) systems and chemicals that are commonly used with stainless steel are too corrosive to copper and brass. As homebrewers, we don’t have to use such strong chemicals, nor are our parts in service 24/7, so corrosion is greatly reduced.

http://byo.com/malt/item/1144-metallurgy-for-homebrewers

I'd avoid it since it has lead in it even though it is so little and some cleaners used in brewing would damage it

 

[cubalz]

There is nothing wrong with brass from a utilization standpoint. The problem is that it likes to corrode and get gnarly looking from either the acids on your hands, the wort or the cleaners we use. SS equipment and fittings is what every brewery (large or small) uses for a good reason. Then again, don't listen to me, I am a stainless steel whore.....

 

[iijakii]

Some brass contain small amounts of Lead i think. At least thats what i remember reading from most brass fittings/parts you can buy at Lowes/Home Depot

Not anymore - either earlier this year or last year a new law went into place requiring them to be lead-free.

 

[microbusbrewery]

My two cents, there's probably no need to rush out and get all stainless fittings. In the past brass fittings contained lead but the newer ones shouldn't; at least the ones intended for potable water. I'm not sure how you can check to see if yours are older or newer. Corrosion is still an issue even on the lead-free brass. If you decide to replace them, I'd recommend checking out bargainfittings.com. Check out the stainless camlock disconnects as well.

 

[UnBrewsual]

Tagging on another question here:

Everything I have is SS except for 1 piece that is brass, which is the 1/2 to 3/8 Barb to hook my drain hose up to the ball valve. Do you think I should replace it with SS?

 

[brrman]

Tagging on another question here:

Everything I have is SS except for 1 piece that is brass, which is the 1/2 to 3/8 Barb to hook my drain hose up to the ball valve. Do you think I should replace it with SS?

only if having 100% SS is important to you.

 

[d3track]

Look up the brew strong episodes where John Palmer talks about the different metals in the brewery.

 

[kh54s10]

Any one that has a house that is more that 10 years old and is afraid of brass better NEVER take a look at their plumbing........