Food-safe metals and hardware

It's no surprise that stainless steel tends to be the go-to material for serious brewers, and I've read that using brass hardware can leach heavy metals and an off taste into your beer. The last thing I want is to poison myself, but the stainless steel hardware tends to be twice the price, so I'll save money where I can.

I recently discovered an all-in-one bulkhead / ball valve constructed from nickel-plated brass. A quick search says that this type of hardware IS food safe, however I wanted to hear back from the community before making any decisions.

As the hardware is an all-in-one piece, it could be difficult to clean. I am considering using this cheaper valve for my HLT, and will purchase the expensive 3-part SS valve for my mash tun.

Also, wondering if there's any value to adding a valve to the boil kettle on a gravity-fed system. A lot of brewers I've seen use a racking cane to transfer to primary, but I'd prefer to just open the valve if that makes sense.

Thoughts?

I have used brass in the past (it's fairly easy to strip the lead from the surface by a brief bath in vinegar and hydrogen peroxide), but have replaced most of my fittings with stainless steel. StarSan and brass don't play nice with each other on extended contact - it can strip the plating off chrome-plated brass on swivel nuts, for example.

You should be able to get a 1/2" stainless ball valve for less then $20.

Personally, I'm more concerned with the plastics that we use (hot side) as homebrewers than a little bit of brass. The nice thing about SS, is that you buy it once and there's more peace of mind.

I'd start with this.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-09-29-08-Metals-that-Affect-Your-Beer

justindustrial said:

Also, wondering if there's any value to adding a valve to the boil kettle on a gravity-fed system. A lot of brewers I've seen use a racking cane to transfer to primary, but I'd prefer to just open the valve if that makes sense.

Thoughts?

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As the previous poster noted, you can get ball valves for <$20, so yes I would put one on your boil kettle.
Also, if money is a little tight, just get regular ball valves. The three piece ones are nice but not a necessity. Three regular valves will probably cost you the same as buying the cheap one piece, a regular one and a three piece.

As far as nickel plated brass goes, the food safe components I've seen are all approved by the FDA so you should be g2g

Thanks for the feedback. Living north of the border prevents me from accessing a lot of the cheaper components you guys get, so unfortunately I'm restricted to the few Canadian suppliers, unless you guys know any affordable suppliers that ship to Canada?

I'd be much more concerned a out boiling hot wort in aluminum pots than fermenting cooled wort in food safe plastic. Especially Better Bottles or their equivalent.
Hot wort WILL leach AL into solution. Then it's happy no memories

justindustrial said:

Thanks for the feedback. Living north of the border prevents me from accessing a lot of the cheaper components you guys get, so unfortunately I'm restricted to the few Canadian suppliers, unless you guys know any affordable suppliers that ship to Canada?

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Morebeer ships to Canada. I buy from them at least once or twice a year. Shipping is the thing you need to try and offset by making a larger purchase.

I don't know if they're one of the few Canadian suppliers that you were referencing, but OBK has some pretty good prices for a Canadian retailer, especially when you consider the cost of shipping things from the US.

https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/