Copper vs stainless fittings --- a study

[yeast_slurry_speech]

Here's a pretty cool study I found on stainless vs brass fittings when brewing.

http://www.stainlessone.com/DPS11020-8pgReprint.pdf

[J.Brew]

Thanks YSS.. very informative. Nutshell??? STAINLESS GOOD!!!

[lilybrew]

Good study but seems that they left too many extra variables that would have been easily removed.

e.g. using all new brass faucets and t fittings (prefereably a stainless t fitting to remove this from the equation.) or three sets of faucets an old, a new, and a ss.

Also I wonder how applicable this is to the homebrewer who has a whole lot less harsh cleaning and beer flowing through the lines.

[Bugeater]

Interesting reading. Having done graduate work in evaluation research, I do agree that better controls were needed for a true "scientific" analysis. However, this study does reflect real world conditions.

The big question is how significant these differences actually are. The metallic taste thing is probably the biggest one, but is the taste difference enough that people are going to notice when not doing a side by side comparison?

The bacteria levels are probably insignificant at the pub level due to the volume of beer being dispensed. At the homebrew level, I would imagine this to be much more significant due to the much lower amount of beer being dispensed, i.e. less flushing of the faucet and giving the bacteria much more time between pours to grow.

This would seem to indicate that we should be cleaning our faucets and lines much more often than we do. Switching to SS faucets would seem to help keep the bacteria levels low.

One thing that popped out at me in this study was that it is a blatant advertising plug for the company that made the faucets and conducted the study. Nevertheless, I am quite happy with my SS faucets (Ventmatics) for the reasons outlined in the article. I did notice how easily the chrome plating wears off the old plated faucets I had. An accidental long soak (3 days) of the interior parts in starsan took the chrome right off!

Thanks for posting this. It was a good read.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[yeast_slurry_speech]

Yeah, I thought it was interesting, because not only could it apply to faucets, but also ball valves. A lot of homebrewers use the cheaper brass ball valves, and barbs for their kettles, HLT's and mash tuns.

After talking to quite a few people, the concensus is that you can taste the difference. Also after doing enough club brews where one guy uses brass and another uses stainless, I tend to agree.