Brass weights?

[BeerisGOD]

hi everyone

trying to decide on using a couple of brass weights to weigh the hop bag down. would brass be safe providing its been sterilized and sanitized?

got three teaspoons on standby either way.

cheers!

 

[dan125]

I don't see why not as brass fittings are used on boilers etc

 

[Richie_asg1]

There is a lot said against brass, mainly from America, because of the very small quantity of lead in the brass alloy. In reality this is miniscule (3%), and the zinc is more likely to leech out than the lead. They still make brass fittings for water using this and nearly all taps are made from brass, and most of your water pipes used leaded solder, so I would be happy to use it.
Just check the base of the weights because they did use solid lead to adjust the weights for accuracy. It's usually only on iron weights (as a hole) but possible they would do this to brass as well.

 

[joe 90]

i use two all stainless steel knives,works a treat :thumb:

 

[chub1]

Right, here's a question. Does it make any difference if the dry hop bag sinks or not?
have done a few brews, some weighted down and my last two just dropped in and to be honest i can't detect any difference!.

 

[mike-os]

why risk it? just use some stainless steel cutlery

 

[Robin54]

Ive used a couple of ramekins ...works just as well

 

[BeerisGOD]

if you feel it don't carry on with how you do it. I have learnt a valuable lesson in not using a muslin where it made the last two litres at bottling a chore n half.
I think ill take Mike and Joes advise and use some stainless steel knives. got plenty of them over spoons so at least my misses won't notice.
cheers fellas

 

[Smileyr8]

I use those big marbles, they are made of glass and are easy to strerilize.

 

[Richie_asg1]

For those old enough to remember there was something designed to stop milk boiling over. It's either ceramic or more usually a glass heavy disc so is easy to sterilise & clean. I think it's called pot minder or boil alert. They turn up at car boots quite often.

I'm using large stainless infuser balls and noticed that they tend to roll around in the top of the boil. The 4" ones do 25g of pellet hops.

 

[jackthehat]

I think that brass plumbing fittings are now made with a very low lead content, but brass weights could have a much higher amount. In addition, the leeching rate could be much higher in an acidic liquid such as beer.

I would go with spoons myself.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I use those big marbles, they are made of glass and are easy to strerilize.

I have seen marbles mentioned many times for this purpose.

 

[mike-os]

Anything known to be inert and easy to sterilise is good,