"Stainless" steel corrosion

Ya, I don't think those were stainless. Too bad you didn't take some good quality pics. Sorry to hear man, that sucks. I know I've heard of people using marbles in the bags to weigh them down. Maybe you might get better results from that. I think it also bears mentioning that stainless steel is not corrosion proof. It's very resistant though. 5 days in some beer shouldn't be an issue for stainless.

 

I just remembered sometimes, the amount of nickle in SS varies my manufacturer. This has resulted in alergic like reactions in people that get cheap body jewelry. Did the ball bearing look like this? If so, I'd speculate it was due to either they were not SS, or the nickle content was too high.

 

Ball bearings have a low chromium content, about 1.5%, and have to resist high contact load induced stress, not so much corrosion as bearings usually are sealed. The stainless used for food processing is usually 18/8, or 18% chromium and 8% nickel. The higher chromium levels are what gives the corrosion resistance we need.

 

You will also see this listed as 304 stainless steel, which is generally good enough quality for kitchen applications (brewing). But as the name states . . . stainless . . . there can be some corrosion, typically maintenance is to keep it clean. A higher grade ss is 316, more nickel gives it more corrosion resistance . . . sometimes referred to as "marine grade". Caveat: There is a large exporting country (begins with C) that often undercuts everyone else's ss prices by "cheating" on these standards.

For the OP: I've found good old stainless steel hose clamps work well in the hop bag. They are available at any decent hardware store and clean up easily after dh'ing. Other good items for weighting are stainless "couplers" or "barbs" or "washers" which most brewers have laying around. In a pinch you could put a kitchen spoon in your dh bag.

 

Forgot to put the grade in there. 316 Also is known as surgical stainless, and has some molybdenum.

 

This is what I use

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FN0P20/ref=biss_dp_t_asn

No corrosion issues

 

Dollar Store aquarium glass rocks or marbles for a cheap bastard like me.

 

nice balls!

Is the weighted hop bag also the best way to dry hop in a keg or is it better to secure the bag to the dip tube?

 

Not sure which is better.

I use enough weight to have the hop bag sink a few inches in the keg. Not tied to anything. Soak for 4 days. Temporarily invert the keg once per day (optional and remove co2 connection before doing it). Remove the hops with some tongs. I'm happy with the aroma it produces.

Some people have the weighted bag secured to the lid so the hops sink 25-50% and don't remove them. Others let the hops sit in the beer for the entire life of the keg. I haven't tried those methods.

 

Get some glass marbles. Works like a charm. I thoroughly wash and boil mine before putting them in just to make sure there's nothing trying to sneak into my beer.

 

I use glass marbles; cheap and easy. No need to concern yourself with chromium/nickel content or grade numbers.

Cheers!

 

I was given 4 of these for xmas a couple years ago, never used for whiskey, but they work great as dry hop weights

http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Chilling-Reusable-Whiskey-Beverage/dp/B00KYGRMEW/

 

This happened to me with some 'stainless' steel nuts. I let the beer sit a couple of months, drank some, but the metallic flavor was overwhelming. Down the drain.

 

I started using one of these, it's awesome.

http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Dry-Hopper-with-twist-cap-_p_155.html

 

It's 300 micron mesh which is a larger mesh than typical hop bags. Hop bags work fine for me in the keg, but I don't like cleaning or prepping them. I use 300 micron mesh hop baskets in the kettle with good results. No clogging. Good hop utilization.

I doubt your spider is smaller than 300 micron. Do you know the mesh size of your spider?

 

ooh that tube is fancy. I'd love that. I use a rock. a boiled rock, yeah. cavewoman here.