brass and copper??

[partybus]

Hi all,
Was just about to order some new parts for my still and realised some of the unions are copper , but the body is made of brass.
Is this ok
soz i expect this has been asked before but trawling through forum could not find a topic.

cheers ......steve

[rad14701]

You are correct in that this issue has been covered many times - it's just not that easy to find...

Brass fittings can be used... Brass may or may not contain small amounts of lead, to aid in machining processes, which can be removed, at least temporarily, by pickling... And because most brass fittings contain such small amounts of lead it may not even be detectable even with repeated lead testing... Try a search for "pickling brass" and you should be able to find more information...

[olddog]

Some brass fittings are occasionally used but will need de-leading, as lead is added to make machining easier, copper is the recomended material for building a still as copper can be silver soldered easily, and copper in the system will remove any sulphides in your wash.

[partybus]

ok thanks for info,
will look up the thread later when home from work, just didnt want to spend out money to be wasted .