Fermentation in Stainless Steel

Someone told me recently that fermenting foods in stainless steel would cause a tin like taste in your food. While I can see this happening for aluminum, I am skeptical of it being true for steel. Ultimately I would like to use a steel French press to make Kraut and Kimchi? Good Idea? Bad Idea.

NealB
  • Posted by: NealB
  • August 11, 2012
  • 21041 views
  • 4 Comments

4 Comments

Sharon
Sharon May 4, 2018
It might depend on the quality of the stainless steel. Although I wouldn't ferment anything in stainless, I do use stainless spoons and strainers with fermented foods. I found a gallon crock from an old Crock Pot at a thrift store, and I cover it with a plate. I also use gallon glass jars scavenged from local restaurants and smaller Mason jars as well. Although stainless is largely considered nonreactive...it's used in labs...I feel more comfortable with lead-free ceramics and with glass.
 
ChefOno
ChefOno August 12, 2012

Stainless is often used for commercial production of kraut (not to mention wine and beer). Make sure your press doesn't have any brass or other types of metal fittings (some of mine do).

 
IlovePhilly
IlovePhilly August 11, 2012
Stainless steel is a bad choice for fermentation for a few reasons. One good one is that you can't observe the process in steel, but more importantly
 
Sam1148
Sam1148 August 11, 2012
Probably a bad idea for those applications. Get a cheep ceramic cookie jar from a thrift store.
 
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