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Metallic taint

Chemical and taintSometimes recoverable

Blood, tin, a hard metallic finish, and often a haze that appears weeks later.

What causes it

Iron or copper picked up from equipment, or a copper addition made to fix sulphide and then overdone.

Detection threshold

Copper above about 0.5 mg/L, iron above about 5 mg/L.

What you can do

Fining with a chelating agent removes some of it. Preventing it is far easier.

How to prevent it

Stainless, glass and food-grade plastic only, and treat copper additions as a last resort measured in milligrams.