Brine in an aluminum pot

A good question! If you transferred it immediately, there's no problem. I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a lid that pickles came in. Works great!

I never use metal to bine my turkey in. Only made the brine in the pot. I brine my turkey in a plastic Igloo. Question is will the brine made in the metal effect the bird?

Could only take a guess at whether or not the brine is "damaged". However, once will not be harmful for you. As a general rule though, never use aluminum to cook in. It has been associated with many of the nervous system type disorders people get as they age.

Westy

Never put brine in a metal pan. It needs to be "non-reactive". The brine solution will interact with the metal and do funky things to the pot. I don't know if it's bad for the item brining, but I know it's bad for the pot.

I use, plastic (like Andy) or ceramic or glass, but never metal.

Smokin'

hey, smokin: Not even a stainless steel pot? I thought that they were non reactive... but aluminum was a no-no.

Use of stainless steel for brining is as good as glass and plastic. You can't go wrong with plastic and glass as they are insulators and do not react chemically with the brine solution. Seasoned stainless steel will release extremely small traces of Iron, Chromium and Nickel (Cr & Ni will be much less than the Fe). Aluminium is not recommended for much of anything in the kitchen outside it makes a great foil..., mixing a brine in it is OK as long as the meat is not brined in the aluminium container. My background in professional kitchens makes me lean toward stainless due to its' ability to take an amazing amount of abuse and still remain functional..., good stainless steel will most likely outlast most of us making it a good long term investment.
I would avoid glass in a commercial environment simply because it can be dropped and broken..., this is not a worry with plastic and stainless. In summary; if you can't afford stainless go with plastic!

thanks for that... in general, what about these annodized aluminim pots and pans... like calphalon and magnalite? safe for cooking?

The key is the inside of the pot. Most of the ones you mentioned come "lined" with a coating (to protect from the straight aluminum).

The first time I brined I was very careful with the pot I chose, then stupid me used an aluminum rack that I had to keep the meat submerged. This did not go over very well! You could actually see where it was reacting with the aluminum.

Don't know if I would have admitted to that one, Hoodsie! Use a gallon zip-lock filled with brine to weight down your product!

Some things should probably stay a secret! Thanks for the tip!