are campden tablets worth using?

[Spooneys regular]

I have always used un treated tap water for my brewing and never, to my knowledge had a problem. I've got my hands on some campden tablets from my LHBS, so what should I expect from the use of these tablets. And how much for a 23ltr batch?

Cheers

Chris

[oldtom]

In my opinion yes. They get rid of the chlorine and chloramates in tap water that can result in a `twangy` off taste in your beer that makes it stand out as `Home made`. just half a tablet in 5 gallons of tap water is enough to get rid of the taste without harming the fermentation.

Paul.

[Tarmac]

I always crush it between two spoons and then add it to my water.

Whatever you do - don't breathe it in! Nasty stuff.

[rootsbrew]

You might get more help in thebrewing liquor (water treatment) section? To avoid double posting, rephrase your question. Hope this helps though...

Are your beers ever a bit tangy? The chorline used to keep water safe to drink, during its journey to your house means there's often residual chlorine, which you can smell. It doesn't take a very high level to detect, especially in beer, which it expresses with metallic flavours. Is the cause of this taste is because chlorine is highly ionising?

From my limited experience, chlorine seems more noticeable in areas where there is a lot of mineral content, particularly calcium (aka lime), in the water - I don't know whether this is because there is actually more chlorine or because it comes out of solution and reacts with the air and beer ingredients more quickly? Either way, although many minerals can be fine, high chlorine must be tamed. From what I can tell, I don't think "soft" water areas have as much of a problem; typically, these are areas whose sources run-off moorland, peat and other exposed areas, as opposed to ground sources and reservoirs.

If you haven't ever had a problem, you may live in one of these "soft" water areas, where there isn't much detectable chlorine, in the water or resulting beer? Or, to your palate/nose you either don't mind or cannot perceive the chlorine in your water or beer. Either way - very lucky!

Chlorine is highly reactive, so any loose chlorine (vapour or dissolved) in the water will immediately bind to the sodium in the campden tablets (sodium metabisulphate) to form salt (i.e. sodium chloride) and sulphites (e.g. CaSO3) or free sluphur, which evaporates during fermentation. As I understand it, the salt stays in solution and is fairly minimal in proportion, while the sulphites settle out. Also, sulphites are an anti oxidant, so if these exist in solution between the end of fermentation and bottling, the beer will keep better.

The exact amount to add to treat the brewing liquor (wort water) depends on how much free chlorine you havein that 25 litre batch. Too much and you will impair or even kill the yeast, too little and the beer won't be any better. I think (but open to correction) that the dose is normally 0.5 - 1.0 tablets, dropped into the boiling water. Campden tablets are harmful in high concentrations, so must be diluted in an adequate amount of water and fully disolved (hence adding at boiling stage). Again, check with texts by the likes of John Palmer and Graham Wheeler and if you can get a mineral content indication from your water board, you'd get an idea of how heavily you need to treat. And, the liquor section of this forum for quantities and more information.

That's for the wort - a weak campden solution is a good first rinse after chlorine-based sterilising, to reduce the amount of chlorine that stays on your equipment, as it dries. By the time it's been washed and sterilise, there shouldn't be any bugs on/in your stuff but lingering chlorine (e.g. CaCl2) can have as much of an effect as anything in untreated brewing liquor.

The alternative to camden tablets in the liquor, is bottled water. Bottled water tends to have very low mineral content, which makes controlling the brew much easier. Prices for supermarket bottled water (Oct 2012) are in the region of £0.08/litre to £0.25/litre, depending on whether you get budget stuff in 2 litre bottles or those sturdy 5 litre bottles. Another advantage of bottles is they allow you to rack back into them, for medium term storage while your keg or proper bottles are still in use. Dropping ½ a campden tablet in each 2 litre bottle, or 1 per 5 litre bottle, should keep them sterile for the 3 weeks that the fermentation's going on.

Lastly, if for some reason you want to arrest fermentation, you can rack onto a solution of campden tablets. Such innoculation has to be done very carefully, so as to maintain the flavour of the beer and so you don't poison yourself! However, if something's about to go bad (biologically), it can be a step in rescuing matters. Wineries regularly use this to control biological functions e.g. on the grapes, as they leave the fields or at the end of fermentation, to retain some sugar. For beer, once it's sterile and settled out (maybe with some bentonite too?), it can be filtered and have fresh/good yeast reintroduced (for carbonation or continuation).

In summary, campden tablets are very good to have - even if not always in the brew itself.

[Spooneys regular]

That's brilliant, thanks for re posting that appreciate it. My other question is at what point would you introduce to the batch. On the back.of the bottle it says to add 1 tablet in a water solution per 5l after fermentation. Is this before bottling, how long would you leave it once added before bottling?

[Kev888]

Campden tablets are sometimes added to wine after fermentation, which is probably what those instructions are referring to, but in beer making they're normally just used to treat the brewing liquor/water before use in order to deal with any chlorine or chloramines.

Opinion differs as to the actual need to do this; personally with my water I don't seem to notice if I forget, but I understand some people are more sensitive to the taste so I add them anyway as its so easy and cheap it seems worthwhile just in case. The amount isn't critical, but I reckon on about 1/2 crushed tablet for 20-to-25L, and they work really quickly so you don't need to leave them long - just treat all the water before you use or mix it.

They (or sodium metabisulphate which is the same stuff) can also be used in rinse water after cleaning equipment with chlorine/bleach products, again to help neutralise any residual chlorine

EDIT I realise some/all of that is mentioned in the enormo-post above but thought it may help to separate out the common/basic things people do.

Cheers
kev

[seymour]

I usually boil-off the chlorine the night before brewing. I've used Campden tablets in wine-making but never beer-making. Shhh. Don't tell Ditch.

[Kev888]

Yes that worked for basic old chlorine, though its got an energy and time cost of course, but IIRC it doesn't work with modern chloramines.

Cheers
Kev

[Spooneys regular]

EDIT I realise some/all of that is mentioned in the enormo-post above but thought it may help to separate out the common/basic things people do.

Cheers
kev

No that's a really big help thanks .

[Caddarn]

I live in near Glasgow where the water is very soft, would there be any benefit to me using these?

[crafty john]

I live in near Glasgow where the water is very soft, would there be any benefit to me using these?

If your water contains chlorine/chloromines it's definitely worth using, if your water is from the tap it will contain them.

[parkerwitton]

I usually boil-off the chlorine the night before brewing. I've used Campden tablets in wine-making but never beer-making. Shhh. Don't tell Ditch.

Am I right in thinking if you just draw off your water and stand overnight the chlorine will be omitted anyway???

[crafty john]

I usually boil-off the chlorine the night before brewing. I've used Campden tablets in wine-making but never beer-making. Shhh. Don't tell Ditch.

Am I right in thinking if you just draw off your water and stand overnight the chlorine will be omitted anyway???

The chlorine will dissipate but not the chloramines.

[Caddarn]

I've never noticed any smell/taste of chlorine in the tap water or any off taste in my brews... albeit I'm only 3 brews in!

[dedken]

Am I right in thinking if you just draw off your water and stand overnight the chlorine will be omitted anyway???

Yes, because chlorine gas is volatile. However, if you're brewing kit beers, you probably don't want to leave the water you're going to use overnight. You might lose the chlorine but you might then gain some bacteria. Doesn't matter if you're going to boil it all obvs.