Campden Tablet BASICS

[dan_olo]

Complete newbie here... have had a look round this forum and my GCSE chemistry doesn't quite keep up with some of the things I read. So as a new homebrewer about to embark on my first homebrew (with it kit), could anyone help me with these few questions?

1) Do I need to use Campden tablets?

2) What do they actually do? (Purify the water, make the beer taste better... I've picked up that much but any other hints would be appreciated)

3) What 'dosage' do I need to use for a standard 40 pint brew?

4) At what stage during brewing do they need to be added?


Thanks for your help!

[Aleman]

Metabisulphite, splits the bond between Chlorine and ammonia in chloramine and neutralises the product to Sulphate and Chloride (both beneficial in beer)

Chlorine (and chloramine) are bad in beer as they react with hop compounds to form TriChloroPhenols (TCP) which you don't want in your beer.

You use campden tablets at the rate of 1 Tablet in 10 gallons of brewing water (1 in 5 is fine, its difficult to OD the beer ) and add it to the water as you draw it from the tap

Now forget the chemistry, and add 1 tablet to 5 gallons of water, then take some of that and heat it to dissolve the extract, then add it back to the rest of the cold water . . . . .

[dan_olo]

Thanks for that!

It really is necessary to use one though?

(I'm sure you experienced brewers must get fed up of all the 'novice' questions on here... I do apologise!)

[anomalous_result]

My dad was feeding me horror stories of it prodicing something else, the sulphate thing rings a bell, that would kill the yeast, and I have read that adding a load of the things is enough to stop fermentation... any truth there?

Also a tip from me, don't be too eager to find out what they smell like, the fumes are really noxious (for me at least, a non-smoker non asthmatic) when there's a hundred in a little pot.

I used one for the first time in my latest kit and it really seems to have improved the aroma of the fermentation. I put tap water into the vessel with some boiling water and made it up to a bit less than 40 pints (the amount less was worked out by measuring the cans I was going to add to the liquor with a measuring tape and good old pi*r^2*h) and added a crushed campden tablet. After waiting a bit (looking at some white dust in 5gallons of water still seems like homeopathy) I then heated up the cans until they needed an oven glove and lobbed the contents in, they'd been sterilised so picked up some of the liquor to swill round in the can to help get it all out.

Obviously most of the extract sank but stirring it in helped to ease my mind in terms of aeration (oxygen to help the yeast which I hadn't rehydrated =)).

EDIT: I wouldn't say it's necessary, just that it's much more likely you'll end up with a better tasting pint. A beer is 95% water after all!

[anomalous_result]

One tablet in 25L/5Gallons is no where near enough to adversely effect the yeast. A lot of the sulphite is neutralised in the reaction with the chlorine, the remainder is harmless.

phew!

[steve_flack]

My dad was feeding me horror stories of it prodicing something else, the sulphate thing rings a bell, that would kill the yeast, and I have read that adding a load of the things is enough to stop fermentation... any truth there?

Sulfites are used to kill wild yeasts and to stop fermentations in wine making but you need to use a lot more than we're talking about using here. I know some commercial breweries add metabisulfite to their racked cask beer as a preservative (Metabs I think they're called) without killing the yeast.

BTW Sulfite and Sulfates are not the same - different oxidation state. Gypsum is a sulfate.

[mr.c]

do you treat your mash water and sparging water with half a tablet?

[mr.c]

Thankyou DaaB

[Maltloaf]

It really is necessary to use one though?

(I'm sure you experienced brewers must get fed up of all the 'novice' questions on here... I do apologise!)

Absolutely! The pain of pouring away 40 pints of antiseptic is terrible.

And no need to apologise, it's much better to learn from someone else's mistakes! i.e. one that many of us have already made...

Cheers,
ML.

[mr.c]

Would using a water filter do the same as using a Campden Tablet?

[mr.c]

I’m using a filter for my beers but the water flow from it takes an age to fill up the mash tun,if a CT will do the same job as filtering I will just do that.

would using a filter and CT be over kill or beneficial

[mr.c]

Ok so how long would you give a CT to work its magic before using the water?

Is this the process of use?

Fill your bin with 5 gallons of water, add half a crushed CT mix well and give it 30 mins before using?

[drsmurto]

Overkill, yes.

Depending on the spec of you filter, as well as debris, scale and most of the chlorine and chloramine it may filter out pesticides, heavy metals and i'm sure a few other bits and bobs. The only thing you are really worried about there though is the chlorine and chloramines unless you are really anal about contaminated water supplies.

Actually, the Brita filters i have tested dont filter out trace metals (Ca, Mg, Na etc beneficial for brewing). They will remove flavour and aroma compounds which includes the chloramines. My last test showed that trace metal, sulphate and Cl concs were reduced by no more than 5%.

[bandit]

Aren't Brita filters etc only filled with activated carbon and a thin mesh. They wont take out any heavy metals just colour and flavour. You need RO membranes for heavy metal removal. Problem is you also remove all the calcium etc with RO

[Aleman]

Actually the Carbon and resin filter I use removes both Heavy metals and the usual bad stuff. so Heavy metal can be removed without resorting to RO, you just need the right filters