Campden Tablets

[dba27]

Hi All

I am about to do a brew (Wadworths Old Father Timer) and have run out of campden tables. I use CRS plus gypsum and magnesium sulphate for my water treatment and consistently get the correct PH as per the water treatment calculator mentioned on the popular thread on this subject. Can I leave out the campden tablets? Do they contribute to the water treatment significantly? I must confess to only having used tham because I have read that alot of you have used them, but can I omit them if CRS etc is giving me good brewing water?

I look forward to your reply(s)

Regards

Darren

[Eric]

Campden tablets are used to remove chlorine from the water. The water supply here is generally suitable for brewing without using them. I read that some folk on this Forum cannot brew decent beer unless they deal with the chlorine first. I read that sodium metabisulphate will do the same.

[dean_wales]

Or you can run off the brew water the day before and let the chlorine evaporate as I do

[Jim]

Or you can run off the brew water the day before and let the chlorine evaporate as I do

That works for some water supplies, but most companies put chloramines in the water as well, and those do not evaporate off, so you need to filter or use campden tablets.

[Yeasty Rob]

. I read that sodium metabisulphate will do the same.

In another thread I asked if Campden tabs were basically the same as using sodium met, as the ingredients on the pot are generally just sodium met with a couple of other minor ingredients.

Apparently Campden tablets are effectively just a convenient way of adding sodium met which is good to know if you ever run out but have a bag of sodium met handy.

Think one tab is equivalent to around a teaspoon.

[fullclaret]

Some info on campden tablets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablets

Roughly 1 teaspoon of meta = 10 tablets, so for 5 gallons of water use quarter of a tablet, 1/40th of a teaspoon or 0.1grams

[Andy__]

Or you can run off the brew water the day before and let the chlorine evaporate as I do

That works for some water supplies, but most companies put chloramines in the water as well, and those do not evaporate off, so you need to filter or use campden tablets.

I had a look round for more info on Chloramines and found this page

http://www.picobrewery.com/askarchive/chloramine.htm

According to that we could use Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to get rid of the Chloramines. This might be a better solution to campden. Anyone tried it

I must admit to not treating my water at all, so I found this subject very interesting. Generally my beer has been fine, but two batches back I did get an off medical flavour in a couple of my bottles. So I think I will start doing one of the above as a precaution.

[dave-o]

Considering sodium meta is about £3 for 500g, campden tabs are an absolute rip-off.

[Yeasty Rob]

Considering sodium meta is about £3 for 500g, campden tabs are an absolute rip-off.

Yeah thats what I think. Although measuring out 1/10th of a teaspoon to put in a demijohn is going to be tricky

Guess thats the cost of convenience.

[dave-o]

Although measuring out 1/10th of a teaspoon to put in a demijohn is going to be tricky

It doesn't really have to be that exact. I'd say a small bump on the end of the teaspoon would be about right.

[Andy__]

I had a look round for more info on Chloramines and found this page

http://www.picobrewery.com/askarchive/chloramine.htm

According to that we could use Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to get rid of the Chloramines. This might be a better solution to campden. Anyone tried it

I must admit to not treating my water at all, so I found this subject very interesting. Generally my beer has been fine, but two batches back I did get an off medical flavour in a couple of my bottles. So I think I will start doing one of the above as a precaution.

I have had another look round and Ascorbic acid sounds better and better. This is what I have found out sofar: -

http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdf/05231301.pdf

Its not at all toxic so it wont harm the yeast.

It lowers PH, but not by more than a few tenths.

It's naturally occurs in most fruits, so is relatively cheap and easy to buy.

When added it reduces oxidation.

It works very quickly

The only draw back is that if you add too much you may give what you have added it to a citric flavour, which sounds like it will compliment a Cascade IPA very nicely.

I think Im going to add a small amount of fresh lemon juice to my mash/sparge water from now on

[beer gut]

Hi where i live the clhorine is so high that i have resorted to boiling my brewing liquor the day before and i add campden tabs to the water when it comes to the boil, then boil for 10 mins.All i would recomend is just boil the water a daybe fore brewing and boil it for 15mins, i have been told by a brewing consultant at brew labs in Sunderland that if you don't remove the clhorine from the water it can caus metallic flavous in the finished brew it can also make the ale taste a bit astrigent (dry)on the pallet.The only thing i would look out for is excessive boiling is said to make the water softer so just watch out for that . Happy brewing