chlorine and chloramine.

[the new brew]

So i've only just keg my first homebrew, and i don't know how bad i've messed up i've just found something out that you should remove chlorine and chloramine so how much is this going to wreck my homebrew SOB SOB now i'm worried, i think i know some ways of removing the chlorine just letting it stand for 24 hr not sure on the chloramine, i do dechlorinate water for my fish tank but don't think aquasafe is the way to go lol so any advice would be great thanks i have tested levels of chlorine in the tap water and its 0.5pmm but not sure on chloramine levels thanks everyone

[Belter]

I've never dechlorinated my water but its something I'm looking into now. I doubt you'll have ruined your beer at all.

Graham Wheeler says that the levels of chlorine present in our water supply won't impart enough flavour to be above the taste freshold and the use of the 'magical' campden tablet is pointless. He says that any flavours that could be contributed to chlorine are more likely infection.

[chastuck]

I've never dechlorinated my water but its something I'm looking into now. I doubt you'll have ruined your beer at all.

Graham Wheeler says that the levels of chlorine present in our water supply won't impart enough flavour to be above the taste freshold and the use of the 'magical' campden tablet is pointless. He says that any flavours that could be contributed to chlorine are more likely infection.

I'm not sure I would agree with Mr Wheeler on this issue. Taste can be very subjective and some people have more sensitive taste buds than others. The worst possible case of residual disinfectant in my SE London tap water has been over 1.0mg/L and I could certainly taste the effect. If you live in the Thames Water area you most certainly have chloramines in your water as well as, or instead of, chlorine. These chemicals are toxic to yeast and lead to the formation of chlorophenols. The only effective way of removing chloramines is by using sodium/potassium metabisulphite. A slow running carbon filter might remove the chlorine, but to be effective for chloramines the size of a carbon filter required at a rate of 1 gallon per minute is 110 lbs.

[Belter]

The water in my house tastes of Chlorine. I've never noticed it in my beer but I think I'll do two batches, one with Campden one without and see if I can tell the difference/

[Fil]

try drawing off the brew water a day or 2 early and let it stand in the hlt, it also commits you to a brewday afaik most of not all chlorine will dissipate from water left to stand??

[AnthonyUK]

It is so much easier to add half a campden tablet with virtually no downsides. It will also eliminate any chlorine taint if your sanitiser contained it.

[chastuck]

try drawing off the brew water a day or 2 early and let it stand in the hlt, it also commits you to a brewday afaik most of not all chlorine will dissipate from water left to stand??

This could happen, but probably two days is not long enough. Agitation of the standing water will help. But I'm afraid this will not remove the chloramines.

[chastuck]

It is so much easier to add half a campden tablet with virtually no downsides. It will also eliminate any chlorine taint if your sanitiser contained it.

This is true, but you may want to use potassium metabisulphite if your sodium levels are already high. As an aside, it's one of those strange things that a common language with USA doesn't prevent different meanings - a campden tablet in the USA contains potassium while a campden tablet here means sodium.

[mozza]

Does boiling not remove most of the chlorine?

[keith1664]

I believe boiling removes chlorine, as does leaving the water to stand for however long. Neither method however removes chloramine and both involve preparation and/or effort. Crushing a campden tablet into your water isn't difficult and given the potential gain is a bit of a no brainer.

Personally I ran out of campden tablets but had a big tub of sodium metabisulphite, I made up a 10% solution so just chuck a capfull in everytime I brew (1 cap is pretty much 5ml = 1 campden tablet)... even less effort.

[AnthonyUK]

This is true, but you may want to use potassium metabisulphite if your sodium levels are already high. As an aside, it's one of those strange things that a common language with USA doesn't prevent different meanings - a campden tablet in the USA contains potassium while a campden tablet here means sodium.

Well the saying about us and USA is 'two countries divided by a common language' - George Bernard Shaw

[Martin G]

The chlorine will get driven off by the hot stages in all grain brewing, are chloramines really an issue?

[chastuck]

The chlorine will get driven off by the hot stages in all grain brewing, are chloramines really an issue?

They are becoming more of an issue as water authorities are leading towards using chloramines instead of chlorine. Thames Water uses chloramines in all its water.

[Martin G]

Yep, understand that they are used in the supply, but do we know how or how significant their effect on the beer will be or what level is acceptable? Where in the process is the conversion to chlorophenol, is it the mash or during fermentation?

I found this write up of some experiments someone did, seems to suggest that boiling will remove chloramine.

http://hbd.org/ajdelange/Brewing_articl ... lorine.pdf

[chastuck]

Yep, understand that they are used in the supply, but do we know how or how significant their effect on the beer will be or what level is acceptable? Where in the process is the conversion to chlorophenol, is it the mash or during fermentation?

I found this write up of some experiments someone did, seems to suggest that boiling will remove chloramine.

http://hbd.org/ajdelange/Brewing_articl ... lorine.pdf

I have this article and other authors have similarly confirmed that boiling to remove chloramines does work. However, it seems that some 'experts' do not think this is the best course of action. Boiling times have to be quite long (I think Delange says over an hour somewhere) and this is a high energy cost. Additionally, temporary hardness is removed - which should be a good thing, but the problem is that boiling is not an efficient way of doing it. The level at which temporary hardness is removed by boiling is not very controlled and leads to variable results. Whereas removal of temporary hardness by acid can be done in a much more accurate way. Deposits from boiling can also be more troublesome when it comes to cleaning/descaling equipment. I guess it 'boils' down to a matter of personal choice. I used to boil my brewing water, but got fed up at the extra time it took for this process to complete - not only the boil itself but the precipitation wait afterwards. I now add pot. met. and use CRS/AMS or H2SO4 to adjust the alkalinity. Much quicker and much more sure of the results.