Campden vs Chloramines

Hey everybody,

I have been struggling with a "plasticy" taste in my beers lately. Its most noticeable in lagers. I have been researching chloramines and found out that the city of Raleigh loves to use chloramines in the water.

Test: Tomorrow I will be brewing 10gal of blonde ale with Nottingham yeast; very light grain bill with nowhere to hide! I put 1 campden tablet into my water and let it sit in my rig overnight. I have found that drawing the water the night before and letting it sit helps to remove the chlorine taste. I will let you guys know how this turns out. I REALLY want this taste gone!

Have you guys every used campden tablets?, does my dosage seem correct?

Thanks,

McC

You need to powder the tablet by crushing it. Also, 1 tab is good for 20 gallons I think. I use a whole tab in roughly 10 gallons I use to make a 5.5 gal AG batch. the tabs work great.

^^^ Yep. No need to sit overnight, as the reaction is nearly instantaneous. I use Cape Fear water and the municipal water supplier uses Chloramines as well. I use 1/2 tablet per 5 gallons.

i never even checked the water report for the town of Cary until just now. There's chloramine in it, but I have no way to gauge whether it's a lot or a little or even the ppm number where it starts to actually give the potential for issues.

Does anyone know the ppm level where you need to start being concerned?

Walker said:

Does anyone know the ppm level where you need to start being concerned?

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I don't know the ppm, but man I can taste it and I was PISSED! The funny thing is SWMBO cannot taste it at all. It seems like when the weather is warmer its worse; maybe they are adding more for the warmer ground water conditions. Lately it hasn't been too bad. If this works I will be stoked as I really hate that taste. At 3.5 cents a tablet this will be well worth it.

Best of luck. In what little reading I have done about chloramine, one thing I do remember is that even though you can't really boil it off like chlorine, the risk of getting off flavors from chloramine is 98% less than from chlorine.

So, even though I have some in my water, it probably isn't a big deal.

You mention that it's worse in warmer weather. Are you sure it's the water and not a fermentation temp issue? Do you use any kind of temp control or just let the fermenters do what they do?

Walker said:

Best of luck. In what little reading I have done about chloramine, one thing I do remember is that even though you can't really boil it off like chlorine, the risk of getting off flavors from chloramine is 98% less than from chlorine.

So, even though I have some in my water, it probably isn't a big deal.

You mention that it's worse in warmer weather. Are you sure it's the water and not a fermentation temp issue? Do you use any kind of temp control or just let the fermenters do what they do?

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I use a large cooler to control temps, could be though. I am also investigating a yeast health issue. I think you are right about chlorine though. As I have read, the campden tabs treat both, so it may be a win-win. Apparently, chlorine in contact with grain husks is bad! (thanks Rocketman)