Campden Tablets after Fermentation?

I am fairly certain that I am dealing with chlorine in my tap water due to a strong "band-aid" aroma and taste in a few previous batches.
I have a batch of beer that is finished fermenting and I was wondering if I could add the tablets now to try to remove the off flavor?

If the bandaid phenolic is due to chlorine (can be caused by infections too) adding campden won't do much as the substances you are tasting are due to a chemical reaction resulting in chlorephenols.

You will need to treat the water before you brew. If the water is simply chlorinated then boiling will drive it off (so no need for horrible sulphites). If they use chloramine then you may need to use sulphites. If you can get a water report or contact the water company you may be able to find out how they treat it.

i just called the water authority and they do use chlorine (have not upgraded to chloramine yet) to treat the water. The amount is .46 to .78 ppm.

How long would i have to boil the water? I typically don't have much open schedule time to brew, so would adding campden tablets to the water still work?

Adding campden wont work now. A crushed tablet will treat about 20 gallons of water. I don't feel like measuring less, so I use a tablet for the entire ~8-10 gallons on my brew day. I throw it in when I'm heating the mash or sparge water (1/2 tablet in each).

brew hoperator said:

i just called the water authority and they do use chlorine (have not upgraded to chloramine yet) to treat the water. The amount is .46 to .78 ppm.

How long would i have to boil the water? I typically don't have much open schedule time to brew, so would adding campden tablets to the water still work?

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Just bringing it to the boil should be enough. Campden will also work in the right amounts.

brew hoperator said:

i just called the water authority and they do use chlorine (have not upgraded to chloramine yet) to treat the water. The amount is .46 to .78 ppm.

How long would i have to boil the water? I typically don't have much open schedule time to brew, so would adding campden tablets to the water still work?

Click to expand...

Just bringing it to the boil should be enough. As far as I'm aware the boil required to make the beer (unless you're brewing exclusively with kits) should be enough as the chorephenols form during fermentation. Campden will also work in the right amounts but make sure that's the cause. Could be wild yeast or bacterial infection too. I'm assuming you have eliminated your sanitiser (chlorine based?).

i use starsan as a sanitizer and from what I know, it does not contain chlorine.

I am fairly meticulous when it comes to sanitizing, so I don't think that is the problem. I run starsan through my pump for 10 mins before I use it to transfer to the carboy. I am using a brutus system with two pumps, one is used for transferring from the mash only and the other for the wort only. I soak the carboys and tubing for a minimum of 20 mins before use.

Certainly infections could be the problem, I did just brew using bottled water instead of my tap water to see if the same issues develop as previous batches.

Edcculus said:

Adding campden wont work now. A crushed tablet will treat about 20 gallons of water. I don't feel like measuring less, so I use a tablet for the entire ~8-10 gallons on my brew day. I throw it in when I'm heating the mash or sparge water (1/2 tablet in each).

Click to expand...

+1 I do this same thing and it works. This will also work when you water treatment plant switches to Chlorimine. I get 50 tablets for $1.65 so I just use this option and it fixes the issue.

Adding it now will not help you at all, only time I add campden tablets after fermentation is if you are going to add honey or fruit to your beer.