Do campden tablets de-chlorinate water

King of Cascade · Mar 19, 2008

I have read conflicting reports about the use of campden tablets (aka potassium metabisulfite) to de-chlorinate water. Some sites say filter your water with a charcoal filter to remove the chlorine then add Campden tablets to remove Chloramines. I have also read that campden tablets remove both chlorine and chloramines. Does anyone have any type of report on this subject or some knowledge in regards to the effectiveness of removing chlorine with campden tablets?

srm775 · Mar 19, 2008

King of Cascade said:
I have read conflicting reports about the use of campden tablets (aka potassium metabisulfite) to de-chlorinate water. Some sites say filter your water with a charcoal filter to remove the chlorine then add Campden tablets to remove Chloramines. I have also read that campden tablets remove both chlorine and chloramines. Does anyone have any type of report on this subject or some knowledge in regards to the effectiveness of removing chlorine with campden tablets?

carbon filtering removes both chlorine and chloramines. Campden tablets remove both as well. Boiling alone, will remove chlorine (since it's fairly unstable) but not chloramines.

abracadabra · Mar 19, 2008

King of Cascade said:
Some sites say filter your water with a charcoal filter to remove the chlorine then add Campden tablets to remove Chloramines. ?

Activated charcoal (aka: activated carbon) filters are not all created equally and not designed to do the same jobs. Some are whole house filters, shower filters and drinking water filters. The drinking water filters usually do a better job. The amount of both chlorine and chloramine removed or reduced varies widely. If you are considering a filter carefully read the manufactors specs to see the various levels of reduction you are getting from each filter.
Carbon filters remove chemicals such as chlorine and chloramine by absorbing them into the carbon medium. Adding another chemical such as campden tablets changes the chemical make up of chlorine and chloramine, such as changing chloramine into sulfites.

Denny claims that boiling drives the sulfites off. I don't know, he's probably correct. But I personally want to remove chemicals from my water not add more!

MikeFlynn74 · Mar 19, 2008

Does a carbon snake do well in cleaning up water?

brewhead · Mar 19, 2008

http://www.byo.com/mrwizard/1211.html

King of Cascade · Mar 19, 2008

Nice link brewhead that answers my questions. Thanks

brewhead · Mar 19, 2008

it's not how much you know - it's if you know where to find it

MikeFlynn74 · Mar 19, 2008

so if you use campden to dechorinate wouldnt that kill the yeast??

brewhead · Mar 20, 2008

MikeFlynn74 said:
so if you use campden to dechorinate wouldnt that kill the yeast??

no no no no only because my post needs 10 characters or more

instereo13 · Mar 21, 2008

is there a difference between sodium and potassium metabisulfite?

GilaMinumBeer · Mar 21, 2008

instereo13 said:
is there a difference between sodium and potassium metabisulfite?

Sure, one has Sodium. The other, Potassium.

It's the Sulfites that do the work here. The sulfites bind with the chlorine and create Sulfur which is readily released. The process also liberates a small (varied by municipality) amount of Ammonia, usually no more than 0.5ppm.

CBBaron · Mar 21, 2008

MikeFlynn74 said:
so if you use campden to dechorinate wouldnt that kill the yeast??

First you use a very low level of sulfite to dechlorinate the water. I tablet will dechlorinate all your brewing water, winemakers use 1 tablet per gallon 24 hours before pitching.
Second most brewing yeasts are somewhat sulfite tolerant
Third I believe leaving it sit open over night plus the boiling process removes most of the SO2 from the beer.

So no it will not harm your yeasts.

Craig

MikeFlynn74 · Mar 21, 2008

Thanks Barron!

TimBrewz · Mar 21, 2008

I use Campden and it works great. My water is cholorinated and boiling is slow and wastes propane.

Chriso · Mar 23, 2008

So, if I understand this right....

IF you use Campden and let it sit for a while.... then you mash.... then you brew... and you boil.... then all the sulfites (which used to be chloramines) are driven off through evaporation.

Then, if you DIDN'T boil (pretend you were doing one of the many "alternate boil" methods, no-boil, 15-minute-boil, etc etc) would you still have problems with the sulfites being present, since you did not give them the opportunity to exit the wort through boiling?

King of Cascade · Mar 25, 2008

"you still have problems with the sulfites being present"

No the sulfites are converted to sulfates which is added to brewing water in the form of (calcium sulfate)

FlyGuy · Mar 25, 2008

chriso said:
So, if I understand this right....

IF you use Campden and let it sit for a while.... then you mash.... then you brew... and you boil....

You don't even need to let it sit for a while. According to Palmer, the reaction between the campden tablet and chlorine/chloramine is nearly instantaneous. I just crush up the tablet between two spoons and dissolve it in my brew water as it is heating. Easy and works great.

Chriso · Mar 25, 2008

Cool, thanks for clarifying. I have to try this on my next batch. Our water is high in chloramines and I have not done anything to treat it yet, just used tap water as-is so far.

postman · Mar 29, 2008

Cool thread. I'm an extract brewer, so I only boil half my water. I understand that adding campden tablets to the boiling water neutralizes both chlorine and chloramine, but how about the tap water with chloramine that fills the rest of the fermenter?

flyangler18 · Nov 11, 2008

Regarding the use of Campden to knock out chloramines, are you dosing your water prior to the mash/sparge or the pre-boil wort volume?

Chriso · Nov 11, 2008

I have been using Campden to treat my strike water and, when I remember, the sparge water, while heating them to temp. I don't know if that's the right usage......

King of Cascade · Nov 11, 2008

flyangler18 said:
Regarding the use of Campden to knock out chloramines, are you dosing your water prior to the mash/sparge or the pre-boil wort volume?

Yea...use it to treat strike and sparge water. No need to treat wort if the mash water has been treated

flyangler18 · Nov 11, 2008

Cool. We just got word that the water company taking over on the local contract will be using chloramines so I'm planning ahead. Granted, it's three months down the line.

CBBaron · Nov 11, 2008

You want to treat all the water used in your brewing to remove chlorine. I fill an 8gal bucket before starting and use that water for strike and sparge. If I need top up I use RO water but that is not often.
The chlorine will react with compounds in the mash as well as the boil to create undesirable flavors. Get rid of them before using the water.

A charcoal filter is the best way to prepare water for brewing as it also removes some other flavor causing compounds from the water. However if your water tastes good but has chlorine then campden tablets are an easy solution.

Craig

King of Cascade · Nov 11, 2008

CBBaron said:
You want to treat all the water used in your brewing to remove chlorine. I fill an 8gal bucket before starting and use that water for strike and sparge. If I need top up I use RO water but that is not often.
The chlorine will react with compounds in the mash as well as the boil to create undesirable flavors. Get rid of them before using the water.

A charcoal filter is the best way to prepare water for brewing as it also removes some other flavor causing compounds from the water. However if your water tastes good but has chlorine then campden tablets are an easy solution.

Craig

I agree with using a charcole filter first to remove the chlorine then adding the campden to take care of the chloramines

billtzk · Nov 11, 2008

Mr. Wizard on the BYO article said one 1/2 ounce Campden tablet is enough to treat 20 gallons of water. Does anyone know if Campden tablets are pure sodium metabisulfite, or does it have something else in it too?

CBBaron · Nov 11, 2008

King of Cascade said:
I agree with using a charcole filter first to remove the chlorine then adding the campden to take care of the chloramines

My understanding is that charcoal filter will remove both from the water. You do have to run it slow though and not just flush the water through the filter. The charcoal actually absorbs the chemicals instead of actually filtering them so the longer the water is in contact with the charcoal the more effective it is. It is possible that chloramines take a longer contact time than chlorine.

Craig

Joe Camel · Nov 11, 2008

billtzk said:
Mr. Wizard on the BYO article said one 1/2 ounce Campden tablet is enough to treat 20 gallons of water. Does anyone know if Campden tablets are pure sodium metabisulfite, or does it have something else in it too?

They can be either pure or a combination of sodium and potassium metabisulfite. There shouldn't be any filler.

1/2 an ounce (15 grams) is more than enough, but it depends on how much chlorine your town adds. It doesn't take much to neutralize the chlorine or chloramine, I prepare about 60L of water for my 10gallon batches (60L is about 15gallons) and I add maybe .6grams of metabisulfite to neutralize 4ppm of chloramine. Haven't had an off flavour since doing this.

Joe Camel · Nov 11, 2008

On reading the article, I think Mr Wizards masses are off. He quotes 1/2 ounce per tablet, but that's 15 grams, the pill would choke a horse.

Most campden tablets I see are .5 grams, or 1/60 of an ounce. At this size, one tablet will treat 20gallons of 2ppm chlorine.

King of Cascade · Nov 11, 2008

Charcoal filters are effective in removing chlorine but less effective removing chloramines. I prefer both and if I’m making a special beer I even preboil my water the day before then let it rest 24 hours.

I use 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulfite per 15 gallons

Do campden tablets de-chlorinate water

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