Any over/under Campden issues?

[JONNYROTTEN]

I just realized I always use one tablet for my 10 gallon brews but my strike water is 15 gallons so I should be at 1 1/2 tablets...

Any issues with going with two tablets for simplicity?

Is it possible I haven't been getting "all" the chlorine out leaving "some" off flavors or is it sort of vague as to EXACTLY whats happening and one tablet will "most likely do the trick"

 

[ncbrewer]

One tablet treats 20 gallons - you should be fine. (There could be exceptions if the water has super high levels of chlorine, but I've read that this is rare.)

 

[seatazzz]

I tend to err on the side of caution and use 2 tablets for my 5 gallon batches. I heat my strike & sparge water in the same kettle at the same time so they both go in to 11-12 gallons of water. Back in the day when I was trying to fix my off flavor issue (have since learned it was from pitching yeast too hot) I would use up to 4 in a 5 gallon batch. I have the water report from our local supplier and the chlorine/chloramine isn't very high, but it's one of those things I just do as a matter of course. Campden is super cheap and shouldn't affect your finished product if you use more than the recommended dose. If you're super picky about your water quality it will up the sulfate ratio a tad (I think, may be talking out my a** here) but shouldn't be an issue.

 

[dmtaylor]

I've heard it said one tablet treats 20 gallons, and I've heard others say we should be using a little more than that, so I think one for 15 gallons is probably just about perfect.

 

[njohnsoncs]

2 tablets for 5 gallons seems like a waste but the question that arises from this is what does it mean to "treat" the water? If the necessary treatment of the water we use in brewing is different than their definition of treatment then the amount of campden / water may need to be adjusted. Until this is determined, it's an exercise in conjecture and variable for each brew.

 

[seatazzz]

2 tablets for 5 gallons seems like a waste but the question that arises from this is what does it mean to "treat" the water? If the necessary treatment of the water we use in brewing is different than their definition of treatment then the amount of campden / water may need to be adjusted. Until this is determined, it's an exercise in conjecture and variable for each brew.

I've actually seen a few different opinions on how much Campden to use. I've heard the 1 tab/20 gallon, also 1 tab/GALLON, 1 tab/5 gallon, 1/2 tab per 20 gallons, etc. All I know is that my beer isn't negatively affected by it, so I'm going to keep on keeping on with my 2 tabs per 5 gallon batch.

 

[dyqik]

1 tab/gallon is for sanitizing wine must. 1 tab per 20 gallons will treat 2ppm free chlorine, but municipal supplies can sometimes (rarely) go as high as 4ppm.

The LoDO people recommend dosing up to around ~30ppm Na/KMeta, which is about 1 tab/2.5 gallons, as an oxygen scavenger, on top of their DO removal and reduction methods.

Personally, I use half a tab in 5 gallons of strike water and half a tab in 5 gallons of sparge water, for chloramine removal. I've had a bad batch at quarter tab/5 gallons, and I don't want a repeat.