Campden tabs and Whirflock

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redrocker652002

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Greetings to all, I am going to try a couple of new brews in the next week or so and I am wondering about Campden and Whirflock. I have added them when they are included in my kit, but have not used them on my brews that I have done when I have put recipes together that I found on the internet. I am in the San Francisco Bay area and I think our water is ok. I am wondering if these two ingredients are all that important? Both my next brews are going to be IPA's. One is a similar the Hazy little thing IPA by Sierra Nevada and the other is a recipe that I found on the internet that I have tweaked based on suggestions from here and AHA. So, I guess I am asking if these two adds are needed, or just nice to have?
 
Well if I am planning to brew and I see that I do not have any campden tabs I won't brew. Some days my water smells like I'm at a swimming pool, I have to use campden.
Lack of Whirflock on the other hand wouldn't stop me from brewing but it would be added to the top of my "shopping list".
YMMV.
Cheers, :mug:
Joel B.
 
Since you've done some brews without using campden and apparently like the result, you might not feel the need for it. But I found that I don't pick up on the medicinal flavor from chlorophenols - it just comes across to me as a "bite" and doesn't ruin the beer for me. Maybe like me, you just aren't sensitive to the chlorophenols. But others might still taste it. I would recommend using campden even if you can't tell the difference.
 
If you're using a municipal water supply and know that the water is treated with chlorine, you could collect the water ahead of time and let the chlorine naturally off gas. If your municipal water is treated with chloramine, then I would definitely use campden. Half a tablet for 10 gallons of water.

Whirflock is great for clearing beer, but I would skip it for a hazy IPA.
 
Thanks guys. Morebeer is on back order, but I will take a ride to the local store and see if they have it. Seems there are two listed on their website. One says Potassium Metabisulfite and the other says Sodium Metabisulfite. Which one is better? They have both so I am good to go either way. I read the description of both, it appears the Sodium one is for beer. They recommend one tablet, so I will go with that. only a couple of bucks and who knows, might make it better. RR
 
I use the potassium type. Most will say one tab is over kill for 5 gal. for our use in beer. One tab per 20gal is often the recommendation for beer to fight chlorine / chloramine. It's use in wine making is different and so is the dosing. There is a sticky note here that will tell you more about this subject than you may care to know. It is worth a read though, knowledge is always a good thing. The Link for the PDF listed in that sticky does not work for me either. :(.
Cheers, :mug:
Joel B.
 
Too much whirlfloc can be as bad as none at all. So break up the tablet and weigh out a portioned amount if you are doing 5 gallon batches or less. You need a scale that is reliable for weighing 10ths of a gram though.
 
Too much whirlfloc can be as bad as none at all. So break up the tablet and weigh out a portioned amount if you are doing 5 gallon batches or less. You need a scale that is reliable for weighing 10ths of a gram though.
Not sure of my source, but I switched from a full whirfloc table to half a tablet for 5 gallon batches. I had no perceived issues using the full tablet, but it was a money saver and now I don't run out as quickly.
 
Based on the descriptions on Morebeer I ordered the Sodium ones. It said the Potassium ones were for wine making. I will double check, but they were only about 2 dollars for 25 tablets.
 
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