chlorophenol in beer

[anotherbeerplease]

So apparently boiling water for 15 minutes and/or adding a campden tablet gets rid of chlorine.

Well if I boil my wort for 60-90 minutes, would this not boil off any chlorine? Why am I adding a campden tablet?

 

[BrewinInPA]

The chloramines will react with the sugars in the wort creating some TRULY unpleasant flavinoids.. ( Think band-aid and cardboard flavors ). You have to get rid of the chloramines before the sugars go in. A charcoal water filter also does a great job. That's what I use. If you can taste / smell any chlorine from your water out of the tap, you need to treat it.

The Campden tablets contain either Sodium or Potassium Metabisulfite, which dissolves and disassociates in water to produce Sulfur Dioxide, which in turn reacts with all forms of free chlorine to produce small quantities of Hydrochloric and Sulfuric acids, which can actually be good for your mash since it lowers the pH of the mash water slightly. The small amount of Potassium left behind is also good for the yeast as it acts as a nutrient.

SO2 + Cl2 + H2O → 2HCl + H2SO4

One word of caution... if you are using Campden tablets make sure that nobody who drinks your beer is hypersensitive to sulfites. People with this condition probably can't drink wine either for the same reason.

 

[Barbarossa]

If you get rid of the fire after it burns down your house, your house is still burnt.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Bad juju happens when phenols in wort meets chlorine, and because wort is generated early, this starts happening in the mash. By the time you boil, you're too late.

 

[BrewinInPA]

https://beerandbrewing.com/off-flavor-phenolic/

 

[Qhrumphf]

A) most municipal water supplies use chloramine, not chlorine (apart from a brief switch once or twice a year to shock the water system). Its much harder to remove. Boiling isn't practical with chloramine. A campden tablet removes both chlorine AND chloramine quickly and easily. Carbon filtration will easily remove chlorine, but is less effective on chloramine unless you go really slowly.

B) the reactions with chlorine/chloramine that lead to chlorophenols (and other problems) happen rapidly, as soon as grain/sugars meet the water (chlorine is a strong oxidizer, ie very reactive compound). If you don't remove it from your water first by the time you start adding grain it's already too late.

 

[seatazzz]

And I will add here, that campden/k-meta is CHEAP. I use the k-meta powder, just a scant 1/8 tsp per batch, added to the strike water before heating, does the trick. A campden tablet costs maybe, what, less than $.05? A batch of beer, if all ingredients bought individually, can cost well over $25. I will take the nickel insurance every damn time.

 

[BrewinInPA]

Correct.

 

[oakbarn]

WE use this filter:

https://smile.amazon.com/New-2018-D...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[mabrungard]

Yes, its an instant reaction between the chlorine compounds and the organic compounds in wort. If you haven't neutralized or removed the chlorine compounds from the water before its combined with the grain...you'll have chlorophenols.