Hi, I forgot to add a campden tablet to my wort on the actual brew day, and I used tap water. I added the appropriate amount 12 hours after yeast pitch. The beer is a chzech style lager. How much will the taste be affected you think?
Forgot to add campden tablet when using tap water.
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It depends on a few different things. Foremost, how much chloramine is in the tap water. Regardless, adding the campden tab that late in the process likely won't help. Chloramine combines with wort to create chlorophenols which are the source of the off flavors. Once those are formed I don't believe the campden tablet will do anything. However, I will note that I use tap water to brew and haven't used campden tablets for well over 15 years. Czech Lager are one of my regular brews and it's never caused me any issues.
Remember, you add the campden tablet to water (not wort) if your goal is to remove chlorine/chloramine. If you add it to wort to deoxygenate, that's a different use of course.
So, it would depend on the chlorine/chloramine level in your water if you forgot to add it to the water. In my case, it doesn't matter much as there isn't chloramines in our water so there isn't a flavor impact from that.
kev211
Well-Known Member
One thing to note (and correct me rest of HBT if Im wrong), but the point of adding Campden tablets (k-meta) to beers, wines, meads, etc after wort/must formation is to act as an antioxidant. Based on when you added the campden, my thoughts would suggest that you're removing oxygen, which could be detrimental to fermentation. If it were me, I'd toss my oxygen wand in there and give it a 30-60 second burst. @Yooper what are your thoughts on that?
Sorry I should have been more clear. The intention of adding sulphite was only to remove chlorine/chloramine. I see now that my late addition probably did nothing for that cause, and probably introduced some oxygen issues at this stage. The airlock has begun bubbling and I am doubtful there is anything I could do at this stage to ameliorate the situation. I'm considering tossing the beer and rebrewing it.
kev211
Well-Known Member
I wouldnt toss it. You made the beer, might as well ride it out and see what happens. I doubt you will have any issues, so I would file this one under the RDWAHAHB category and see what happens. If the airlock is bubbling thats a good sign, means fermentation is happening so just let er ride!
Campden has many uses- in water it instantly (via a chemical reaction) rids the water of chlorine/chloramine. It can be used in larger amounts as a sanitation agent. But when it's added to wort or beer at packaging, it's an oxygen scavenger. So it depends on dose and the stage of brewing.
Winemakers will use it a large dose for sanitation. In a moderate dose, it kills wild yeast and bacteria in the must. In smaller doses, it is an antioxidant and hence helps as a preservative when bottling. I use campden in winemaking at every other racking and at bottling, in addition to when I make up the must.
kev211
Well-Known Member
Exactly. I use it in my meads prior to packaging so I wasn’t sure what effects, if any if would have on de-oxygenating wort if the yeast lag stage
If you have chloramine in your water, it can impart a phenolic character to the beer. I ended up using bottled water, things improved radically after I quit using the terrible water in my area.
Of course I was in my brewing infancy when I was working through these issues - I suffered through 5 gallons and drank it anyway!
Call it a Belgian!
Of course I was in my brewing infancy when I was working through these issues - I suffered through 5 gallons and drank it anyway!
Call it a Belgian!
There is no need to toss it before tasting the beer. If the beer has a plastic/band-aid character, then the chlorine/chloramine was a likely cause. If the beer tastes fine then it is fine to drink.
