Pros and cons of removing chlorine?

[-TH-]

is there a waiting period between using a campden tablet and pitching yeast?

In Brewing Classic Styles, John Palmer says that: "One tablet will treat 20 gallons, although using 1 tablet for only 5 gallons won't hurt anything. Both chlorine and chloramine are reduced to insignificant levels of sulfate and chloride ions (<10 ppm) within a couple of minutes at room temperature."

 

[Shooter]

I don't think one campden tablet is enough to do any harm to a large pitch of yeast.

 

[buffalobrewer]

I think i'll give campden tablets a try next time as I've been getting a mediciny taste in my beer the last few batches.

 

[Wellshooter]

I think i'll give campden tablets a try next time as I've been getting a mediciny taste in my beer the last few batches.

Me too, and I 've been buying spring water, which is not supposed to have any chlorine in it. I have been wondering if perhaps my rinsing of carboys and corny kegs with a water hose has contributed to this medicine taste. I always drain them before filling with beer but they are not always completely dry. So this brings up some questions for the experts.

1) If I use camden prior to the boil will it carry through the brewing process including fermentation and bottling to neutralize any residual chlorine at the end?

2) How much chlorinated water does it take to cause the medicine taste? A teaspoon? Tablespoon? Pint? etc.

I plan to order (no such thing as a LHBS near here) some campden and some chlorine test strips soon.

Thanks in advance

 

[SugarJohnson]

I wonder if I have been hard on my brews. I just cracked an amber ale tonight that has a familar taste. It is not really medicine like but has that slight flavor. Not really band aid but slightly phenol. It was brewed on my new brutus with probably the best and most stable brew day, temps etc. I used spring water because my water is very hard. I sanitize with Starsan and used american ale yeast. Fermented at 66 solid for 4 weeks and bottled. Don't get me wrong it does taste good and very drinkable. I wonder if I am confusing hop phenols/ bitterness for off flavors. How off is your phenol type flavors when they develop. There is no chlorine anywhere in my system. Maybe I'm just NUTS? All of my beers have been drinkable except one wheat but I'm pretty sure that was because it was mashed way to hot and way to long.

 

[gxm]

jf3233, maybe you should find some local brewers to come sample your beer, or take some bottles in the LHBS.

 

[ian-atx]

Me too, and I 've been buying spring water, which is not supposed to have any chlorine in it. I have been wondering if perhaps my rinsing of carboys and corny kegs with a water hose has contributed to this medicine taste. I always drain them before filling with beer but they are not always completely dry. So this brings up some questions for the experts.

1) If I use camden prior to the boil will it carry through the brewing process including fermentation and bottling to neutralize any residual chlorine at the end?

2) How much chlorinated water does it take to cause the medicine taste? A teaspoon? Tablespoon? Pint? etc.

I plan to order (no such thing as a LHBS near here) some campden and some chlorine test strips soon.

Thanks in advance

I would be suspect of spring water purchased from the store. You really don't know what is in it, aside from that it was sourced from a 'spring'. You would be better off getting distilled water and adding salts/etc and knowing what you actually have in the water. If possible, get the info on the spring water that you are using to know what is actually in it.

Regarding residual chlorine, i can't imagine having the trace amount would do anything. I would be look more at what you clean your gear with, and also question the garden hose.

I personally get water from my kitchen tap, then treat the night before with a campden tablet and then it is ready to go on brew day. The campden tablet has helped a lot in removing off flavor from brews.

 

[carcinogen]

Both chlorine and chloramine are reduced to insignificant levels of sulfate and chloride ions (<10 ppm) within a couple of minutes at room temperature."

I just checked my local water supply report since I just moved and forgot that there's chlorine in the water. Oops! If I have:

Chloroform (ug/l) 6.50 By-product of drinking water chlorination
Bromodichloromethane (ug/l) 5.90 By-product of drinking water chlorination
Dibromochloromethane (ug/l) 3.18 By-product of drinking water chlorination
TTHMs [total trihalomethanes] (ug/l) 80 By-product of drinking water chlorination

HAA [Haloacitic Acids] (ug/l) 60 By-product of drinking water chlorination

If 1000 ug/L = 1 ppm, does this mean I can sleep easily tonight? I'm going to do something in the future to remedy the chlorine in the next batch but it really seems that this water isn't all that chlorinated. Am I missing something?

Edit: It appears that my location, Cleveland, is now treating its water using liquid bleach (sodium hypochlorite) rather than chlorine or chloramine. (http://www.ehw.org/Chemical_Accidents/CHEM_ElimChlorine.htm)

I'm sorry if I'm getting off-topic here, but will bleach-treated water react negatively with the mash sugars?

 

[ForRealBeer]

Honestly, crushing and tossing in a Campden tablet is as easy as pie, and so is adding Ascorbic acid if that's your thing. Either one works and the upside is that you'll have no chloramine or chlorine worries. The downside? You spend an extra sixty seconds on your brewday.

 

[ErinGoBuff]

Would sanitizing with hydrogen peroxide contribute to the phenol reaction? Perhaps even amplify it?

I used peroxide in a pinch to sanitize, (sterilize, really) and it just dawned on me that the peroxide, combined with chlorinated water, probably has a more profound effect on off-flavors.

 

[llama_boy]

Would sanitizing with hydrogen peroxide contribute to the phenol reaction? Perhaps even amplify it?

I used peroxide in a pinch to sanitize, (sterilize, really) and it just dawned on me that the peroxide, combined with chlorinated water, probably has a more profound effect on off-flavors.

Based on my limited knowledge and extensive research Hydrogen Peroxide is actually very effective at removing chlorine and therefore the associated phenols.

Looks like ~23ml of 3% peroxide would remove the chlorine from 10gals or water.

I've about came to the conclusion to use ascorbic acid (vitamin C). My estimates says 3.5g to treat 10gals of chlorinated/chlorimided water.

These calculations assume the water supply chlorine concentration doesn't exceed 3mg/L.

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09012000-13030039/unrestricted/etd.pdf

See page 80 for dosage amounts. There are some nice graphs showing how effective these and other options are.