Raspberry IPA - Campden Tablets Added Before Bottling

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

S-Chris

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
5
Reaction score
2
Howdie Brew Peeps!

This is only my 4th Brew. I am still brewing with Malt Extract and making 5 gallon batches.

I used the Kama Citra IPA Brew Kit from Northern Brewer in an attempt to make a "Milkshake IPA" out of the base recipe (I did not add Vanilla and apparently that is one of the key characteristics of a Milkshake brew). I added 1lb Lactose towards the end of Boil and also added a Whirfloc Tablet.

After 3 days of Primary Fermentation I added 5lbs of Frozen Raspberries and 2oz of Hops, I left them in for ONE week. I used one single fermentation vessel and bottled after 3 weeks.

I did upgrade to a bottling bucket with a spigot with time however i still fear of Oxidation covering up the Raspberry and Hop flavors.

When talking to a employee at a very large craft brewer in Michigan, he suggested adding Campden tablets before bottling.

I did some research and found lots of information with dosages for Wine but not much information for beer. So I ended up following the suggested dosage for Wine and I used 4 (2.2 Grams total) Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) in 4.5 Gallons of beer. I added the tablets to my 2 cups of Priming Solution (Corn Sugar) and boiled for 3 minutes

Since I have bottled I did find some information on someone using 1.6 grams and they were happy with the results.

I was never in Love with my previous brews because I hadn't perfected the process yet and I knew I could do better. When I sampled this beer before bottling it was liquid gold on the Tongue. I improved my setup with some basic temperature control and ignored the secondary fermenter. The raspberry was not sour, it was sweet and the hops joined the party at the end.

For the first 4 days the bottles looked different from what I have seen in my bottles before, Large Floaties and dusty like Cloudiness. After 7 days it was clear as can be and has carbed up nice.

BUT... it tastes and smells like Rotten Eggs. I am assuming I used too much Sulfur.

I know I will get my answer in a couple more weeks, but just to set my expectations.... has anyone had this type of smell fade once bottled?

I can't see how this will improve in a couple weeks since the gas is trapped in the bottle. I gave up hope but will not dump until the 3-4 week mark.

Has anyone added Campden before bottling an Ale with positive results?

Cheers!
 
I've never used it in beer . I know they use it in wine making , but to my knowledge campden tablets should drive out sulfer aromas. Wild yeast, high fermentation temps can produce sulfer smells as well.

I'm just spit balling considering I've not used it . Maybe someone here has bottled with it and had similar experiences. Don't dump , just leave em and sample every once in a while.

Welcome to HBT !
 
Thanks man! I've learned a lot from this Forum

I did have pretty good temp control so I do not think that is it. It was 64 Degrees in my basement when Fermentation started and I had the bucket on the cement floor. I did not soak or cook the Raspberries in anything, I just let them thaw in the original bag and then added them to the wort in a nylon bag. So Wild Yeast is for sure a possibility. That is one of the things the Campden tablets were suppose to fight against.

It did taste great before I bottled and then bad 4 days later so I am not sure if Wild Yeast would have shown its ugly head before I bottled or not. Week 2 had a sour taste and Week 3 had a sweet taste.

I guess I will find out in a couple weeks if it has faded. I am very impatient lol, not the best Hobby for me but I love beer so...
 
Not sure if boiling the Campden tablets in water a good idea, expect you might drive off SO2 that way. However in this case might be beneficial!
Boil the water and sugar then add the campden tablets if you are going that way.
I have been rinsing my bottles with Sodium Metabisulphite solution after sterilising ( and also tried it to sterilise ) so that a residual wet of the bottle is present to act as an antioxidant before bottling. However I'm not sure on the concentration for this, whether it's working or not, early days of this.
Certainly wine can smell a bit sulphury when first bottled using the dosing you suggest.
 
82ppm is a LOT.

If you are using campden for dissolved oxygen bonding, use campden(45%)/ascorbic acid (45%)/brewtan b(10%) to cut down on the Sulphur production while still dossing enough to bond the oxygen. Try to keep the total campden load under 30ppm. Takes 5ppm NaMeta to scavange 1ppm o2 producing a bit less than 5ppm SO4. AA binds at 2ppm to 1ppm and BrewTan B seems to blunt/slow the effects of oxidization.
 
Thank you much for the Calculations. Very helpful. I should have posed the question on here before I used it.

The rotten egg smell is definitely from the tablets. I tested 550mg of the tablet in a glass of water and after 12 hours it was producing the same smell. I covered the sample and the smell was noticeable but once the cover was removed it would quickly dissipate.

Since my beers are bottled and the gas has nowhere to go I can’t see the smell/taste being able to improve. It’s been about 12 days and there has been a very very slight improvement but that could also be the amount of Potassium isn’t that the same in every bottle.

I guess i will wait another 2 weeks in the name of science.
 
JimC what was the source for your info about Campden and AA for oxidation? I have seen people saying that AA can also be an oxidant?
I'm certainly interested to try this in the keg as well as for the bottling.
 
It’s been 14 days and it is somewhat improving. The rotten egg smell has faded but still present. It doesn’t kick your head back when you take a whiff. The other flavors are starting to come through a bit. It does have a warm alcohol bite to it which is surprising because it wasn’t too warm during the initial fermentation and it’s only 5% ABV. It may have gotten too warm after I added the raspberries.
Hopefully the sulfur tastes fades more. If it doesn’t totally go away then this might have to be a room temp only beer.

I will update at week 3
 
So just an update because I hate when threads just end. There was an inconsistency bottle to bottle. Some were sweet and some were sour. The rotten egg taste and smell went away after 4-5 weeks but the beer still has a sulfur like taste months later. It did preserve the beer very well. It’s months later and I can still taste the hops. I would probably use the tablets again in the future but a much lower dose for sure.

I don’t love the beer but a few of my friends do so in the end it was a win.
 
Back
Top