Use of Potassium or Sodium metabisulfite

[2009tejasph]

Hi Guys,

I am new home brewer from India and one of the biggest issues I face here is sanitation. I don't have access to starsan but got my hands on some Iodophor and I hope that works.
I came across some guys using potassium / sodium metabisulfite during sanitation and also directly added this stuff to the wort. Can someone elaborate a little more on their uses / benefits?

Any information would be very much appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[RPh_Guy]

All brewers face sanitation issues. Wild microbes are everywhere.

I don't think there are any benefits to using sulfites compared to Iodophor for sanitizing equipment. I'd suggest you stick with the Iodophor.

The most common use of sulfites in brewing is to remove chlorine/chloramines from tap water.

Sulfites are used as part of a Low Oxygen Brewing process (on the hot side) because they scavenge oxygen radicals.

Sulfites are never used for sanitizing wort, with certain rare exceptions.