water and campden tablets - safe to drink?

[ChucknBeer]

No boiling involved, just 5 minutes after throwing in half crushed tablet in 5 galons of water, can I safely take a sip to "taste" it?

Not the brightest of the questions around, but I couldn't find any info about it.

 

[flars]

Yes, it is safe to taste your brewing water. One-quarter of a tablet will treat five gallons of water to remove chloramines. You're still safe with one-half though.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yes, it is safe to taste your brewing water. One-quarter of a tablet will treat five gallons of water to remove chloramines. You're still safe with one-half though.

Both Chloramines and Chlorine that is. Crush the 1/4 tablet and add to 5 gallons of water in your bucket or kettle. You need to stir it well though. And yes it's safe, even to those sensitive to sulfites, since it's such a small amount at that dosage (2.5-4 ppm).

Much better than any charcoal filter.

 

[ChucknBeer]

Yes, it is safe to taste your brewing water. One-quarter of a tablet will treat five gallons of water to remove chloramines. You're still safe with one-half though.

Thanks for the input. Not fully understanding the toxicity of the tablet itself, I just wanted to be sure.

Cheers!

 

[RmikeVT]

Crush 1/4 tablet per 5 gallons. I think the chemical reaction is almost immediate, so no need to worry.

 

[RmikeVT]

Both Chloramines and Chlorine that is. Crush the 1/4 tablet and add to your bucket or kettle. You need to stir it well though.

Much better than any charcoal filter.

There are other advantages to using a charcoal filter aside from removing chlorine/chloramines. The quality of my beers improved noticeably when I moved from using camden tablets to charcoal filtering.

 

[IslandLizard]

There are other advantages to using a charcoal filter aside from removing chlorine/chloramines. The quality of my beers improved noticeably when I moved from using camden tablets to charcoal filtering.

How so? Charcoal doesn't filter out Chloramines at all and Chlorine only at trickle flow rates, until it's saturated with it, where it won't take up more. Now in our region Chloramines are not being used currently, but Chlorine is, you can smell and taste it.

A charcoal filter will not remove minerals either but may remove other impurities in water, but at the levels they appear in our local drinking water I don't think that's a big concern.

 

[ChucknBeer]

For me to start using campden tablets is a matter of simplification. In my past brews I have been filtering with carbon, boiling and letting the water rest the night before...way too much work.

Now I will use half volume of distilled water and add the campden tablet a few minutes before starting the brew.

 

[d3track]

I run through an RV filter then add campden - works well. This way I remove the impurities that the filter catches and campden gets the chlorine/chloramine.

 

[RmikeVT]

How so? Charcoal doesn't filter out Chloramines at all and Chlorine only at trickle flow rates, until it's saturated with it, where it won't take up more. Now in our region Chloramines are not being used currently, but Chlorine is, you can smell and taste it.

A charcoal filter will not remove minerals either but may remove other impurities in water, but at the levels they appear in our local drinking water I don't think that's a big concern.

I know its wikipedia and not an acceptable academic reference but here is the line on charcoal filters:

"Active charcoal carbon filters are most effective at removing chlorine, sediment, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), taste and odor from water. They are not effective at removing minerals, salts, and dissolved inorganic compounds."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_filtering

My neighbor brews and doesn't use a filter or camden tablets and I can taste off flavors in his beers associated with chlorine that I can not taste in mine, I use charcoal filter and no camden tablets.

I've read that the rule a thumb for replacing carbon filters is 1,000 gallons or 1 year. So that is quite a bit of brew water before the active carbon becomes saturated. If I remember correctly I think the flow rate to remove chlorine is also about 1 gallon/minute which is a bit more than a trickle.

 

[IslandLizard]

For me to start using campden tablets is a matter of simplification. In my past brews I have been filtering with carbon, boiling and letting the water rest the night before...way too much work.

Now I will use half volume of distilled water and add the campden tablet a few minutes before starting the brew.

Yes, much simpler with Campden. I actually use the potassium meta (Kmeta) in crystal (powder) form, not the tablets. It dissolves faster and is "pre-crushed."
I measure with a tiny measuring spoon (1/32 tsp). 1/40 of a teaspoon is about the same amount as 1/4 tablet. There are about 10 tablets in 1 tsp (11 actually).

You could tap your water, treat it, and let sit until the next day. Most of the sulfur dioxide will gas out, and the rest goes out with the steam during the boil.

What exactly do you mean by "half volume of distilled water"?

 

[Jim311]

How so? Charcoal doesn't filter out Chloramines at all

I used my Googling skills and found lots of information that said this statement is false.

 

[IslandLizard]

I used my Googling skills and found lots of information that said this statement is false.

You're right! I overstated by saying "all."

Let me rephrase:
Charcoal is not very effective in removing Chloramines and Chlorine from water. "Meta" however is 100% effective in removing all Chloramines and Chlorine from water, at very low dosages (i.e., 2.5-4 ppm) and does so in very short time, within minutes after a good stirring to dissolve the powder and disperse the SO2 gas that's being formed.

 

[ChucknBeer]

Yes, much simpler with Campden. I actually use the potassium meta (Kmeta) in crystal (powder) form, not the tablets. It dissolves faster and is "pre-crushed."
I measure with a tiny measuring spoon (1/32 tsp). 1/40 of a teaspoon is about the same amount as 1/4 tablet. There are about 10 tablets in 1 tsp (11 actually).

You could tap your water, treat it, and let sit until the next day. Most of the sulfur dioxide will gas out, and the rest goes out with the steam during the boil.

What exactly do you mean by "half volume of distilled water"?

My water is too hard in my area. I did a lab test and EZ water shows that almost half of my brew water volume must be distilled in order to keep PH at an acceptable level for most light color beers... :/

 

[IslandLizard]

My water is too hard in my area. I did a lab test and EZ water shows that almost half of my brew water volume must be distilled in order to keep PH at an acceptable level for most light color beers... :/

Sorry about your domestic water

Yes, diluting it with RO or "distilled water" is a good way to cut those minerals down. Please, also treat your "distilled water" with Campden, as one source here on HBT noticed his was chlorinated to the max (to keep fresh on the shelf, supposedly), but ruined many of his batches until he actually tasted his "distilled water."

I was impressed by the water I got from the Walmart's RO booth while on vacation on our Eastern Shore, where the well water was totally undrinkable (extremely high iron content).

The actual "booth" was hard to find, not where you would expect to find such a thing, and needed a willing employee to point us to it. They also UV sterilize it while it pours into the jugs. At 32 cents a gallon (own jugs), a real deal.

 

[ChucknBeer]

RO and distilled is not the same.

I got distilled water from a health facility... they RO first, then boil and evaporate. The final conductivity is like 0,5 (I don't remember the exact number), but it is the purest water ever

Purified water commercially sold is RO and you can never know what minerals are still present on it, that's why I chose distilled, even thought it is much harder to obtain.

edit: conductivity is less than 1 us/cm

 

[Jim311]

You're right! I overstated by saying "all."

Let me rephrase:
Charcoal is not very effective in removing Chloramines and Chlorine from water. "Meta" however is 100% effective in removing all Chloramines and Chlorine from water, at very low dosages (i.e., 2.5-4 ppm) and does so in very short time, within minutes after a good stirring to dissolve the powder and disperse the SO2 gas that's being formed.

The information I read was that it depended on what kind of charcoal filter, not all are equal. Sez here commercial breweries use charcoal filters to remove them:

http://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water