Campden Tablets, A dynamic Test Options

[zymot]

My tap water is sanitized with chloramine. I wanted to experiment and see how I could eliminate chlorine/chloramine from my municipal tap water.

I purchased a bottle of 25 test strips intended for home aquarium use. The product used was Lifegard brand Chlorine/Chloramine Test Strips from Pentair Aquatics. $17.99 retail, Part Number R440006

Chlorine/Chloramine Test Strips

Simple to use. Dip a strip in you water sample for 2 seconds, remove and wait ten seconds. Presence of chlorine/chloramine (test does not make a distinction) turns the test strip a progressively darker purple color. Compare test strip to color chart on bottle to determine chlorine or chloramine concentration. The scale on the bottle reads from .1 PPM to 10 PPM with 6 steps between. A zero PPM chlorine/chloramine reading is white or no change of color.

Here are the results of my test results:

1- Tap water, unfiltered: 3 PPM (I understand this is a typical concentration level)
2- Tap water, filtered with PUR faucet mounted carbon filter: ~.5 PPM
3- Tap water, filtered with 5 micron carbon water filter: ~.75 PPM
4- Tap Water, filtered with 5 micron carbon water filter & 1 campden tablet per 5 gallons: no reading
5- Tap water, unfiltered with 1/2 campden tablet per 5 gallons: no reading
6- Tap water, unfiltered with 1 campden tablet per 5 gallons: no reading
Note: I took readings 5 & 6 very quickly after adding the campden tablets.


Conclusion: Campden tablets are very effective at removing chloramine. You will probably use 1/2 a tablet per 5 gallons. Check with the supplier of water and ask about concentration levels of your water. I do not know of any side effect of over using campden tablets some, say 1 tablet per 5 gallons. Use your best judgment.

zymot

[jayflap]

Wow, excellent information Zymot. Thank you for that. I have been using Campden Tablets for about a year now to remove chloramines, and I can say I have noticed a difference but I always questioned if it was just psychological.

Thanks again,
Jason

[just-cj]

I don't use Campden tablets since I filter my water. Maybe I'll have to give it a whirl.

[PineyWoodsBrewer]

I heard a podcast recently that talked about always adding a couple of dissolved campden tablets to the strike water to prevent hot side aeration in the mash. Anyone doing this???

[BrewRunner]

I've been looking to try these, so I guess this is what I want?

http://morewinemaking.com/product.html?product_id=15535

It took me forever to find them since I didn't know they are used for winemaking. It looks like its technical name is 'Sodium Metabisulphite'. I guess this still does nothing to your water other than remove the chorine?

Sounds like 1/2 tablet per 5 gallons water is good. I assume you're supposed to treat both your strike water and sparge water?

[PCaravan]

I started doing this about 2 batches ago due to an article I had read. You can also use the powdered form of sodium metabisulphite or potasium metabisulphite. I believe that 1/4 teaspoon of either equals one tablet and, according the article I read, 1/4 teaspoon was all that was needed to quickly treat 20 gallons. I find the powdered versions to be easier to dissolve into water.

[dagomike]

Nice data. I filter and treat my water w/ Campden and find it worthwhile.

Just a note that the slower your run the filter, the better job it will do. Also, filters usually don't take out all the chloramine, so if you've got chloramine in your water, you're probably best off still using Campden. Even if you do plan to use Campden, filtering your water can benefit your beer.

[BrewRunner]

I found a little bit more on the subject for those interested:

http://byo.com/mrwizard/1260.html

[SWL]

Good experiment. Try the same thing with a vitamin C tablet. I had a tech at the local water department tell me that would work also. I did a similar experiment with chlorine indicator drops and it seemed to work, although I don't know if the drops were OK for chloramine.

[slothrob]

Great experiment, thanks. I've seen similar evidence that Campden Tablets were more effective than filters from other experiments, but this is a good solid test. Technically, the white test strip reading is not "zero", but "less than detectable", which, in this case is probably "less than 0.1 ppm".

Also, 1/4 tablet per 5 gallons should be all that is required, and that works out to something like 1/16th of a teaspoon of the powder per 5 gallons, as PCaravan said, since the tablets have a lot of binder material.

Yes, you want to treat both the strike and sparge water.

I'm curious, though, if the filters don't effectively remove chlorine, what good do they do?

This post has been edited by slothrob: Feb 27 2007, 10:34 AM

[TProfera]

I've heard that you want to crush the tablets prior to use. Any word on that? Do the tablets dissolve quickly on their own? Are we talking about an overnight soak?

Thanks for the good info here.

[dagomike]

In hot/warm water they seem to dissolve within minutes. When cold, I think you need to crush them up for best results. I just toss mine in the HLT and MLT when I start heating.

[PCaravan]

If you haven't already bought the Camden tablets, get the sodium metabisulphite or potasium metabisuphite. It's easy to dissovle wether hot or cold, you don't have to crush it, you don't have to cut into halves or quarters or whatever, and it's easy to measure.

When I first started messing around with making wine I got the Camden tablets and thought they were a PITA so I got some potasium metabisulfite and it's much easier to work with. I still have the half a packet of Camden tablets that I gave up on.

[grovelj]

I'm curious, though, if the filters don't effectively remove chlorine, what good do they do?

They reduce other things like microorganisms and particulate matter in addition to chemicals like chlorine, lead, mercury and others.

Levi

[Oldfart]

I got some powdered potassium metabisulphate and put it in one of those picnic salt shakers -- the kind with a snap-on plastic lid. Now I just add a dash to my partial mash and sparge water. Nothing fancy, but easy. OF