De chlorinating water with vitamin C.

Budgie · Jul 28, 2016

Morning all,

I'm looking into possible ways of dechlorinating my brewing water. I don't "think" it's actually too much of a problem in my water but I'd like to do an A B comparison to see if there's any discernible difference.

I know that to go to for most is campden tablets, but I can't use them unless I fancy a bout of anaphylaxis. I've been reading up on using vitamin C, both as ascorbic acid and sodium ascorbate. For the quantities were talking about I reckon either should work as well, as sodium ascorbate is pH neutral and it would be used in such small amounts for the ascorbic acid to make no real difference.

Has anyone ever used either? I'd assume I would add the appropriate amount to the water in advance, and as the reaction doesn't take long then just crack on.

Any thoughts, experience, wisdom greatfuly received.

strange-steve · Jul 28, 2016

That is definitely a viable option. According to Bru'n Water an addition of 1.7 mg/l will remove 3 ppm of chloramine. However any unreacted ascorbic acid will lower the water ph so the idea is to use only as much as you need.

aamcle · Jul 28, 2016

a quick boil and leave it overnight should do the job and doesn't involve any chemicals.

aamcle

strange-steve · Jul 28, 2016

aamcle said:
a quick boil and leave it overnight should do the job and doesn't involve any chemicals.

aamcle

For chlorine yes, but not for chloramine. It can take hours of boiling or days of aeration to remove chloramine. Campden or ascorbic acid removes both very quickly.

GermLish · Jul 28, 2016

I'm using 3 fridge water filter in line to filtrate the water.

Fil · Jul 28, 2016

check out your local aquarium and tropical fish shops, they supply RO water to fishkeepers our local will give 50l away gratis (tho the wait at the shop counter is a test of your will and manners, i relented and bought a ph test kit last visit..)

cheshirehomebrew · Jul 28, 2016

I think if you use acid malt in your brew that further helps too

Personal91 · Jul 28, 2016

how many campden tables would you use in a 23-25 litre batch and how long till you could use the water to brew with ?

strange-steve · Jul 28, 2016

Personal91 said:
how many campden tables would you use in a 23-25 litre batch and how long till you could use the water to brew with ?

1 tablet will dechlorinate about 75 litres and you can use the water straight away. The reaction takes only a few minutes.

strange-steve · Jul 28, 2016

cheshirehomebrew said:
I think if you use acid malt in your brew that further helps too

I can't see how. It will lower mash pH but won't dechlorinate.

Personal91 · Jul 28, 2016

strange-steve said:
1 tablet will dechlorinate about 75 litres and you can use the water straight away. The reaction takes only a few minutes.

thank you for the info - just wanted to ask as i have read about people using 2 etc

ps should i use it with fruit juices ?

Budgie · Jul 31, 2016

Thanks for the input, and apologies for the late reply. I'll double check my water report and figure out exactly how much I'd need. I'll look into RO water too. It's not something that had crossed my mind so cheers for that :thumb:

mabrungard · Aug 3, 2016

The sulfite added to water and wort from Campden tablet addition will not make it through the boil. Heat degrades the sulfite into sulfur dioxide and it volatilizes into the atmosphere during the boil. This is in stark contrast to wine production since the high sulfite content added to the grape juice is never boiled and they persist into the finished wine product.

Ascorbic acid is fine for dechlorinating, just don't add too much. The main reason that compounds such as Campden are used is that they are significantly less expensive than ascorbic.

Budgie · Aug 3, 2016

mabrungard said:
The sulfite added to water and wort from Campden tablet addition will not make it through the boil. Heat degrades the sulfite into sulfur dioxide and it volatilizes into the atmosphere during the boil. This is in stark contrast to wine production since the high sulfite content added to the grape juice is never boiled and they persist into the finished wine product.

Ascorbic acid is fine for dechlorinating, just don't add too much. The main reason that compounds such as Campden are used is that they are significantly less expensive than ascorbic.

Thanks for that. I had no idea that the boil would get rid of the sulphite. The only problem there is actually adding it to the water in the first place. Even taking the lid off the container is enough to set me off. For that reason I won't even have the stuff in the house!

From my (so far limited) research maybe sodium ascorbate might be the best bet as it doesn't alter the pH. Unless I'm missing something, which is highly possible.

Personal91 · Aug 7, 2016

this is getting complex, I like it.....

GermLish · Aug 10, 2016

Just poured 20l Coopers Australian Ale. Smelled worse than the A&E. Tried it and thanks no thanks.

Was too busy to do an AG, so filtered it through my fridge carbon filter and cooked it 15mins. Chilled it with my copper coil and the stirred in the kit.

Think I should have left the water sitting over night... However, ordered Camden tablets for my next AG brew.

strange-steve · Aug 10, 2016

GermLish said:
Just poured 20l Coopers Australian Ale. Smelled worse than the A&E. Tried it and thanks no thanks.

Was too busy to do an AG, so filtered it through my fridge carbon filter and cooked it 15mins. Chilled it with my copper coil and the stirred in the kit.

Think I should have left the water sitting over night... However, ordered Camden tablets for my next AG brew.

The problem is that while a carbon filter, boiling and aeration are good for removing chlorine they are not very effective at removing chloramine which is what causes the TCP flavour when it reacts with phenols from the hops/wort. Campden tabs are cheap and easy to use and they are very effective.

GermLish · Aug 10, 2016

Had no issues with AG though after 90mins boiling time.

Will collect the Campden tabs tomorrow from Wilko. It's on my way to work anyway.

BeerCat · Aug 10, 2016

Budgie said:
Thanks for the input, and apologies for the late reply. I'll double check my water report and figure out exactly how much I'd need. I'll look into RO water too. It's not something that had crossed my mind so cheers for that :thumb:

I bought an RO filter 18months ago and thats all we drink now. I can honestly say the difference between my tap water and RO is massive. I didn't think my tap water tasted too bad until then. Best of luck.

dad_of_jon · Aug 10, 2016

or buy bottled water I see lidl sell chase spring now not just tesco and it's 17p for 2 litres and they give the bicarbonate figure at 135 whereas on the tesco bottle they didn't have the bicarb figure!

De chlorinating water with vitamin C.

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