metabisulphite... worth keeping

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Hi guys,

So I got a job lot of brewing stuff off ebay recently including 24 demijohns (the main reason I bid).

Came with a box of odds and sods and looking through this morning this included some various brewing chemicals (pectilase, yeast nutrient etc).

There was also a large bag of metabisuphite (can't remember if it was potassium or sodium but doing a bit of searching its roughly the same thing).

Is this worth keeping. Not really sure what I would use it for...

On the pack it makes it sound like a steriliser but not sure its held in high regard for that.

Any suggestions?
 
If its sodium you can use it to remove chloramine from tap water, stop oxidation when racking wine or in higher doses as a steriliser. Like you say there are better sterilisers but its good for the 1st 2.
 
Yes it's a very useful ingredient, it removes chlorine and chloramine from water, is a stabiliser for wine/cider, works great as a final rinse after a bleach deep clean of your equipment, and is a great antioxidant if you ever fancy some LoDO brewing :)
 
Whether sodium or potassium, they are interchangeable. The only difference is one will leave a little residual sodium and the other potassium, though in small enough doses to be irrelevant.
 
Yes it's a very useful ingredient, it removes chlorine and chloramine from water, is a stabiliser for wine/cider, works great as a final rinse after a bleach deep clean of your equipment, and is a great antioxidant if you ever fancy some LoDO brewing :)

Thanks steve, had forgotten about the rinsing after bleach with campden tablets so that might be useful. Regarding Chlorines and Chloramines, am I right in thinking that boiling water gets rid of Chlorines but not Chloramines?

My brewing process will be changing after Christmas so might think about adding this to the water 24 hours before a brew as won't be boiling the water before the mash as I usually do...

Just looked up LoDO brewing on Brulosophy... not sure I am quite there yet :lol::lol:
 
Whether sodium or potassium, they are interchangeable. The only difference is one will leave a little residual sodium and the other potassium, though in small enough doses to be irrelevant.

I get thru loads of the stuff. If using dilute bleach to sterilize an FV immediately after use and before using again, I use meta to rid it of any bleach but don't rinse out the meta. Effectively a no-rinse sterilizer... the dregs remaining have no ill-effect whatsoever on the stuff going into the FV. Also, after emptying a demijohn of wine, it gets put away filled with meta solution. When it comes to using the demijohn again, it's as fresh as a daisy - just tip out the meta solution and use right away without any rinsing. And a pinch is the same as a Campden tablet for chloramine removal.
 
as a sanitiser on its own its got a short active life as it employs so2 (sulphur dioxide) which is created when in solution and expires 'quickly'

however its main use is n the neutralisation of chlorine and chlormides as said above

years ago it was the go to sanitiser along with bleach, you would mix up a 5-10% solution of bleach and sanitise with it and then rinse off with a 10% met-bisulphate solution to nutrilise the bleach.
 

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