Here's how the Wikipedia article on Campden Tablets starts out:
Just an observation. I'm getting ready to brew a beer that will have fruit and chocolate added after primary fermentation is complete, so I was surfing around for ideas. Most of what I feel is trustworthy info I've read on non beer brewing related sites. What little bit I have found on home brewing sites doesn't always coincide with what I've read elsewhere.
I'm not a science guy so I was just curious if there are reasons I'm missing? Some guys heat fruit up to 170 degrees and hold it for 30 minutes, some guys zap stuff in the microwave, some soak stuff in vodka for a couple weeks and either separate it out or throw vodka and all into the fermenter, and still others just throw everything in the way it is, cross their fingers, and hope the alcohol in the beer will kill off any infection causing bugs. I'm sure all of those methods work to one degree or another, but with certain drawbacks. I'm not saying campden tablets don't have drawbacks - it just seems to me that these things were designed specifically for this purpose so I find it curious that it's not discussed more?
It seems like [killing] bacteria and [inhibiting] the growth of most wild yeast is one of the top objectives in home brewing, but when you search to find out the different methods others are using to accomplish this you almost never hear anyone mention campden tablets. Heat pasteurizing is big, soaking in Star San seems popular, and I've even read where guys soak fruit and other ingredients in a mild bleach solution to sanitize it. You hear about campden tablets being are used to "... eliminate both free chlorine and the more stable form, chloramine, from water solutions." I couldn't help wonder if these were the same guys soaking ingredients in bleach? You do occasionally run across a few comments about using campden tablets to sanitize things before adding them to fermentation, but they're few and far between, they seem to be outdated, and a lot of what is being said isn't factual.Campden tablets (potassium or sodium metabisulfite) are a sulfur-based product that is used primarily to sterilize wine, cider and in beer making to kill bacteria and to inhibit the growth of most wild yeast: this product is also used to eliminate both free chlorine and the more stable form, chloramine, from water solutions (e.g., drinking water from municipal sources).
Just an observation. I'm getting ready to brew a beer that will have fruit and chocolate added after primary fermentation is complete, so I was surfing around for ideas. Most of what I feel is trustworthy info I've read on non beer brewing related sites. What little bit I have found on home brewing sites doesn't always coincide with what I've read elsewhere.
I'm not a science guy so I was just curious if there are reasons I'm missing? Some guys heat fruit up to 170 degrees and hold it for 30 minutes, some guys zap stuff in the microwave, some soak stuff in vodka for a couple weeks and either separate it out or throw vodka and all into the fermenter, and still others just throw everything in the way it is, cross their fingers, and hope the alcohol in the beer will kill off any infection causing bugs. I'm sure all of those methods work to one degree or another, but with certain drawbacks. I'm not saying campden tablets don't have drawbacks - it just seems to me that these things were designed specifically for this purpose so I find it curious that it's not discussed more?