ICWiener
Well-Known Member
I was talking to someone the other day about brewing and the subject turned to chlorine/chloramine in our municipal water supply. I mentioned that I generally just crush up half a campden tab into my strike and sparge water and forget about it. He was shocked and went on to tell me that brewers absolutely should not do this. His reasoning was that it makes your beer much, much more susceptible to skunking. He gave me his scientific basis for this, but forgive me, I didn't bother to commit it to memory. Something about interference with isomerization of the hops' alpha acids.
He's a very good brewer, an award winner in fact, so I don't take his opinion lightly....but I've never heard this before and I haven't been able to find anything about it on the internet.
I have since brewed several batches and I still use half a campden tab every time. It doesn't seem to mess up my hop forward beers, but at the same time, I haven't experimented with it either. I don't particularly like skunked beer.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
He's a very good brewer, an award winner in fact, so I don't take his opinion lightly....but I've never heard this before and I haven't been able to find anything about it on the internet.
I have since brewed several batches and I still use half a campden tab every time. It doesn't seem to mess up my hop forward beers, but at the same time, I haven't experimented with it either. I don't particularly like skunked beer.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?