Campden for wheat?

Hello All,
I recently read a post on here which commented on the need for Campden tab. when brewing wheat beer. I don’t remember the reason why it’s important & now i can’t find the thread. I don’t use chlorinated water, so would it still be beneficial? I’d appreciate some clarification on this subject. Thanks! :cheers:

As far as I know there’s two reasons to use Camden tabs(Kmetabisulfite)

  1. To eliminate chlorine and chloramine from municipal water- you’re OK there.
  2. To kill any bacteria and wild yeast prior to adding your good yeast. Done with ciders definitely and I think with wines. Shouldn’t need to with a wheat malt any more than with a barley malt. Maybe if you’re doing a noboil, but I’ve never looked at that and tend to skip over those posts.
    So, summary= I’m thinking you misinterpreted or misremembered something.
    Of course, we may both see a post soon from someone who advocates adding Camden. If so, we’ll both learn something.

I only use camden tablets in beer for chlorine and chloramine, 1/4 tab for 5 gals.
Never done any different with wheat malt.
Like James said, cider or wine would be different, as your trying to kill wild yeast.

Were you planning to add fresh fruit to the wheat beer? If so, then I could see someone recommending to add some campden when you add the fruit so as to help kill any wild yeast or bacteria on it. But I’m sceptical that would work. The sulfites get bound very quickly as the pH rises, and are ineffective at beer pH values.

Thanks for the reply’s you guys. The post probably was referring to the addition of fruit(which i won’t do) & not the fact that it was wheat. Guess i got ahead of myself! Thanks for clearing that up. 8)

[quote=“Pietro”]Glad it worked out! That’s a great beer. Though I have to say, I’ve never had the real one (way overdue for a Chicago trip).

I am a little gunshy to make another wheat, as my last Am Wheat was my first ever band-aid beer. I did use oldish S-05 with a new starter, but apparently wheat malt has a higher concentration of a particular acid that can lead to 4-ethylphenol (band-aid/medicinal) if not campdenized (which I now do on every brew).

This is what i was referring to. ??

[quote=“Thirstyone”][quote=“Pietro”]Glad it worked out! That’s a great beer. Though I have to say, I’ve never had the real one (way overdue for a Chicago trip).

I am a little gunshy to make another wheat, as my last Am Wheat was my first ever band-aid beer. I did use oldish S-05 with a new starter, but apparently wheat malt has a higher concentration of a particular acid that can lead to 4-ethylphenol (band-aid/medicinal) if not campdenized (which I now do on every brew).

This is what i was referring to. ??[/quote][/quote]

IMO, whoever wrote that is dead wrong.

Maybe the Campden is taking chlorine out of your water and preventing formation of chlorophenol which is a bandaid taste that you detect at very low levels.

I don’t think its doing anything as far as reacting with stuff in wheat. I do find some wheat yeasts will throw sulfur easily. I think part of that is the type of yeast, and part from a lower free amino nitrogen and/or B vitamins in wheat that might be limiting the yeast’s healthy activity. They tend to reduce sulfate to sulfide (rotten egg) as a final electron acceptor when there isn’t enough of the normal acceptor (NAD, NADP).

Holy crap Tom! Now i’m really confused! You are one informative dude!(which i truly appreciate!). Think i’ll keep the Campden out of my unchlorinated water & wheats & call it a day!! Thanks to all. Damn, i’ve got alot to learn!! :cheers: