Campden Tablets – Why When And How To Use

Campden tablets are basically a tablet form of sodium metabisulphate. They are used for preserving and sterilising. These are treating the must, anti-oxidization, purging of chlorine and sterilisation of your equipment.
Treating the must, the fruit and veg we use in homemade wine grows outdoors and is covered in wild yeast and bacteria. So to minimise these bacteria and wild yeast we need to add one crushed Campden tablet to each 5 litre batch of wine, Campden tablets sanitise or sterilise the must of any bugs, after this you can add your own preferred type of yeast.
Anti-Oxidization Campden tablets trap oxygen and prevent it from oxidizing in the must. A good example of this is when racking wine. Again use one crushed Campen tablet.
Purging of chlorine from water as all water contains trace elements and Campden tablets perform this task.
Sterilisation of your equipment, which any winemaker knows can kill their wine. Campden tablets can also be usde to sterilise your equipment.
So all in all its a really useful little tablet.