SO2 - could it be true?

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Randoneur

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In September I goofed and wound up with a lot of SO2 in my Norton wine. I knew it was high so I mixed25% wine in spring water andchecked it with Titrets.Using the results x 4 on two tests I got 200 and 250 ppm. Ipoured the winein a bucket and poured the wine from one bucket to another 4 times and thenpoured the wine back to the carboy using a funnel.


Now the wine has rested for about 3 weeks, so I thought I would see how much of the SO2 had dropped before racking. (My plan was to splash rack every few weeks)


Today, I again mixed 25% wine in spring water and tested with Titrets. I was shocked to find 64 ppm (16x4)! Not a believer, I mixed 50% in spring water and tested with Titrets and got 70 ppm (35x2)!! I broke out the AO kit and ran a test - 40 ppm!!! The wine looks, smells, and tastes fine. I think it's time to invest in some oak for this wine.


I know I splashed this wine pretty heavily, but does this much drop in SO2 seemreasonable???






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It seems perfectly reasonble. This is why we recommend that type of procedure to lower overdoses of S02. Some people have had ridiculously high starting levels and were able to get the must fermenting by splashing it back and forth.


Glad the wine was saved. It is always such a pity to lose a close wine.
 
Yup, you'd be surprised at how fast you can lose SO2 to oxygen.
 
Remember you are measuring FREE SO2, not total or bound.

The numbers are the amount that has yet to react and prevent oxidation and is thus available to protect your wine from oxidizing.
 
Glad to hear you are not supprised. I was wondering if this drop in SO2 was valid. Never "been there done that" before so this is new to me in tryingto save this wine.
My Norton has turned out so very good in the past that I really would hate to loose it. My family and friends are begging for me to give them more.


I suppose it's out of the question to think of MLF now?????


I better have another glass of wine and think about this!!!!!!!
 
I racked the Norton today onto oak cubes and did an MLF check. The test came in at 100-120. This type of grape has real high malic to begin with, so the wine was quite a ways through MLF when I did the over sulfiding.


I will age on oak as is for about 6 months and see how it turns out. I think 9 months would be full extraction fromthe oak (french medium toast).


I did a much more complete taste test today.Was reallypleased withit so far.I think this wine isquite a ways along for being so young. Most likely this is an effect of the splashing and oxygen I added in order to reduce the SO2.


Hopefully you can see from the picture how intense the color is. This is always darker than any other wine I make. After three days on skins it isheavy and inky.


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Is MLF possible after the addition of sulfites? I didn't think it was.
 
MLB can be tolerant of up to 30 ppm depending on the MLB strain but typically 10-20 is the usual toxicity limit.
 
I added the MLF culture at press(only 3 days on skin) soit hada while to workbefore the sulfite addition killed it.
 

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