Tonight I racked/filtered and bottled my 14 month old Amarone kit. Checked pH, SG, added glycerin and 1/2 cup sugar. Problem is I forgot to add K Meta. It's been racked every three months and have added K Meta each time. pH was 3.3, SG 0.998, taste is good, a little sharp, that's why I added a small amount of sugar. What are the chances it will be OK? Should I mix 1/4 tsp in 15 cc of water/wine, pull all the corks and add 0.5 cc to each bottle then re-cork? Pull the corks, pour back into carboy add K Meta the re-bottle?
Stupid, stupid, stupid Beginners mistake. What to do?
- Thread starter Huba Huba
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
Sorbate works in conjunction with K-meta to prevent fermentation, so you may be in danger of mini volcanoes. Unbottling is you safest option.
Sorbate was added at the end of fermentation per kit instructions, 14 months ago. I thought you only added sorbate once.
I do not have a way to measure SO2
I do not have a way to measure SO2
If you used the included sorbate, you're fine. Only add sorbate once.
That concern addressed, you're probably ok. K-meta will be lower than optimal, but should be ok for a couple of years. If you are planning longer shelf life, I'd unbottle.
A 12 month old wine with no sorbate but normal metabisulphite at room temp, at .998 gravity for a year, has a risk in the range of 0.01% ,,, ie risk never goes away in creating a shelf stable wine or can or jar of beans or pasta sauce, ,,, but are you going to repeat this batch 10,000 times to referment . ,,, With wine at 11% ABV food poisoning won’t be an issue.
There still is risk when sorbate is used but with free SO2 and pH and anaerobic conditions it is low. ,,, I would not add sorbate on year old wine unless I knew I was sloppy as not cleaning tubing and mixing tank etc.
new product coming off a canning line is held in a room temp warehouse for a week to check for swelling of cans/ sloppy processing. ,,, The goal in canned food is to get the risk down to one in 1,000,000,000 The concern is that botulism toxin kills people.
There still is risk when sorbate is used but with free SO2 and pH and anaerobic conditions it is low. ,,, I would not add sorbate on year old wine unless I knew I was sloppy as not cleaning tubing and mixing tank etc.
new product coming off a canning line is held in a room temp warehouse for a week to check for swelling of cans/ sloppy processing. ,,, The goal in canned food is to get the risk down to one in 1,000,000,000 The concern is that botulism toxin kills people.
Alright, it sounds like I am probably OK. But if I want to be sure would it do any harm to pull the corks, add 1/30th of a K Metabisulfite dose ( 1/4 tsp in 15 cc of water or wine, then add 1/2 cc to each bottle) to each bottle and re-cork.
It's only the price of the corks and time, I would feel better, especially if any of it last more than a couple of years. I planned on giving away 12-15 bottles so have no control over when it will be drank..
It's only the price of the corks and time, I would feel better, especially if any of it last more than a couple of years. I planned on giving away 12-15 bottles so have no control over when it will be drank..
I was thinking that you'd need to unbottle all that wine, but your plan is far better. It makes sense.
Thanks for your help.
TurkeyHollow
Turkey Hollow Winery
Both are good choices... The only other option is to drink a bottle per day until you experience some carbonation at which point you up to two bottles and consume at a rate carbonation cannot keep up until either the wine is totally consumed or you really don't care if some bottle bombs detonate.
