Mosti Mondiale Adding additional potassium metabisulfite

[robertb]

I am doing my first Mosti Mondiale kit. There isn’t anything that I can find in the directions regarding adding additional potassium metabisulfite to ensure that it will not oxidate before it is consumed. I do plan on letting this age gracefully and hope to not drink it before it is ready. Is there sufficient potassium metabisulfite in this kit to account for aging or should I add some prior to bottling? I would like to bulk age it, but that isn’t an option at this time.
Thanks,
Robert

 

[Wade E]

Why isnt bulk aging a choice????? Unless you are going to not drink any of these bottles for some time I wouldnt add additional sulfite in this as when its bottled it wont release much sulfite like bulk aging will thus you will have bottles with a high sulfite level for some time. What kit is this as the higher quality kits with higher tannin levels will greatly reduce the need to add more sulfite compared to a cheaper 10 liter wine kit. Please tell us how long you will have this kit in carboy after adding initial sulfite so as we can further instruct you on how much to add before bottling.

 

[robertb]

Wade,
It is a Meglioli Pinot Noir, and I also have a Meglioli Barolo that I plan to do next. I really don’t have a place to store carboys that are being used for bulk aging at this time. In my situation, it is much easier to store the wine in the bottles in cases. Some day, I hope to remedy this problem. I am following the directions at this time and did add the potassium metabisulfite last Monday, along with the other ingredients as the instructions called for. I plan to filter it next weekend and bottle the following weekend. I used mainly WE kits in the past and they have specific instructions to add potassium metabisulfite if you plan to keep the wine over 6 months. I suppose that is why I am asking.
Robert

 

[Wade E]

I wouldnt add any more then 1/8th tsp myself and wouldnt open any of these bottles for at least 6 months!

 

[wjdonahue]

Take a look at the samples that George had tested at the Wine Makers Toy Store Website. He had lab testing done on the free sulfites in kits verses what they should be for each of the wines, they found that all of the kits were VERY deficient in SO2 at the time of bottling when using the instructions.
I have been adding 1/4 tsp at the time of bottling to all my wines since I read his results with no flavor at the 6 month point.

Also remember that all Free SO2 becomes bound SO2 with time. If it is a wine (a big red) that you are going to age for a year or two before drinking, then I would add at least the 1/4 tsb at the time of bottling.

 

[ibglowin]

I would not rush to bottle those, they really do need to bulk age and drop some more fine sediment that will surely happen with time. So the question is do you want the fine sediment in the bottle or on the bottom of the carboy. As long as the carboys are full and topped off to within 2-3 inches you can easily go 4-6 months without any extra addition of Sulfite. Remember a red wine will only need ~25ppm free SO2 (a little more or less depending on the pH).

One glass carboy takes up less cubic feet of storage than 2.5 cases of bottled wine!

 

[wjdonahue]

Space.....what it that? My wife laughs when she comes into the winery. Says I need to lose weight and have a GPS just to navigate between the barrels and ageing tanks.