Another K-Meta ?

[cuz]

I do not measure for SO2. I know, I know -I should. What I have been doing is adding 1/4 teaspoon per 6 gallons before I bottle. By that time, the wine has been in a carboy for 4-6 months.

I have 3 carboys that I added egg whites as what I hope is a final attempt to clear the wine. I am also going to filter it before bottling.

So the question is when to add the K-Meta. If I add it with the egg whites clearing will it fall to the bottom and filter out?

How small in microns is K-Meta in wine. I am going to attempt to get down to a
.2 micron filter. Will that filter out the K-Meta?

Or should I just add the K-Meta after the filtering and just before bottling.

 

[stickman]

How many additions of K-meta have you made already? If you are only going to make one more addition of K-meta, then I would prefer after filtration right before bottling.

 

[cuz]

I only do 1 hit of K-meta before bottling. That is the only K-Meta I have been adding. Keep in mind my bottles haven't lasted more than a year after bottling so far.

 

[GreginND]

First - I think you are probably just fine in what you are doing. 4-6 months is not excessive.

Second - egg whites generally are not added for clearing as much as pulling out excess tannins to soften the wine. Different fining agents act on different things in the wine. I would recommend reading some more and learning about different fining agents and how they work in the wine. It may help. You don't say what kind of wine this is, so I don't know if excess tannins were a problem. But I guess it wouldn't hurt.

Potassium metabisulfite will complete dissolve in the wine. These molecules are much smaller than any filter so it can't be removed by filtration.

Bottom line, relax, your wine is probably fine.

Now, for your final remain question - when to add K-meta if you are not testing for SO2? Here is my standard protocol that has never failed me over a quarter century of winemaking . . .

Add 0.4 g of potassium metabisulfite powder per gallon of wine to achieve around 50 ppm added. I would recommend getting an inexpensive gram scale rather than use an inaccurate volume measurement. This is my standard amount that I use for the following schedule.

Sulfite schedule:

My schedule follows my winemaking procedures for racking . . .

When to add the first dose? I ferment in primary until nearly dry then it is pressed or transferred to a carboy until fermentation is complete. When it is completely dry for a week or two I will rack it off the gross sediments and add my first dose of k-meta (0.4 g/gallon).

The next time I rack I will not add K-meta.

Generally I will add the same dose of K-meta on every other racking. This could be never or a couple more times depending on the time of aging and racking.

Add last dose of k-meta at the same amount right before bottling regardless of whether or not you added a dose at the previous racking. This is because bottling exposes the wine to a lot of air and it is always best to have fresh SO2 there when doing this.