Bottling for beginners an overview of my learning curve

[Fruitwine22]

When your first wine batch is ready, it’s an exciting moment, one that I remember very fondly. I unfortunately had one batch too many spoil because I didn’t plan the storage of my wines very well. A quick rule of thumb I go by is that after the wine clears I add a small amount of meta sulphate (1/2 tsp gal) to preserve it. And I plan (6) 750ml empty bottles (sanitized) per gallon made. Hand corkers can be purchased for under $20 USD and I prefer a #9 cork to seal completely Without sulphate wine life will be very short. When corking a bottle set in bottom of sink in case it tips. Corking is easy once you cork one or two bottles 😁
Also, have masking tape close by to write what it is. I’ve sampled my wine and forgotten this step. Accidentally opening pepper wine thinking it’s peach.

 

[Raptor99]

1/2 tsp. of Kmeta powder per gallon sounds like too much. If you are aiming for 50 ppm free SO2, you should add 0.33 g per gallon. It's really helpful to have a small scale accurate to 0.01 g.

The required Kmeta depends on pH. For pH 3.6 it is 50 ppm. For pH 3.4 it is only 32 ppm, which is 0.21 g Kmeta powder per gallon.

 

[winemaker81]

1/2 tsp. of Kmeta powder per gallon sounds like too much.

According to conventional wisdom, dosage is 1/4 tsp is per 5 gallons at each racking, post-fermentation. Contrasting that, I recently read an article by a professional winemaker who adds 1/2 tsp equivalent to red wine at bottling time, as that is the last time the wine will receive K-meta and it may last years in the bottle.

Like most things in winemaking, there are numerous valid answers, even ones that appear to conflict.

 

[mikewatkins727]

1/2 tsp. of Kmeta powder per gallon sounds like too much. If you are aiming for 50 ppm free SO2, you should add 0.33 g per gallon. It's really helpful to have a small scale accurate to 0.01 g.

The required Kmeta depends on pH. For pH 3.6 it is 50 ppm. For pH 3.4 it is only 32 ppm, which is 0.21 g Kmeta powder per gallon.

My method for adding Kmeta is I measure ¼ tsp into 6 oz medicinal bottle (cough syrup bottle from the pharmacy, red-orange ones) and fill to 6 oz. From there I use 1 oz per gallon, the K-meta is already in liquid form and more easily stirs into the wine

 

[Jovimaple]

If I am working with 1 or 2 gallons, I use one crushed campden tablet per gallon. 3 gallons = 1/8 tsp kmeta. For 4 gallons I would use a heaping 1/8 tsp, and 5 or 6 gallons get 1/4 tsp.

I do like @mikewatkins727's method of mixing into 6 oz and then using an ounce per gallon - I may need to try that!