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!