Camden or no

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larry

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Hello folks a friend is making his first kit.a vintners reserve sauvignon blanc. He is in the secondary followed instruction it says to rack again. Does he need to add Camdon tabs or anything else when he racks again? Thank you for your help.
 
If fermentation is complete and you are to thrid rack then I would. And every tree months until bottling
You should be in the clearing stage by now
I dont do kits so im not familiar with instructions time line, instructions or not SG tracking, and sharing that info helps folks help you.
Tell your freind to cross out the instruction line that says he can bottle before 6 months.
Even that will likely drop sediment in his bottles.
 
Hi @larry, your friends kit should have come with kmeta (potassium metabisufite in it to add after secondary. They don’t need any additional chems during the time frame of the kit instructions. Should they decide to bulk age the kit, then they will want to add kmeta or campden tablets to the carboy every theee months as suggested by @meadmaker1 . Personally I disagree with @meadmaker1 on bottling time. I tend to bottle all whites (especially the less expensive ones) immediately at the finish of kit instructions as long as they are tasting how I want them. Most whites taste well young and generally don’t age as long as reds, but of course every wine maker is different. I go by taste. When it’s close To what I want, I bottle it. Sometimes I will add a little oak, but that’s not appropriate for Sav blanc, instead you might suggest they add the zest of 1/2 of a grapefruit if the acidity isn’t as high as they would like and allow it to sit for a week. I find this brings out the expected acidity of a Sav blanc thanks to @joeswine for that suggestion in his tweaking cheap kits thread.
 
First and most important, is fermentation finished? What is the SG reading?

If the SG reading is below .996 and does not change for 3 days - fermentation is finished.

Once you are at that point, then yes, addition of k-meta / campden tab(s) is appropriate.

As to when to bottle, that point can be argued until the cows come home. Again most important point - is the wine Crystal clear? Taste is going to change, even in a while wine over time. How much is another point of contention. But bottling a hazy or cloudy white wine.... Why? What's the rush.

Biggest problem for beginning wine makers is to learn patience. Causes more mistakes than anything else. Until you have patience to take time and do things right, you are destined to create wines that could, shoulda been better than they turned out.

I'm almost 3 years into this hobby and I still struggle with letting things work out over time.
 

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