Camden Tablets
- Thread starter MadCow
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
Kleftiwallah
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2011
- Messages
- 119
- Reaction score
- 5
The wine fairy comes.
The winefairy comes and magics away the camden tablet effects in 24 hours so the gloop is all nice and fresh for the good yeast.
Cheers, Tony.
The winefairy comes and magics away the camden tablet effects in 24 hours so the gloop is all nice and fresh for the good yeast.
Cheers, Tony.
Last edited:
Ernest T Bass
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2010
- Messages
- 978
- Reaction score
- 48
I'm new at this also, but the way campden works is:
You add the crushed campden tablets to your must before anything else, the campden in the must changes to a gas as it reaches the surface of the must, kinda like evaporating. As it mixes with the must it kills all the bad stuff and any wild yeast. SO2 (Campden) in it natural state is a gas and as it reaches the surface of the must it returns to its natural state, which is a gas and then it mixes with the air in the room. It's such a small amount of
SO2 that you may not smell it. Like I said, I'm new to this also. This may not be exactly right, but, that's the way I understand it. That's why you have to wait 24 hours before you add anything else. After 24 hours, add your other ingredients and give them time to be absorbed by the must (12 to 24 hours) and then add your yeast. Others will probably give you a better answer.
Semper Fi
You add the crushed campden tablets to your must before anything else, the campden in the must changes to a gas as it reaches the surface of the must, kinda like evaporating. As it mixes with the must it kills all the bad stuff and any wild yeast. SO2 (Campden) in it natural state is a gas and as it reaches the surface of the must it returns to its natural state, which is a gas and then it mixes with the air in the room. It's such a small amount of
SO2 that you may not smell it. Like I said, I'm new to this also. This may not be exactly right, but, that's the way I understand it. That's why you have to wait 24 hours before you add anything else. After 24 hours, add your other ingredients and give them time to be absorbed by the must (12 to 24 hours) and then add your yeast. Others will probably give you a better answer.
Semper Fi
Thanks!
Thanks for such prompt replies!
So, I leave off adding the yeast until 24 hours after Camden tabs added?
The recipe I have seems to suggest putting the yeast in more or less right away - once the sugar and water have cooled anyway.
Thanks for such prompt replies!
So, I leave off adding the yeast until 24 hours after Camden tabs added?
The recipe I have seems to suggest putting the yeast in more or less right away - once the sugar and water have cooled anyway.
Actually, the campden tablets don't necessarily kill the natural yeast. They may kill a few here and there but what they are meant to do is stun them. After adding the tablets, if you let the must set long enough, the native yeast will recover and become active again.
The tablets (Kmeta) stops them from being active, so when, several hours later, you pitch your chosen yeast, which tend to be more aggressive and in much greater number, they can overwhelm the natural yeast and take over the fermentation. One little packet of yeast can contain over 8 billion cells!
Also, since there is usually a delay between when you add the tablets and pitch the yeast, a portion of the SO2 from the tablets gets used up by the time the chosen yeast is pitched. That way the SO2 doesn't also stun them so much.
However, the tablets can and do kill other critters, like unwanted bacteria.
The tablets (Kmeta) stops them from being active, so when, several hours later, you pitch your chosen yeast, which tend to be more aggressive and in much greater number, they can overwhelm the natural yeast and take over the fermentation. One little packet of yeast can contain over 8 billion cells!
Also, since there is usually a delay between when you add the tablets and pitch the yeast, a portion of the SO2 from the tablets gets used up by the time the chosen yeast is pitched. That way the SO2 doesn't also stun them so much.
However, the tablets can and do kill other critters, like unwanted bacteria.
Last edited:
But the results are much better! I'll take a nice glass of wine over a gold star sticker! I bet college and high school kids would get better grades with these rewards?! Ok I know, you can't give high school kids booze but you know what I mean.
Julie
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
- Messages
- 12,062
- Reaction score
- 1,787
Don't just add the amount of sugar the recipe calls for, take a reading and calculate how much sugar you will need to bring you must to the desired sg level.
Kleftiwallah
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2011
- Messages
- 119
- Reaction score
- 5
Just before bottling,
I fill the bottle with dilute camden and swill it round after emptying the bottle, there is sufficient left to counteract any yeasts that still survive. Cheers, Tony.
I fill the bottle with dilute camden and swill it round after emptying the bottle, there is sufficient left to counteract any yeasts that still survive. Cheers, Tony.
At that point the yeast are already starting to die off from starvation. They can hang around for sometime after that.
The reason for the Kmeta after fermentation is more to protect the wine from bad critters than it is to affect the yeast, although again, that dose will stun them and slow those still left. Just be mindful that should you wait awhile and add more sugar, without first adding sorbate, the yeast will likely take right back off again.
Don't think the Kmeta's purpose is to kill your yeast. Sorbate doesn't kill them, either; it just prevents them from multiplying.
Similar threads
