Campden...

[nissed as a pewt]

What does it actually do? I believe its some kind of clearing agent? It seems to get added a lot, usually before pitching then on each racking - why?

 

[Caplan]

Campden Tablets (AKA potassium or sodium metabisulfite) Is basically a chemical that kills a few bacteria and suppresses wild yeasts found naturally on fruits - it releases sulphur dioxide when added to wine or chlorinated water.

It's used in wine making at the start of the process to suppress any wild yeasts (if present) so the homebrewers chosen yeast can take off first. When racking it's added as a way of dealing with any potential bacteria infection from the rack but mostly to help drop the yeast out of the wine for a faster finish.

It's not really a clearing agent - If you have pectin/starch hazes (dependant on ingredients) or didn't de-gas your wine you'll get the yeast out but still be left with a cloudy wine.

 

[nissed as a pewt]

Thanks for that.

On tasting my wines I noticed that there is a slight fiz to one of them I assume it needs de-gassing? How do i do that? I thought it would dissapear over time its only a month old.

Funny thing is the one with fizz (blackberry) is crystal clear the other (apple+raisin) is still cloudy.

 

[bnektar]

On tasting my wines I noticed that there is a slight fiz to one of them I assume it needs de-gassing? How do i do that? I thought it would dissapear over time its only a month old.

There's a tool you can get (i think it's called a whip) from your local or online wine/brewing store. It connects to a powerdrill and stirs the $h#@ out of the wine and gets out the CO2.

The other issue could be that you didn't let the yeast finish the job before you bottled.


Brad Dahlhofer
B. Nektar Mead Company

 

[nissed as a pewt]

Its not bottled yet as still plopping occasionally we just had a taste out of interest.