WineXpert Na Meta 'Oops!' How bad did I screw up?

[francois_du_nord]

After a very successful late nite last evening bottling my first batch and racking my second to bulk, along with a quick taste, I figured that today I'd make good use of the fermenter for my third batch.

My first ever kit with skins, Lodi Ranch 11 Cab. After getting my skin pack transferred into the muslin bag, i scanned the directions. Much to my horror i realized I hadn't read carefully enough and had NOT rinsed the Na Meta out of the muslin bag with fresh H2O before filling it with the skins.

To make matters worse, in order to get the last of the skins out of the pack, I rinsed with water and had dumped that onto the skins, and promptly poured that water (100 ml?) into the fermenter.

After figuring my screw up,I took the full tied off muslin bag with skins and rinsed it ever so briefly, trying not to send too much of the good stuff down the drain.

So I'm guessing that I've got some Sodium MetaBiSulfate in my fermenter, and more in my skins bag. The muslin bag wasn't soaking wet, more along the lines of damp, but will this fresh Meta kill my yeast?

As an intermediate step, I did not add the skins to the fermenter, sealing them in a bowl to hopefully get the yeast good and activated before I throw them in.

How long does Meta take to lose potency, and how screwed am I? I figure that I can pick up some fresh yeast tomorrow if my ferment doesn't kick off, but can I ever use the skins?

Concentration of the Na Meta was 4 tsp in a half gallon of water for sanitizer.

Thanks for any help.

Best, Fran

 

[sour_grapes]

I believe you will be fine. I have no way of knowing for sure, of course, but it does not seem to me that you could have carried forward enough meta in that fashion to forestall a good wine yeast. (What yeast will you use?) After all, country fruit wine makers dose their fruit with k-meta one day and pitch yeast the next. I think you will be okey-dokey.

 

[francois_du_nord]

Thanks Paul. I'm guessing that the bag absorbed a tablespoon of fluid at most.

Second question, should you hydrate the meta and use immediately? I made the solution about 24 hours ago for my bottling and racking project last night.

I'm using the Lavolin EC-1118 that came with the kit. I pitched it about an hour and a half ago, I should know by the early am if I've got some good fermentation going.

 

[richmke]

Second question, should you hydrate the meta and use immediately? I made the solution about 24 hours ago for my bottling and racking project last night.

As long as you can easily smell the sulfur, it is good. I keep an open bucket full in a sealed cooler, and use it to keep other stuff in the cooler sanitized.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Wine yeasts are made to be tolerant of k-meta. Thats why we can use it at any time during fermentation.

Now, if you had added a gallon of k-meta solution, that might be different.

 

[francois_du_nord]

Doctor Doctor!

You sir are a wealth of knowledge. Not to put to fine a point on it, but I used Sodium Metabislufite, not Potassium Metabisulfite. Are commercial yeasts tolerant of both?

Fermenter report: I woke to surface bubbles - not really fermentation like, but bubbles none the less, I figured CO2 was creating bubbles thatweren't strong enough to break the surface tension of the juice, so I dumped the skins in, stirred and replaced the lid. I'll check again at lunch.

Thanks for the support to all! I'll keep y'all posted.

Best, Fran

 

[richmke]

I used Sodium Metabislufite, not Potassium Metabisulfite. Are commercial yeasts tolerant of both?

Metabisulfite is the active chemical. Sodium and Potassium are the carrier.

Sodium is cheaper, so that is the preferred form for sanitizing.

Sodium would impart a "salty" taste (sodium chloride is table salt), where as Potassium is much less "salty". Hence the preference for the Potassium form for protecting the wine during aging and in the bottle.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Richmke, you beat me to it.

Any bubbles that you see on the surface of the must indicate that something is going on, (we all hope for fermmentation.)

 

[francois_du_nord]

Thanks for all the good info. I should have been smart enough to figure out the ion deal on my own, as a long ago Chem Major. But now I obsess over the human equation rather than the periodic table.

Lunch report: More activity, not what I'd call active fermentation, but it is getting there. The grape pack is still sunk, but when I prodded it with the spoon, it gassed off, so I'm guessing that the good critters are doing their stuff.

Thanks for walking me back from the edge!

 

[francois_du_nord]

Sanitizing Cooler

I keep an open bucket full in a sealed cooler, and use it to keep other stuff in the cooler sanitized.

I'm guessing you are keeping tools in the cooler, stuff like your spoon, hydrometer, thief etc?

Just the slow evaporation is enough to keep the other items in a sanitized state? Is there any purpose to the insulative principles of the cooler?

I'm guessing you:

1) Sanitize after use
2) Store in cooler
3) Sanitize before use ??

Pretty cool idea, I just need to figure out how to store one more really big item. Unless I could just store all my equipment in my 60 L fermenter...

This site Rocks!

 

[richmke]

It is the sulfur gas that sanitizes the equipment (anything in the cooler). The sealed cooler is to keep the gas in, and also not to stink up the room.

I clean after use, and put in the cooler to sanitize and store. Don't need to sanitize prior to use. It is good to go right out of the cooler.

Note: Glass, silicone, and cork seem to be ok in the cooler. Plastic (tubing and racking cane) and metal (spoons and stuff), not so good. Plastic turned cloudy, and the metal rusted.

 

[francois_du_nord]

Awesome! Thanks for the pointers. I wonder if I'd hose up my nice'n pretty Speidel fermenter. It is translucent plastic. Maybe I'll just commandeer the old 40 qt picnic cooler and if a new one is needed, I can just buy one for the family needs.

 

[francois_du_nord]

Forgot the update: Got home from work last night, and everything is obviously working as intended. Fermentation is happily moving forward, and this morning my skins were right up on top as advertised. Punched down and again at lunch.

Thanks for the pointers folks, disaster averted!

Best Fran