Racking question?

[Bossbaby]

If I add my campden tablets in primary per my recipe,would it be necessary to add any more down the road before bottling or aging? Dealing with fruit wines at the moment. Elderberry. BlackBerry. peach. pumpkin/cranberry. any feedback would be great. thanks..

 

[Rice_Guy]

My experience has been that with country wines the residual SO2 is low when I test it. Red grape holds SO2 better/ longer.

 

[Scooter68]

When did you you add the campden tablets? Before fermentation or after the finish of fermentation?
Normal process is to add K-Meta (Campden tablets) 18-24 hours before beginning fermentation to kill off/stun wild yeast and bacteria
Then Add again after fermentation is over
Then every 3 months as the wine is aged.

Fruit wines NEED to be aged at least 6-12 months with very few exceptions. Failing to do so will result in a sharp wine that will not be pleasant/enjoyable.

My personal rule of thumb for country wines is as follows:

1 month-6 months - It's wine (Been there done that - not going to drink that again)
6 months to 12 months - Not as edgy and sharp on the tongue (Meh - I had a couple that were decent this young)
13-18 months - Enjoyable wine
19 months and beyond - Wine that is Truly a wine to share with best friends.

(It's tough to decide how much to back-sweeten a young wine - Once a country wine has aged at least 9 months, it's a lot easier to decide how much to sweetness to add.)

 

[Bossbaby]

Thank you for the response. My recipes call for 1 crushed campden tab per gal 24 hrs before pitching. would it be beneficial to add more at each racking. Can you ever overdose the wine with campden/k meta?

 

[Scooter68]

While it's possible to overdue it , the "1 dose per 3 months will not do so as long as your volume and dosage is correct.

Remember that at the end of the fermentation you will normally rack from bucket to carboy, then typically in about 2-3 weeks you will rack again as the finer lees settle out. At that second racking do not add more K-meta.

So Ideally this is the schedule I would follow:

Prep the wine K-Meta Pre ferment,
Start Ferment
Rack at end of ferment & add K-Meta
Rack in 2-3 weeks to remove finer lees - No K-meta
Rack 3 months from end of fermentation & add K-meta
Rack 6 months from end of fermentation & add K-meta
Rack 9 months from end of fermentation & add K-meta
Rack 12 months from end of fermentation, add K-meta AND K Sorbate , back-sweeten, bottle the wine

In some cases the addition of sweetening and K-Sorbate may precipitate out some residue or you may want to filter the wine before bottling. If you added a significant volume of sweetener you may need to use a smaller container for the excess wine.

Fining or clearing agents can be added immediately post ferment and then rack a little earlier than 2-3 weeks (Depending on the directions for the fining agents. Some folks of course add Bentonite at the start of Fermentation. Those are finer points that you just have to work out. I've got one wine - A peach wine - that still is a little hazy at 15 months from fermentation even with the use of bentonite. I filtered it but it still isn't ready to be bottled. I may hit it with one more fining agent before bottling but that's the sort of case by case decision process you just have to work out for yourself based on each wine batch.

 

[Bossbaby]

Thank you for this info scooter68 ! I also have a gallon of peach that's 2 months old made from 6 lbs of Idaho peachs, its clearing nicely but a small sample shows very flat with a hint of peach can I expect a better flavor after aging or will I need to sweeten to bring it out ?

 

[Scooter68]

I Sweeten just before bottling.
Makes my sweetening more accurate.
What is the pH reading now?

Yes sweetening will bring out more flavor.

 

[Sailor323]

I use meta (1/4 tsp/5 gallons) at each racking