I don't think
@sour_grapes is splitting hairs here. 23.5° Brix only gets you to 14% ABV or so. That's hardly an ice-wine. 30° Brix gets you up to about 18% ABV. That's quite a difference.
And careful with statements like that. It could get a beginner reading this post into trouble. K-meta doesn't kill yeast. Potassium Sorbate is the key to preventing the fermentation of the residual sugar, but even it doesn't actually kill the yeast. For ice-wine, the sugar and alcohol alone help to prevent re-fermentation, but personally, I would still add sorbate and/or fortify with alcohol to prevent any problems after bottling.
KCCam said 14% ABV is “hardly an ice-wine.”
According to an article on ice wines from Winemaker Magazine, “The levels of alcohol most often fall in the 9 to 11% alcohol by volume (ABV) range.”
I reviewed a number of commercially available ice wines and found that European ice wines are usually in the 8.5% to 10.5% ABV range, while Canadian ice wines seem to have a range from 11% to 14.5% ABV.
Most of the wines I make are in the 18% range. If I were making “high test” ice wine I would first add water until I got to 23.5 Brix, then as the sugars are used up, add more of the juice, DAP and nutrients. I would continue this process until the yeast naturally dies from alcohol poisoning (about 18.5% ABV.
KCCam is correct that Kmeta doesn’t kill yeast, but it would take a lot of space to accurately explain the differences. I’m lazy, so I used “kill” instead of “retard fermentation.”
Sorry.
The only time I ever use Kmeta
or Smeta is to “kill” all the nasties in my must before inoculating with my yeast.
I have chemical hypersensitivity syndrome as an added benefit of one of my cancers, so I try to keep added chemicals to a minimum.