Other Too late to add campden tablets?

[horacegoeskiing]

Hi
Hoping someone can advise me. At the beginning of April i started a 4 week Rioja wine kit and once finished i promptly racked the wine into 1 gallon demijohns for ageing. However would it be possible now to drop a campden tablet (once crushed!) into each one allowing me to keep the wine past 12 months? or is too late (i was under the impression that adding a campden tablet had to occur straight after the wine instructions are followed and completed).
Secondly does adding campden tablet have any noticeable effect on the wine taste at all?

Thanks
Will

 

[MrKevin]

No, it is not to late. I would advise you get some type of SO2 test kit and test your SO2 to keep it up to about 40ppm that will help keep your wine safe. This is all related to PH, but with out getting into that too much, this is what I would shoot for.

Once you get rally addicted to wine making you want to get a quality test kit, so you can monitor, SO2, PH, TA, (its early in the morning and I think I'm forgetting something).

 

[saramc]

Will,
In the absence of a free SO2 test kit, it is quite common to add Campden/KMS to a bulk aging wine on a quarterly basis. One school of thought says 1 finely crushed, dissolved tab per gallon, the other says use 1/2 a tab. You just decide which school to follow.

There should not be any noticeable taste/effect. Just remember it serves a purpose, antibacterial and antioxidant. But I would use k-meta powder, not Campden tabs since the tabs have a history of later leaving white floaties regardless of how well you crushed and dissolved.

 

[horacegoeskiing]

Thanks MrKevin and Saramc for your advice thats really useful.
MrKevin - Once im addicted! Im already there! Started 6 months ago with a 23ltr fermentor, i now have 7; a gym room thats now a wine making room and 65 gallons of wine sitting in a walk in storage cupboard thats impossible to walk-in anymore.
Damn i love this hobby and wife very supportive!