# making use of Potassium metabisulfite



## elic307 (Aug 6, 2014)

Hi fellow wine makers,
I am excited as the new season is soon here. Last year was the first time I made wine and I used several time mata-b, by the book. The wine came out very good. But I heard that using metab is the cause for headaches that may be caused from drinking wine. I would like to know what others know from their experience.

How risky it is not use meatb?
Is the outcome much better when not using it?
Any precautions when deciding not to use?

BTW, I am making red wine

Cheers,
Eli


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## dralarms (Aug 6, 2014)

Kmeta does not cause headaches. Not sure what does, but I use it and no one that drinks my wine has complained of headaches.


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## elic307 (Aug 6, 2014)

Thanks dralarms.
Can you tell what dosage you use in each stage?


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## Boatboy24 (Aug 6, 2014)

elic307 said:


> Thanks dralarms.
> Can you tell what dosage you use in each stage?



Your dosage will depend on your wine's pH. There's a chart on here somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up.


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## Tom_S (Aug 7, 2014)

I suffer from headaches, but rarely ever have one after drinking wine. And I do tend to use plenty of K-meta. 

The one wine I made which I tended to have headaches after drinking was the one batch I tried adding oak to. For some reason the next day I'd wake up with a headache. I've never added oak since. That's not to say that the oak was necessarily the cause of my headaches, or the cause of anyone's headaches, but it might be possible I have a sensitivity to oak. Or maybe not, because no commercial wine has ever given me a headache. It could have been a coincidence.


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## mvcrews (Aug 7, 2014)

Check out this blog post by Tim Vandergrift. It pretty effectively dispels the sulfur enduced head ache myth.

http://www.timvandergrift.com/?p=214


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## Thig (Aug 7, 2014)

Oh no, here we go again.


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## mikewatkins727 (Aug 7, 2014)

*Chart*



Boatboy24 said:


> Your dosage will depend on your wine's pH. There's a chart on here somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up.



Boatboy: Had time to find the chart yet?


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## Boatboy24 (Aug 7, 2014)

mikewatkins727 said:


> Boatboy: Had time to find the chart yet?



Not the one I was looking for, but here is a great write up from MoreWine on sulfite management. There is a chart included in the article. 

http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/so2.pdf


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## 4score (Aug 8, 2014)

How about this article....

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FS/FS-52-W.pdf


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## Boatboy24 (Aug 8, 2014)

4score said:


> How about this article....
> 
> https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FS/FS-52-W.pdf



Nice - Table 1 pretty much covers it!


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## tmmii (Aug 12, 2014)

Tom_S said:


> I suffer from headaches, but rarely ever have one after drinking wine. And I do tend to use plenty of K-meta.
> 
> The one wine I made which I tended to have headaches after drinking was the one batch I tried adding oak to. For some reason the next day I'd wake up with a headache. I've never added oak since. That's not to say that the oak was necessarily the cause of my headaches, or the cause of anyone's headaches, but it might be possible I have a sensitivity to oak. Or maybe not, because no commercial wine has ever given me a headache. It could have been a coincidence.




I got headaches from dragon blood, I probably took in too much meta from the 2-3 bottles I drank at a time. 


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making


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## dralarms (Aug 13, 2014)

I'd say it was the 2 to 3 bottle that gave you the headache, not the kmeta. I'd have a headache after 3 bottles too.


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## WineQuest (Aug 13, 2014)

Just read a topic on this site where calamity cellars had a strong stance on sulfites not being the cause of headaches.


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