# Bitter taste to my Wine



## Akarupert (Dec 2, 2012)

I use Potassium Meta-Bisulfate as a cleaning/killing agent in my wine making and, as a result, my wine has a bitter back taste to it.

Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of this bitter back-bite in finished wine?

Thanks,


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## Rocky (Dec 2, 2012)

AKA, a little more information would help us help you. The amounts of K-meta one uses to sanitize equipment and to stabilize wine are markedly different. I use 3 _tablespoons_ in one gallon of water for a sanitizing solution for equipment and I use 1/4 _teaspoon_ in 5-6 gallons of wine for stabilization. What did you do? 

Some other questions that would help; Is this from a kit, fresh grapes or a juice bucket? What variety of wine is it? What were the initial and final SGs? When did you start the wine? What have you added to the wine?

If it is something like a overdose of K-meta, a couple of splash rackings would help. Try taking a small quantity of the wine (perhaps half a 750 ml bottle), hold your hand over the top and shake the bottle a few time to expel any gasses. If you get a strong sulfur odor, it is probably too much K-meta. Repeated shakings would simulate splash racking so see if that helps in getting rid of the bitter back taste.

If this is a batch of wine you just completed, it may just be the youth of the wine and that will mellow out with aging.


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## cpfan (Dec 2, 2012)

Akarupert said:


> I use Potassium Meta-Bisulfate as a cleaning/killing agent in my wine making and, as a result, my wine has a bitter back taste to it.
> 
> Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of this bitter back-bite in finished wine?
> 
> Thanks,


It could also be dissolved CO2. Did you degas the wine? If so, how?

Also the use of K-meta does not directly lead to a bitter result. Unless, as Rocky pointed out you over-dosed. Most winemakers use K-meta as a sanitizer and additive to wine without that bitter back taste.

So getting a good answer will probably be in the details. Please provide as many as possible.

Steve


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## Akarupert (Dec 2, 2012)

Testing...


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## Akarupert (Dec 2, 2012)

I wrote a whole response and it didn't post - got "stored". here I go again:

This is a 3-year old batch of Cabernet Franc that was bottled after the second year. It was a 5-6 gallon batch from juice and wineskins that was racked three times. I only used 1/4 teaspoon of potassium meta-bisulfate for each racking in a 6-gallon glass carboy. No sulfur smell, no degassing (whatever that is).

It is a good Cabernet Franc - the best I have ever made. I have tried decanting for a long period and even activated charcoal.


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## Akarupert (Dec 2, 2012)

Also. I can't find my original and final SGs but the alcohol ran towards the high end on this batch.


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## Wiz (Dec 3, 2012)

Did you add oak?


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## winemaker_3352 (Dec 4, 2012)

K-meta wouldn't give off a bitter taste it will taste more like sulphur.

Bitter taste could just be a young red wine.

Did you add any tannins or oak in?


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## ShawnDTurner (Dec 4, 2012)

Jon ... I agree with you sounds young to me


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## robie (Dec 4, 2012)

In my experience, after 3 years it shouldn't be bitter from being still green (young).

Kmeta shouldn't give the wine a bitter taste, but it should give it a sulfur taste.

Since you don't know what degassing is, that could be the problem. Does the wine taste fizzy at the end of your tongue? However, you did say you decanted it. But CO2 can give a wine a bitter taste, like some sparkling wines.

You said the wine came from juice and wine skins, was it a kit wine or was it from fresh grapes?

How did it taste before you bottled it?


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