# Forgot to add Sorbate



## John Prince (Dec 31, 2012)

Forgot to add sorbate before bottling two batches of Summer Breeze. Should I drink the 60 bottles next week or relax and spread it out over two weeks?


----------



## Pumpkinman (Dec 31, 2012)

Chug em! Or send them here and I'll make sure that they get disposed of properly...we don't want anyone to get hurt...lol


----------



## Arne (Dec 31, 2012)

Keep em cold and they will last quite a while without refermenting. Or you can buy some more corks, dump em back in a primary or carboy, sorbate, then rebottle. Arne.


----------



## ColdClimateWines (Dec 31, 2012)

John do you know what your residual sugar or S.G. was prior to bottling. Potassium Sorbate is usually used with backsweetned wines. Generally meta bisulfite about 50 -70 ppm is sufficient depending on Ph of wine. Slight nuance between the two meta kills, sorbate restricts reproduction of organisms e.g. yeast.


----------



## cpfan (Dec 31, 2012)

John Prince said:


> Forgot to add sorbate before bottling two batches of Summer Breeze. Should I drink the 60 bottles next week or relax and spread it out over two weeks?


OK, I'll bite what is "Summer Breeze"?

If you mean the Mosti Mondiale kit, why isn't this in the Kit section?

More importantly...did you sweeten it? When did you sweeten it? What did you sweeten with?

If you didn't sweeten it, the sorbate is not required.

If you sweetened it a week or more ago, then it probably would have started to re-ferment by now.

If it is the MM kit, then the instructions should have said to add the included sorbate prior to adding the fruit flavour & sweeteners. So you have the sorbate packages sitting on the workbench?

Steve


----------



## Gr8zins (Jan 1, 2013)

I ferment all my wines dry and do not back sweeten, therefore I have stopped using sorbate. I like to do malolactic and sorbate would destroy the flavor if present. i guess if I were back sweetening there's no choice but to use the sobrate or keep very cold.


----------



## MN_Winemaker (Apr 3, 2013)

John, I'm glad to find this thread. I woke up the other night remenbering that I forgot something. I had just bottled 2 gals. of Alexanders Pinot Noir that I started in Sep-12. Bottled a few days ago and did not back sweeten or add any sorbate. SG was .995. Sounds like I should be OK and will not have an unscheduled wine party. I plan to let it sit in the bottles a few more months and then give it a taste test.


----------



## Runningwolf (Apr 3, 2013)

MN_Winemaker, yes you'll be fine.

John, Im assuming this was something you made from scratch and have 4-5 cases of. If this is the case I would open them all and gently dump back into two carboys. Add the appropriate sorbat. Did you add meta before bottling? If not and you cannot measure what your S02 is, I would add another 1/4tsp per carboy (5-6gal).


----------



## jswordy (Apr 4, 2013)

I agree on the sweet/dry thing. K meta with dry wine will keep it a long time. Best to add sorbate to help preserve sweet wine longer.

Dan has wonderful suggestions. If you did k meta and the wine is dry, I'd think you probably can leave it be. But if it has residual sugar or has been back sweetened, Dan's approach is the prudent one.


----------

