Did I completely ruin my wine? Too much K-Meta

[Krakatoa]

Hello,

I am new to wine making and on my 3rd kit. It is an expensive Master Vintner Chilean Carmenere. I joined this forum about 3 weeks ago and started to understand the importance to add K-Meta before bottling. However, in my eagerness to bottle last night, I made a complete ***** newbie mistake. I added 6, yes 6 separate 1/4 tsp dosings of K-Meta to my 6 gallon carboy before bottling last night. Today, I realized I should have added only one 1/4 tsp for the entire 6 gallons (so I have 6x the recommended amount). All 30 bottles are corked and sitting up. Did I completely kill my entire batch? Anything to do to recover the wine? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (I love the forum and really am enjoying this hobby and the learning process!)

Thank you!

 

[cmason1957]

Oh my! 6X to much and then bottled. It will dissapate, eventually. Profanity 5 or 6 years from now, since bottled. I think I would uncork, pour into a bucket, slosh a few times between two buckets and then rebottle.

 

[BigDaveK]

Might help...

https://winemakermag.com/wine-wizard/cures-to-an-oversulfited-wine

 

[Rice_Guy]

Legal limit is 200mg per liter, but you aren’t commercial so you can go over this.
Could you taste it, the reality is that there are sulphites in lots of foods and ones as dried fruit are above 200ppm. If you can’t taste it does it matter? Next is your partner in wine a super taster, they might detect it.
Sulphites react with oxidizers, the industry answer would be add hydrogen peroxide. BUT time will bring about oxidation too.,,, as @cmason1957 said wait it out?

welcome to WMT

 

[winemaker81]

Give the wine 2 months, then open a bottle. IF you don't smell burnt match, don't worry about it. Yeah, you over-did the K-meta, but this has taught you a valuable lesson.

If the wine smells like burnt match, then unbottle, stir for 2 minutes (change direction every 30 seconds), and rebottle.

 

[Johnd]

Hydrogen peroxide will completely remove sulfite from your wine. Do a little research to see what dosage is required, dump all your wine back into the carboy, apply the proper dosage of hydrogen peroxide, add 1/4 tsp sulfite to the 6 gallon carboy, go right back into the same bottles. All that will be lost are the corks and a little time. Waiting for that amount to dissipate in a corked bottle will take a very long time.

 

[Krakatoa]

Thank you all for your responses. This forum is awesome.

 

[Joe B.]

I over sulfated my whole 2021 vintage and with help from advice on this forum it is turning out just fine. I did about 3 1/2 times the recommended dosage. I would go with Winemaker 81 advice and see how it goes from there. I boxed mine between 5 gallon buckets to give it air. Then had no choice but to have a little patience.

 

[winemaker81]

According to the following site, the USA allows up to 350 mg/l, and wines typically have ~80 mg/liter. Assuming this is correct, wine can be dosed over 4 times normal and still be safe for consumption.

https://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/whats-in-wine/sulfites
The low effort solution is to pop a cork in a couple of months, sniff, and taste. If you don't smell burnt match and the wine tastes fine, it's probably ok.

If you do smell burnt match? @Johnd's advice is better than mine as peroxide will remove the excess sulfite. The Australian Wine Research Institute has an H2O2 calculator.

https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/calculators/hydrogen_peroxide/

 

[Applewineguy]

According to the following site, the USA allows up to 350 mg/l, and wines typically have ~80 mg/liter. Assuming this is correct, wine can be dosed over 4 times normal and still be safe for consumption.

https://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/whats-in-wine/sulfites
The low effort solution is to pop a cork in a couple of months, sniff, and taste. If you don't smell burnt match and the wine tastes fine, it's probably ok.

If you do smell burnt match? @Johnd's advice is better than mine as peroxide will remove the excess sulfite. The Australian Wine Research Institute has an H2O2 calculator.

https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/calculators/hydrogen_peroxide/

How much sulphite should be added per gallon before bottling? I keep reading different numbers and bottled a batch of red and some bottles turned amber and rear of sulphite and others are still red and okay.

 

[Rice_Guy]

@Applewineguy this sounds like hot spots. My process when I add a gram or two of a good chemical is to thin it out by mixing into 100ml of wine and then adding that to the carboy.
To how much? Most racking operations get 0.3gm of powder per gallon. I will run strong on this with a high pH ex 0.4gm / gallon pH 3.6.

 

[winemaker81]

How much sulphite should be added per gallon before bottling? I keep reading different numbers and bottled a batch of red and some bottles turned amber and rear of sulphite and others are still red and okay.

The recommended dosage is 1/4 tsp K-meta per 19-23 liters of wine.

I agree with David (@Rice_Guy), it sounds like you didn't have the K-meta well mixed.

 

[Applewineguy]

The recommended dosage is 1/4 tsp K-meta per 19-23 liters of wine.

I agree with David (@Rice_Guy), it sounds like you didn't have the K-meta well mixed.

Yep I pulled all the corks and remixed and now it's good across the whole batch.
Yes 1/4 tsp per 23l is what it says on my package of kmeta but how would you divide that for a single gallon batch?

 

[Jovimaple]

Yep I pulled all the corks and remixed and now it's good across the whole batch.
Yes 1/4 tsp per 23l is what it says on my package of kmeta but how would you divide that for a single gallon batch?

I use campden tablets (1 crushed tablet per gallon) for less than 3 gallons.

An alternative is to measure 3 ounces of wine, mix in 1/8 tsp kmeta (the recommended dose for 3 gallons), and then add 1/3 of the mixed wine back into the carboy or bucket of wine. (It doesn't have to be 3 ounces - the point is to have enough liquid to dissolve the kmeta and then to be able to easily split it into 3.)

 

[winemaker81]

Yes 1/4 tsp per 23l is what it says on my package of kmeta but how would you divide that for a single gallon batch?

I do what Joni said -- since I have numerous 4 liter jugs (overage for larger batches), I dissolve 1/4 tsp in 5 or 6 Tbsp water, then add 1 Tbsp to each jug. I use the Tbsp measure because it's handy -- use whatever makes sense for your situation.

 

[Rocky]

Yep I pulled all the corks and remixed and now it's good across the whole batch.
Yes 1/4 tsp per 23l is what it says on my package of kmeta but how would you divide that for a single gallon batch?

I suggest you are making this too complicated. Yes, 1/4 t. is the recommended dose for 6 gallons. When I am adding to 5 gallons, I use a "scant" 1/4 t. When adding to a 1 gallon jug, I use my 1/4 t. measuring spoon and fill it about a quarter full. I don't think the dose shown on the package is cast in stone.

However, if you are bent on the exact amount, this may help:

https://www.amazon.com/TILUCK-Measu...8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[winemaker81]

I suggest you are making this too complicated. Yes, 1/4 t. is the recommended dose for 6 gallons. When I am adding to 5 gallons, I use a "scant" 1/4 t. When adding to a 1 gallon jug, I use my 1/4 t. measuring spoon and fill it about a quarter full. I don't think the dose shown on the package is cast in stone.

That works. Personally, I'd rather than a bit too much K-meta than too little.

My only problem is that my measuring spoons are slanted on the side, so estimating part of 1/4 tsp is not going to work well. I've overdosed K-meta a few times and got the burnt match smell, so I lean towards making the dosage more accurate.

 

[Raptor99]

I use campden tablets (1 crushed tablet per gallon) for less than 3 gallons.

An alternative is to measure 3 ounces of wine, mix in 1/8 tsp kmeta (the recommended dose for 3 gallons), and then add 1/3 of the mixed wine back into the carboy or bucket of wine. (It doesn't have to be 3 ounces - the point is to have enough liquid to dissolve the kmeta and then to be able to easily split it into 3.)

Or just get a small gram scale like this: Amazon.com for about $11. I have one of these, and I use it all the time.

Then you can weigh out 0.3 g Kmeta for 1 gallon, or whatever you want. For measuring out small amounts of Kmeta, nutrients, etc., I find that measuring by weight rather than volume is much easier, more flexible, and more accurate.