How much kmeta for 3.4 ph wine?

[Nathan_s]

I am working on my first wine bucket, a Chilean Carmenere. I got the bucket on 4/26/18 and they said it was pre-adjusted so I only added bentonite and yeast nutrient, it already had yeast in it. I measured gravity at 21 brix.

On 5/17/18 gravity was 6.5 brix and I racked to a secondary and added medium toast oak spirals. On 5/29/18 I added 3/8 tsp of kmeta, I did not measure by weight.

On 7/21/18 I racked again. I was going to degas it but there was no gas coming out of suspension with the degassing wand and it tasted fine, I degassed it with the wand for ~2 minutes. I then added the clarifying agent kieselsol, waited an hour and added chitosan (I believe that was the order, I followed the instructions). I measured the ph at 3.4 using a calibrated digital meter. Should I add more kmeta at this time?

I am planning on bottling late Sept or early Oct to open up the carboy. Should I add more kmeta when I bottle?

I have a scale with a 0.1g resolution. I'm not opposed to buying a scale with 0.01g resolution if needed for the kmeta.

Is there a reasonably priced way to test the sulphite levels in the wine? I have seen test kits like the below but they say they are only good for plus or minus 30 ppm in red wines which doesn't seem accurate enough. Right now I don't want to spend $100+ on a tool to test sulphite as I just started making wine. I want to make sure I stick with it before I purchase more expensive tools.

https://morewinemaking.com/products/sulphite-test-kit.html

 

[Johnd]

I am working on my first wine bucket, a Chilean Carmenere. I got the bucket on 4/26/18 and they said it was pre-adjusted so I only added bentonite and yeast nutrient, it already had yeast in it. I measured gravity at 21 brix.

On 5/17/18 gravity was 6.5 brix and I racked to a secondary and added medium toast oak spirals. On 5/29/18 I added 3/8 tsp of kmeta, I did not measure by weight.

On 7/21/18 I racked again. I was going to degas it but there was no gas coming out of suspension with the degassing wand and it tasted fine, I degassed it with the wand for ~2 minutes. I then added the clarifying agent kieselsol, waited an hour and added chitosan (I believe that was the order, I followed the instructions). I measured the ph at 3.4 using a calibrated digital meter. Should I add more kmeta at this time?

I am planning on bottling late Sept or early Oct to open up the carboy. Should I add more kmeta when I bottle?

I have a scale with a 0.1g resolution. I'm not opposed to buying a scale with 0.01g resolution if needed for the kmeta.

Is there a reasonably priced way to test the sulphite levels in the wine? I have seen test kits like the below but they say they are only good for plus or minus 30 ppm in red wines which doesn't seem accurate enough. Right now I don't want to spend $100+ on a tool to test sulphite as I just started making wine. I want to make sure I stick with it before I purchase more expensive tools.

https://morewinemaking.com/products/sulphite-test-kit.html

I’m assuming your batch is 5 or 6 gallons, so the 3/8 tsp you added 2 months ago is 50% larger than the 1/4 tsp / 6 gallon dose, which we usually let ride for 3-4 months. My guess would be that you’re fine for the next few months. Without knowing your free sulfite level, you can’t figure out how much or when to add, we use the 1/4 tsp / 6 gallons / 3 months rule. 3.4 being on the lowish end of the spectrum for a red makes you even safer.

 

[Johnd]

Below is the chart we use to target sulfite levels for a given pH for reds and whites. At 3.4 pH, you only need 20 ppm, I’d be willing to guess that you’re probably still well above 50 ppm.

 

[salcoco]

well you can spend the money on measuring so2. I did. I went from the simple colored wine kits to microprocessor measurement instruments. ii found that the variance in so2 overtime made the measurement cumbersome and without really any benefit. what is the difference of 30ppm versus 50ppm you can't smell the difference so why not go by the basic measurement of 1/4tsp per five gallons. do this after racking of off gross lees usually three days post fermentation then again in three months unless racking sooner then again at bottling. if you look at the chart above this will give you 50ppm at about any ph level.Save your money and by powder form K-meta and just set up a periodic schedule. works great.

 

[sour_grapes]

On 5/17/18 gravity was 6.5 brix and I racked to a secondary and added medium toast oak spirals. On 5/29/18 I added 3/8 tsp of kmeta, I did not measure by weight.

Just curious: What was your sugar level on 5/29, when you added the kmeta?

 

[Nathan_s]

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll just follow the 1/4 tsp every 3 months rule. I will throw in another 1/4 tsp during bottling in October.

I didn’t measure sugar again on 5/29 as my fg was 0.991 on 5/17 based on the Brix to fg calculator on brewers friend so I assumed it was done fermenting.

 

[sour_grapes]

On 5/17/18 gravity was 6.5 brix and I racked to a secondary and added medium toast oak spirals.

my fg was 0.991 on 5/17 based on the Brix to fg calculator on brewers friend so I assumed it was done fermenting.

Color me confused!

If, indeed, your SG was 0.991, then I would agree you were finished fermenting.

 

[Nathan_s]

I measured that with a refractometer and measured 6.5 directly. I should have corrected it for alcohol before posting. I can see that it was misleading the way I stated it.