How to save a wine with too much Potasium Metabisulfate

[Main man]

I inadvertently added too much (4x) Potasium Metabilsulfate to my must today after crushing. What can I do to save it?

 

[ibglowin]

Lots and lots of splash racking. Get as much air as you can into the must. If you have added the yeast give it 24hours and look for signs of fermentation. If none, repeat the process. You may need to add more yeast.

 

[Main man]

I just crushed & destemmed it today and have not added the yeast yet. Are you saying I should splash it at this stage? My original plan was to cold soak for a few days.

 

[ibglowin]

Yes, you still need to get as much air into it so the sulfite will dissipate.

 

[CoteRotie]

Quickly go and get 3X more grapes and crush them into the mix

 

[dralarms]

How much did you actually use and how big is the batch

 

[Main man]

2 ounces in 18 gallons of must

 

[dralarms]

Give it a good stir, introducing as much oxygen as you can and pitch the yeast. it should be fine.

 

[wood1954]

I did something very similar in 2017, splash racked a lot and because my batch was only 6 gallons I bought a red wine kit and blended them together. It turned out fine. A little tart as it didn’t go thru MLF. Good luck.

 

[CoteRotie]

Actually my joke above notwithstanding, you CAN get rid of SO2 in your must by adding the correct amount of hydrogen peroxide. You have to be very careful doing it, and it may be more trouble than it's worth, but it's an alternative to just splash racking. More info here: https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/TN06.pdf

You might want to splash rack and give your wine some time, and if the free SO2 is still high, consider adding some H2O2.