Mosti Mondiale MM Renaissance Italian Pinot Grigio

[ibglowin]

Yea, I am not a big Timmy V or Winexpert fan.....

But I do like Daniel Pambianchi and his book "Techniques in Home Winemaking"

Potassium Sorbate is a widely accepted food and beverage additive used to inhibit growth of yeast and mold.

In winemaking, its main application is in stabilizing wines with residual sugar, specifically to prevent renewed yeast activity and fermentation once the wine is bottled. Any fermentable residual sugar can potentially restart fermentation if there is any yeast. It is therefore good practice to use potassium sorbate in making sweet wines.

It in not required for properly sulfited dry wines where the residual sugar content is almost nil.

Wine kits very often include potassium sorbate as novice winemakers often unintentionally do not ferment the wine to dryness and then bottle prematurely.

I have made this kit and the supplied potassium sorbate turned the wine into liquid bubble gum for a full year. If the wine is fermented to dry and the specific gravity is checked using a hydrometer I do not recommend using the supplied potassium sorbate.

 

[bcfryer]

SG is at .0996 and bubbling has stopped. I will check the SG again tomorrow at lunch time andif at .0996 will move on. Rack , add kit supplied potassium metabisulphate, degass and top off. Then put on an air lock half filledwith a solution of sodium metabisulphate. Let er sit for 10 weeks then the two clearing additiveswill hold the sorbate.


Any advantage if I feel the wine is clear enough for me , to omitthe clearing additives all together. Haveyou been there done that?

 

[PeterZ]

I bulk age my wines, and filter most, so I rarely use the clearing agents that come with the kit. It all depends on how patient you are.

 

[Bartman]

SG is at .0996 and bubbling has stopped. I will check the SG again tomorrow at lunch time andif at .0996 will move on. Rack , add kit supplied potassium metabisulphate, degass and top off. Then put on an air lock half filledwith a solution of sodium metabisulphate. Let er sit for 10 weeks then the two clearing additiveswill hold the sorbate.


Any advantage if I feel the wine is clear enough for me , to omitthe clearing additives all together. Haveyou been there done that?

I no longer use any clearing agents, including bentonite, on any but the most difficult white wine kits, letting gravity and time clear my wines - 6 months to 1 year bulk aging also means no need to degass, in my experience.
I still haven't determined if it makes a difference in the finished wine, but I *feel* that it should, so does that count?

 

[ibglowin]

Like Peter said fining agents are a personal choice. If you want to bottle sooner rather than later then use them. If you are patient it will usually clear on its own. The other thing is to keep the wine warm (easy to do in your neck of the woods) until you degas the wine. read up on degassing your wine or watch Georges video on how to do it. If the wine is not properly degassed, it will not clear. Once it is degassed and clear you can let the temps fall (if need be).

 

[v1rotate]

Yea, I am not a big Timmy V or Winexpert fan.....



But I do like Daniel Pambianchi and his book "Techniques in Home Winemaking"



Potassium Sorbate is a widely accepted food and beverage additive used to inhibit growth of yeast and mold.



In winemaking, its main application is in stabilizing wines with residual sugar, specifically to prevent renewed yeast activity and fermentation once the wine is bottled. Any fermentable residual sugar can potentially restart fermentation if there is any yeast. It is therefore good practice to use potassium sorbate in making sweet wines.



It in not required for properly sulfited dry wines where the residual sugar content is almost nil.



Wine kits very often include potassium sorbate as novice winemakers often unintentionally do not ferment the wine to dryness and then bottle prematurely.



I have made this kit and the supplied potassium sorbate turned the wine into liquid bubble gum for a full year. If the wine is fermented to dry and the specific gravity is checked using a hydrometer I do not recommend using the supplied potassium sorbate.

I see your reasoning, Mike. I respect Pambianchi and will have to rethink my sorbate additions. The only kits where I have noticed the bubble gum flavor were early on when I was rushing through the process and didn't degas adequately. I have used sorbate frequently and don't notice any off flavor any more. Some people are more sensitive to the flavor than I, of course. Since I bottle on a 6 month schedule and check the free sulfite levels periodically I can probably omit the sorbate safely, I suppose.

 

[ibglowin]

Thanks Jim,

I have only had the bad reaction on the early Mosti Kits I did. I tasted them before the addition and was very happy with the flavor and taste profile at 3 months bulk age. I added the sorbate and re-tasted and it had pretty much ruined the wine and it took a full 12 months before it was approachable again. I have not experienced the problem on any Cellar Craft kits that I added the sorbate into as they had the "flavour reserve" pack.

Don't know what could be the difference between the two but something went very very wrong with the Mosti sorbate addition. I had several other people taste it as well and all said it had a very funky smell and after taste in their mouths.

Bottom line I just don't use it unless I have to and if I do use it I will only use a package that came with a Cellar Craft kit.