Oh Jeez.....

[smikes]

I August I had transfered a strawberry wine into the secondary fermenter.I was working alone with out my wife who serves as my second set of hands (and brain).I had everything cleaned and sanitized with 1/2 inch of Kmet at the bottom of the three gal carboy I was transfering to. I usually leave some in untill I am ready to fill it at that time I would dump it out . An interuption happened but soon got back to my task.As I was filling carboy, I suddenly began wondering if I had emptied the carboy of the Kmet. But I couldn't smell it and couldn't believe that I had forgotten to.


Today I racked again. I openend the airlock and it smelled great! It was to begin with a very high alcohol wine,and when I tried some it tingled on the tounge but had good body, so I thought I was safe.When I got the siphon going, however, smelling the neck of the reciving carboy smelled of Kmet.


Is all lost?


I put it into a5 gal carboy and have degassed a few times with electric drill paddle.Can I continue to do this for a week or so and drive out the extra sulfite?




Or do I dump it and smack myself upside the head?

 

[Wade E]

That would be a lot of solution but its hard to tell. It would be good to get a S02 test kit and I would not give this wine to anyone who might have a reaction towards sulfates. It may be fine though . Have you added any other sulfates to this wine besides that 1/2" on the bottom that may or may not have been there. I think its time to get a free S02 test kit! They are good to have anyway.

 

[smikes]

Well, I did do a titrate test and it changed at 75
ppm. This boxsays that that false high reading can occur with wine containing ascorbic acid or tannin. This receipe did call for tannin.I guess these titrates are not very suitable for reds either.

 

[smikes]

I am bumping this so I can ask another question on this. I will be purchasing a better way to check the sulfite in this,but I am thinking instead of wasting it, could I use it to blend in some wines I haven't added sulfites to?

 

[Rocky_Top]

Well?..... That sounds like something that I would try. I might use it to top off when bulk ageing or use as sulfite. You would need to test the levels when adding to keep from O.D. ing. You would need to bottle ( 1gal bottles? )

 

[Wade E]

I agree with Rockytop as you should know how much S02 is in there before you go mixing in with another batch so it dont ruin that to. It also depends on how big a batch you are adding this to, in example if you are mixing a small amount of this to 6 gallons then you will probably be fine but if you are adding this whole batch to another 1 gallon batch then you might ruin that batch also.

 

[grapeman]

What is the pH of the wine. The higher the pH the higher the free SO2 needs to be anyways. 75 may not be a false reading and is actually not all that high. I would just rack the wine again and let it splash a bit while you do. I would then check the free S02 again and if it is about 50-60 you should be fine.