Potassium sorbate
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I've never gone over 1 oz/gallon. Ymmv
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In my bench test, I found that 2 drops of glycerine per ounce was my preference. It works out to about 8.5 mL per gallon. Not much is required. I have since settled on 30 mL per carboy.
An important point with glycerin -- it's very thick and does NOT dissolve well.
I have a measuring glass -- it looks like a tall drinking glass and has 1 oz markings on the side. First I put the desired amount of glycerin in the glass. Then when racking wine before bottling, I start the siphon and direct the wine into the glass (held low in the fermenter) to thin the glycerin and rinse the glass. Even after a minute of streaming wine, the sides of the glass will have a thin film.
Next I use a drill-mounted stirring rod on low power to mix the wine from the bottom without frothing it as the siphon runs. This (hopefully) breaks up the glycerin, and I stir again once the siphon is done. [in the middle I add K-meta]
This process works for me.
I have a measuring glass -- it looks like a tall drinking glass and has 1 oz markings on the side. First I put the desired amount of glycerin in the glass. Then when racking wine before bottling, I start the siphon and direct the wine into the glass (held low in the fermenter) to thin the glycerin and rinse the glass. Even after a minute of streaming wine, the sides of the glass will have a thin film.
Next I use a drill-mounted stirring rod on low power to mix the wine from the bottom without frothing it as the siphon runs. This (hopefully) breaks up the glycerin, and I stir again once the siphon is done. [in the middle I add K-meta]
This process works for me.
Cap Puncher
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Another way to add glycerin to get an even distribution is to rack a 1/2 gallon or gallon jug about 3/4 of the way full. Add the all the glycerin for the batch (if doing 5-6 gallon carboy). Mix well with stir rod. You can hold it up to the light to see if you have all of the glycerin dissolved off the bottom. Then, siphon back into the main batch and stir. I usually do it under an argon blanket. This works really well. I always let small bench trial determine how much glycerin the wine wants (if adding). I try to keep it with the natural realm of what a high glycerol yeast will produce (9-12 g/L). I usually make an assumption my yeast produced 6-7 g/l.
This sounds simple enough.. Got to admit, winemaker81's method went over my head!
So once you stirred in the glycerin and you know it's dissolved completely, do you then bottle immediately after this?
Cap Puncher
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Yep you can. I usually check Free SO2 after and make a final tweak if needed. You could also do it a week before bottling if you want. I
I stir very well when adding the glycerin to the small batch and again when adding to the carboy (I had on batch where I just added glycerin to the carboy and thought it all dissolved. I had variations from bottle to bottle because it didn’t distribute well enough, hence the new 2 stage approach.)
Glycerine is a stable simple molecule. The shelf life should be years.
It was perfectly clear inside my head!
Let's try a visual -- a primary fermenter, a glass containing glycerin, and a siphon hose.
Start the siphon, hold the glass of glycerin inside the fermenter, direct the stream of wine into the glass to clean it of glycerin, thinning the glycerin as it happens.
After the glass is empty, stir the wine to distribute the glycerin, and do it again when the siphon is completed.
Personally, @Cap Puncher's method is easier to understand.
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