So in just a few months I will celebrate 2 years in this Hobby/Obsession......
Being a Chemist by trade I am always thinking about things. Why is it done this way and is there a better way to do it than this. So with that said here is todays little experimental results that may just have you thinking about your own winemaking practices.
The main thing I noticed immediately with my wines when I started opening them was the bouquet I smelled upon opening was not fruit, but SULFUR.....
In the beginning, I followed the standard rule of adding 1/8 tsp every 90 days while bulk aging. As I opened those wines after first 12 then 18 months I continued to notice the smell of sulfur and knew that something must be not quite right with this procedure.
I started testing for sulfites about 8 months ago using Accuvin test kits. When these seemed to be less than reliable I looked for something better and purchased an inexpensive A/O Rig. This unit has provided much more accurate results. It does have a little bit of a learning curve to get the endpoint down but once you do that it is quite accurate.
I stopped adding additional amounts of Sulfite past the supplied packet with my wines once I got the A/O Rig. I have been slowly bottling things over the last 6 months. Some had 2-3 additions of sulfite then finally only 1 extra addition of sulfite past the supplied packet. All had plenty of sulfite without adding any thing more than what I had already added.
This week I tested my first batch that has bulk aged for 8 months. I added only the supplied packet and then its been sitting in a carboy with an airlock or a stopper in it once the temps cooled down in the winery.
The results were very interesting. The pH of the wine was 3.3 which by the charts meant I needed only 26ppm of free sulfite.
My analysis after 8 months was 18ppm! Only 8 ppm down from the charts!
Using the Sulfite Calculator I only needed to add 0.36GM of K-Meta powder. Thats not a lot!
Since I was going to filter this batch with my new whole house filtering apparatus and I was going to be running sulfite sanitizing solution through the system I was wondering how this might affect the sulfite value in the end.
Would the sulfite solution in the filter, housing, tubing etc affect the sulfite value? What about the oxidation by running it all through the filter?
What would the bottom line be?
Today I got my answer.
I reanalyzed the wine after running it through the whole house filter which had been sanitized by running 10% sulfite solution through it.
The final value for free sulfite after running it through the filtration system had gone from 18 to 30 ppm without adding any extra sulfite! The wine was now perfectly in range for bottling without adding any extra sulfite.
So what do you take away from this? First, test your sulfite levels! Don't add sulfites blindly every 90 days. Its too much. Secondly test only after you have done all your wine manipulations like filtering. They can ADD sulfite as in this instance.
Sulfite is a very important additive but should be monitored closely! Do not add it unless you are sure you really need it!
Being a Chemist by trade I am always thinking about things. Why is it done this way and is there a better way to do it than this. So with that said here is todays little experimental results that may just have you thinking about your own winemaking practices.
The main thing I noticed immediately with my wines when I started opening them was the bouquet I smelled upon opening was not fruit, but SULFUR.....
In the beginning, I followed the standard rule of adding 1/8 tsp every 90 days while bulk aging. As I opened those wines after first 12 then 18 months I continued to notice the smell of sulfur and knew that something must be not quite right with this procedure.
I started testing for sulfites about 8 months ago using Accuvin test kits. When these seemed to be less than reliable I looked for something better and purchased an inexpensive A/O Rig. This unit has provided much more accurate results. It does have a little bit of a learning curve to get the endpoint down but once you do that it is quite accurate.
I stopped adding additional amounts of Sulfite past the supplied packet with my wines once I got the A/O Rig. I have been slowly bottling things over the last 6 months. Some had 2-3 additions of sulfite then finally only 1 extra addition of sulfite past the supplied packet. All had plenty of sulfite without adding any thing more than what I had already added.
This week I tested my first batch that has bulk aged for 8 months. I added only the supplied packet and then its been sitting in a carboy with an airlock or a stopper in it once the temps cooled down in the winery.
The results were very interesting. The pH of the wine was 3.3 which by the charts meant I needed only 26ppm of free sulfite.
My analysis after 8 months was 18ppm! Only 8 ppm down from the charts!
Using the Sulfite Calculator I only needed to add 0.36GM of K-Meta powder. Thats not a lot!
Since I was going to filter this batch with my new whole house filtering apparatus and I was going to be running sulfite sanitizing solution through the system I was wondering how this might affect the sulfite value in the end.
Would the sulfite solution in the filter, housing, tubing etc affect the sulfite value? What about the oxidation by running it all through the filter?
What would the bottom line be?
Today I got my answer.
I reanalyzed the wine after running it through the whole house filter which had been sanitized by running 10% sulfite solution through it.
The final value for free sulfite after running it through the filtration system had gone from 18 to 30 ppm without adding any extra sulfite! The wine was now perfectly in range for bottling without adding any extra sulfite.
So what do you take away from this? First, test your sulfite levels! Don't add sulfites blindly every 90 days. Its too much. Secondly test only after you have done all your wine manipulations like filtering. They can ADD sulfite as in this instance.
Sulfite is a very important additive but should be monitored closely! Do not add it unless you are sure you really need it!
