Why is oxidation bad?

[Hamsterflu]

I work until almost midnight, you can figure out for yourself when I can't possibly get on here and when I can get on here.

 

[Hamsterflu]

How old are you?

You may want to download a book on Ettiquette and appropriate questions to ask people you don't know.

 

[Hamsterflu]

It seems to me that all the symptoms you described from your "allergy" can also be caused by taking in a big lung full of super powerful sulfite gas. When it happened did you just uncork the bottle and then maybe give it a deep sniff? Alergies I also think of rashes and hives not fluid in the lungs.

Hmmm.... Well, that does make sense. It was the first wine out of the carboy after me adding tablespoons of Potassium sulfite and letting it sit for a few days. And then I swallowed the wine, literally choking it down it was so awful. So I'm sure I got at least one lungful of sulfite gas plus whatever was on my tongue afterwards and the gas coming off that.

 

[Hamsterflu]

Did anybody catch this phrase in Hamsterflu's original post:
"it was only a year later after it sat on the yeast in the carboy."....

So, my question, Hamsterflu, is....how many times has this wine been racked into a new carboy for clearing? If it sat on lees (old yeast) this is what could have caused some of the trouble and it tasting real bad...

Well, the first time was after a year, a few weeks ago, and the next time was last week. So, twice. The first time I dumped it into two plastic tubs I bought for that purpose and rinsed out with water. Then I dumped the dead yeast into a big plastic jar to settle out and pour off some of the wine back into the rest of it. Then I cleaned out the carboy with water and shook it up to get anything off the bottom. Then I dumped the wine back into the carboy and put the fermentation lock back on top, just so it wouldn't have stuff fall down into it. I knew people added sulfite to wine to preserve it or kill yeast or something, so in a few days I found a winemaking place and bought some Potassium bisulfite and added some and swirled it around to dissolve it. Then it seemd to suck the water out of the fermentation lock which also had bisulfite in it, so I added a little more and put the lock back on. Then the lock somehow fell off... I still can't figure that out. But it was exposed to air for at least a day. So I added quite a bit more bisulfite, and put the lock back on. Anyway, there were tablespoons of bisulfite added to the wine. Since I hadn't planned on drinking the wine it didn't matter to me how much I was adding, asnd I didn'ty know how much to add anyway, just more seemed better than less. And then I decided to put some in a plastic water container with a spout on it so I could get it off the little yeast that had settled back out in the carboy. So I added some more bisulfite. The next day or something I thought I would see what it tasted like. And it was awful of course, but it was wine so it would taste awful to me anyway. And it made me feel like I was going to suffocate.
So anyway, it has been taken off the yeast twice, both times after a year of just sitting there in the carboy with the fermentation lock on it.

 

[Leanne]

Well, the obvious answer is to start over and do it right this time. What would you like to try making? Maybe we can talk you through it?

 

[Leanne]

I guess it doesn't matter to me whether you believe the truth or not.
It occurred to me when I left the site last night that you are probably sloshed as you write these things anyway, so you don't realize what you are saying.

Just for information, I cannot drink until next september so I am definitely not sloshed. There are some others on here who rarely drink and I can think of one that just makes wine for the pleasure of making it. We aren't all raging alcoholics. Lol.

 

[Hamsterflu]

I already started a new thread last night about what I started a few days ago, with ingredients and all that. Somehow I think that is going to make people mad but I don't know why it would. Just that everything I say or do here seems to make someone want to kill me.
The last wine I made was toxic for whatever reason. Its not in my carboy any more.
I am fermenting something new.
Its all in that thread.

 

[Wade E]

Where is it that you live that drinking alc is so forbidden? Do you live in a "dry" area?

 

[non-grapenut]

I already started a new thread last night about what I started a few days ago, with ingredients and all that. Somehow I think that is going to make people mad but I don't know why it would. Just that everything I say or do here seems to make someone want to kill me.
The last wine I made was toxic for whatever reason. Its not in my carboy any more.
I am fermenting something new.
Its all in that thread.

I really think your wine tasted bad because it sat on old yeast for 1 year. That can explain many things. As for everything else, let's just move on and get you making wine, ok?