Wine was clear then added finings..

[Ohio Bob]

Do you have to add K-meta? I'm new and have no idea what this is?
I made an elderflower wine 7 years ago with nothing except yeast and elderflower.
I only lost one bottle that leaked out of 20.
I found a few bottles in the cellar last week and it still tastes like elderflower. Albeit not as sparkling (I used a champagne yeast) as it was the first year after it was made and considerably (probably too dry) dryer.

What did k-Meta do and why is it better than finings and the other thingy that comes with the finings in a kit. ??

Kmeta is potassium metabisulfite (the K is the chemical symbol for potassium). It is highly recommended to be added at approximately 3 month intervals when aging wine. It prevents bacterial infection as well as fend off oxidation of the wine.

Note that champagne yeast is just the name of the yeast. If you want a true champagne, there is a protocol for adding sugar and letting the wine restart fermentation, but in the bottle. Also note that it is extremely dangerous to do this in non-champagne bottles, because a fair amount of CO2 pressure is generated. The fact that you noted your wine as sparkling makes me think you had some residual CO2 in your wine when it was bottled. This acted as a preservative, so your lack of Kmeta did not result in a spoiled wine. But it is really not a good idea.

 

[Phoenix]

K-meta and fining agents are completely different entities with completely different purposes and effects.

K-meta is an antioxidant, anti-microbial, and preservative. It neutralizes contaminants (including O2) by combining with them and rendering them harmless. It kills or stunts many hostile microbial lifeforms, including wild yeast, and generally acts as a preservative. Wines made without sulfites typically have a shorter shelf life.

Fining agents are various types of charged ions that attract particles in the wine and cause them to precipitate. Most wines clear with time, although not all.

Kits contain fining agents because of the short timeline, typically 4 to 8 weeks. Very few wines will clear in that time.

Thank you. Very clear and informative.

 

[Phoenix]

Kmeta is potassium metabisulfite (the K is the chemical symbol for potassium). It is highly recommended to be added at approximately 3 month intervals when aging wine. It prevents bacterial infection as well as fend off oxidation of the wine.

Note that champagne yeast is just the name of the yeast. If you want a true champagne, there is a protocol for adding sugar and letting the wine restart fermentation, but in the bottle. Also note that it is extremely dangerous to do this in non-champagne bottles, because a fair amount of CO2 pressure is generated. The fact that you noted your wine as sparkling makes me think you had some residual CO2 in your wine when it was bottled. This acted as a preservative, so your lack of Kmeta did not result in a spoiled wine. But it is really not a good idea.

I did add sugar to the bottle when bottling. And I did use champagne bottles

 

[Jusatele]

there are styles fruit wines I do that I "kill the fermentation" that is so I do not need to back sweeten. and I am always looking for a yeast that does not ferment to high percentage wine for fruit wines. Fruit wines can spoil easy in long ageings.
the reason I just said that is the discussion has been a lot about finings. there effect and when to use them. An opinion can be made that we use finings to allow us to craft wines to where we want them.

so let me sum up my thoughts here. to yeast and bacteria the sugar in wine is a food source. As long as they are present then things can get into the wine and do what ever those things do. The OP was about forgetting to add stuff (finings and others) during primary. How that effects the wine is to bee seen in the results. Which will add to his knowledge base. But this brought out a great discussion with a lot of good advice being presented. That is a good thing.