Too much sulphite, eeek!!!

[Omniata]

I appear to have over sulphited my wine by mistake

It is going to be aged for about a year or more and my question is will it reduce effectively over that length of time, or longer

I dare say it will and it's a stupid question but I want a general concensous of opinion before I kick myself



Jim.

[goldseal]

How much have you added?

[Omniata]

Added just shy of two teaspoons when it first stopped, about a month ago, and racked before "putting away". Used pure Sodium metabisulphite...

Had a load of sediment in it so racked it, filtered and added some oak, then chucked in about a teaspoon and a half of campden powder without thinking...


I had a lot on my mind and I wasn't really concentrating

[goldseal]

Please tell me it was a 5 gallon batch

[Omniata]

Sadly it was a one gallon batch

It was a red too, I usually add between one and two teaspoons at the end of the ferment, then maybe a touch more later on as per the tutorials...

I'm hoping seriously that it will drop over time...
I didn't mean to add it, but I've been dealing with a lot of things as of late and really wasn't thinking


Edit: I did add a good handful of oak chips too, I was thinking on account of the inherent possibility of contamination the sulphite will get used up

[Duffbeer]

Pour the wine into a bucket & stir daily to disperse the sulphite, leave covered with a loose lid or towel, with such a large overdose it may take a while, but it will eventually disperse, smell & taste you'll know when it's gone.

[Omniata]

Thanks, I'll just be relieved if I haven't ruined it...

Fingers crossed

[goldseal]

Well, by my reckoning, the 'rule of thumb' dose would have been about 0.5g. I think you have added about 17g.

I'd wait until someone more competent comes along, but I reckon it is grossly over-sulphited.

The only way I know of reducing the sulphite concentration is to shake the heck out of it, splash-rack etc.

[goldseal]

Well, there you go - Karl beat me to it (and is more competent than me )

[Omniata]

Ok, well it'll certainly keep me fit, haha...

I'll rack off half of it into another of the brown demijohns , and shake it like crazy... Could do with proper degassing as well. Then pop it in a bucket I've got rigged with a gauze filter for a few days, stirring a couple of times a day...

[lockwood1956]

I usually add between one and two teaspoons at the end of the ferment, then maybe a touch more later on as per the tutorials...

no Jim....

the tutorials say i campden tablet or 5ml of 10% sulphite solution...

1tsp metabisulphite is enough for 20 gallons of wine yoyu have enooguh in 1 gallon to do 40 gallons, you will NEVER get that back out

by my reckoning you are currently at around 2,000 ppm instead of 50...you could use this wine to sanitise surfaces

[Duffbeer]

you could use this wine to sanitise surfaces

Ah well at least it won't go to waste

[Omniata]

It doesn't seem that bad


Will keep my eye on it, might be a "really long term" wine, hehe

Might do for my son's 18th, he's only 15 month old


Edit: Bob, what else makes up a Campden tablet, or Campden powder then? I've tried looking but to no avail

[lockwood1956]

"carrier" medium

whatever that is

a campden tablet is 7 grains of sulphite, the rest? who knows

I dunno Jim...maybe this wine will come round, perhaps I spoke out of turn.............maybe blend with some non sulphited wine?

[Omniata]

No problem...


I'm going to try my best to get it to a drinkable state, haha, famous last words lol...
I've got a gallon and "a bit" on the go of Blackcurrant wine currently, might tip the extra "bit" in and see what happens...


The carrier is probably a "chalk" of some description, maybe magnesium carbonate or calcium carbonate. Usual bulking agents...


I've done a bit of reading and I've added somewhere in the region of 15 tablets as opposed to the 2 or 3 I intended, checking against my mental notes too
Might work out yet as I think I added a "minor" excess of Vitamin C so it may well balance out well with the good "clog" of oak chippings that is swimming in there...

Fingers crossed


Glad I asked, may well help out future brewers before they make the same mistake