What to do about too much sulphite?

[Petrovitch]

I started a quince wine using a different method (chop fruit and stick in bucket rather than simmer and strain) and due to my paranoia about infection (quinces always seem to be covered in holes, blemishes, bits of mould, fur and assorted rubbish) I think I overdid the sulphite...

I sprayed the fruit as I went along chopping them with a 10% solution and then added a heaped teaspoon of sodium metabisulphite to the fruit plus 4L water, left it overnight, pithched a good 200ml of active yeast from the previous quince wine batch... and bugger all has happened! It's been 3 days now, I've roused it a couple of times and I'm 99% sure the yeast has failed.

I've just bought another pack of the same yeast (Gervin D) and started a starter, but before I pitch it in a day or so is there anything I can do to get the sulphite levels down? I've stirred it a couple of times to try and dispurse any SO2 but you can still smell the sulphur and I'm worried about a) introducing nasties by fiddling too much and b) killing another batch of yeast.

Arg! Any help would be much appreciated, I haven't got any more quinces!

[NorthernWiner]

Sulphite scavenges oxygen, so purposely introducing oxygen by stirring vigorously will go a long way toward reducing sulphite levels. Make up plenty of starter and make sure it's bubbling away before adding it to your must.

What's done is done, but in the future you really don't need to be all that concerned about your fruit becoming contaminated, unless there is some reason to (visible mould, etc). This is especially true of fresh fruit you have picked yourself. In fact, if it's fresh and hasn't sat around any more than 24 hours after picking, you may not need to add any sulphite at all. Fermentation is nothing more than controlled spoilage, and by adding preservatives in the form of sulphite, you're inhibiting the process.

[mcblades]

Hi

I think Quince wine sounds like an excellent prospect. I made quince jelly for the first time last year and think a sauterne style dessert wine would be quite possible (the fragrance of quinces is exceptional).

As I don't have any quinces this year I think I will try with the quince jelly made last year and see what happens.

Regarding the oversulphiting I had a similar problem with an apple wine last year. I added the must to a container that I had previously added sulphite to to keep fresh but forgot to wash out before adding the juice. Lots of stirring and patience and pitching several times finally got it started. If Sulphite is the only problem with the must then time and agitation should do the trick.

Also, don't forget the pectolase!

good luck

Mark

[Petrovitch]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to continue aerating all day today and pitch a good 1/2 pint of very active starter tonight and see how it goes.

NorthernWiner - a lot of the fruit were damaged or had infected parts hence my paranoia, last year I didn't bother making any wine only jelly and cheese as there were very few quinces and they were all a bit knackered. I think the tree is in need of a decent prune... However in future I will be more careful with the sulphite!

mcblades a sauterne style desert wine does indeed sound delicious! As you say the fragrance is gorgeous. This is my first go at quince tho so I decided on a generic 10-11%, medium wine - first recipe uses a modified version of Mr Berry's recipe and this batch is just a pulp fermentation on 2kg fruit. I used the left over pulp from the first batch to make a load of quince jelly and cheese

There is plenty of pectolase in both batches but apparently this can still take an incredibly long time to clear and finish. Oh well another demijohn to hide under the stairs for a year

[Petrovitch]

Well this has very slowly started... I ended up aerating for 3 days and pitching 1L worth of very active starter, and a week later the S.G. had dropped from 1.080 to 1.060 so the yeast has managed to get a bit of a start. I'll leave it for another week then rack off, and then probably hide it to stop me from worrying constantly that I've buggered up a third of all my quinces

Moral of the story = when you switch from Campden tablets to powdered metabisulphite be much more careful...

[mcblades]

just got hold of 10kg of quinces from a friend. Think I will freeze and jjuice them then split 50:50 between cyder and wine.

Is the quince juice v bitter (ie need a dessert style wine) or do you think it will be OK as a straight dry white/cyder

good luck with yours

mark

[TStarr]

Did a Quince wine from steam juiced quinces last year - one hell of an aroma- takes forever to finish the fermentation, and a bucket of pectolase to get clear (ok 4 teaspoons). Thinking of doing a Crab apple / Quince juice mix this year as the Quince was soooo overwhelming - and will hopefully remember to add the pectolase before fermentation this time.

[Petrovitch]

just got hold of 10kg of quinces from a friend. Think I will freeze and jjuice them then split 50:50 between cyder and wine.

Is the quince juice v bitter (ie need a dessert style wine) or do you think it will be OK as a straight dry white/cyder

good luck with yours

mark

What do you mean by quince cyder? Apple juice blended with quince juice? That would be different...

If you're going to juice the quinces I would dilute it as they have such a strong citrus aroma and a lot of acidity. Ususal quantities are from 3lbs/15 quinces to 6lbs or more for a gallon ranging from medium to sweet desert style. Quince is a flavour profile that needs some residual sweetness and mouthfeel to bring out its best, although I have heard of people making dry whites with a hint of quince, and you could possible 'dry-hop' a nearly finished wine with quince pieces.

[mcblades]

Well, I got about 4l of juice out of the defrosted quinces when pressed.

I have posted the final recipe in the quince thread in the fruit wine making forum

cheers

Mark

[Petrovitch]

I have never been so happy to come home to a blown airlock

2 weeks later and this is now fermenting happily away, and the first batch is clearing nciely to a wonderful golden hue and smells amazing.

Good luck with that recipe mcblades looks very tasty, I'll be keeping an eye on your thread

Tstarr - I've got an absolute shed load of different crabapple wines on the go, might well do a bit of blending with one of the quince wines next year...