jim c wrote:
> On Nov 13, 9:24 pm, wino > wrote:
>> On Oct 14, 11:55 am, jim c > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I have searched on the group for this and so I know I stuffed up quite
>>> badly, it's just a matter of how much...
>>> I bottled a beautiful smelling batch of strawberry wine a few days ago
>>> and rinsed the bottles with a sulfite solution before I filled them
>>> with wine. Obviously after rinsing the 36 bottles, most of the rinse
>>> was left over - and - I drained all of the bottles for a few seconds
>>> each holding them upside down till no more drops came out, but I made
>>> the rinse way, waaaaaay too strong. I used a teaspoon of sulfite in a
>>> wine-bottle filled with water so it was 1 teaspoon to 750ml. There
>>> were no residual crystals in the rinse. I don't know why I went so
>>> extreme with the rinse, I'd normally use that much in a gallon for a
>>> rinse solution. I realised while bottling but figured since the
>>> bottles were drained that not too much harm could have occured.
>>> While trying to enjoy a post bottling drink of the wine though I
>>> realised what a terrible mistake I had made. The wine was supposed to
>>> be -in part - for gifts at Christmas, but the taste of sulfite in the
>>> wine was very strong and overpowered the lovely strawberry smell.
>>> I know this won't be ready for Christmas now, but am I likely to ever
>>> have a decent flavour from this wine? Am I panicking too soon?
>>> Eeeeek!
>>> Jim
>> this is the third test to see if i can read the stupid cheracters in
>> order to post a reply.
>> I will stop posting unless this annoyance is
>> corrected !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>
>> Ok, some thoughts:
>> First I don't sterilize new or used bottles.
>> wash the cooties and spiders out.
>>
>> wine at over 11 % kills most any thing in the bottle.
>> Forget the book recommendations as they probably are beer makers on
>> the side.
>>
>> If you drained the bottles, until no drops came out , this will not
>> cause a sulphite smell /taste in the bottled wine..
>>
>> IF you improperly sulphited your wine during the process from crush to
>> bottle, this will account for a "suphhite: smell / taste as you have
>> made a mistake
>> .
>> About 50 ppm per gallon of sulphites is a modest application of
>> sulphites in fermentation, perhaps 20ppm at botteling
>> .
>> It is not possible that properly rinsed 750 ml bottles would retain
>> any significant amount of sulphites.
>> IE:
>> 2 TBLS of KMS + 1 cup water, equals a solution that provides:
>> 1tsp=50ppm of sulphite into one gallon of wine.
>> 1 tsp (1/6 TBL) added to one cup of water = about 6 ppm per tsp in one
>> gallon of wine.
>>
>> Did you sulphite the wine before you bottled it ?
>> Look there for the problem..
>>
>> wino in Ca
>
> The post is completely legible to me And I completely agree with
> your theory, but it doesn't seem born out by my results, I know that
> something is awry. Thanks for the useful info though, it is
> appreciated.
>
> I don't usually sulfite wines apart from 1 campden tablet/gallon in
> the must and a rinse in the bottles at bottling time. I usually add
> nothing even to reds (I tried half the minimum recommended in a recent
> batch I am maturing for comparison). I am pretty dilligent with
> cleaning and sanitising and don't make any wine under 11.5%ABV. I
> tasted this batch before bottling it and have tried 3 bottles since, 1
> left over bottle at bottling time and 2 sealed.
>
> Happily the sulfite taste in the last bottle was less agressive than
> at bottling time, but it still sits a little high in the mix for my
> liking. As far as rinising it goes, my regime is thus:
>
> Clean out all bottles with detergent and water and use bottle brush as
> necessary. Rinse with clean water at least 3 times, agitating heavily
> to make sure there are no suds or bubbles formed or left in the
> bottles. Use a sulfite rinse to swirl around the bottle, then tip it
> out again, bittle held upside down until no rapid drips emerge. While
> bottling, as I fill the current bottle, I invert the next bottle to
> be filled so the last few drops of rinse can escape.
>
> There IS still a sulfite taste however that was not present in the
> carboy. It's not the worlds worst tasting wine. It doesn't taste
> like a book of unstruck matches now, but it does have a chemical
> overtone that wasn't there before. I appreciate that this does not
> make sense - despite the extra strong sulfite rinse - I am confused
> and disappointed enough to report my findings. I bet some of my
> friends would still like a bottle of it for christmas and they might
> not even recognise the sulfuric taste, but I don't feel comfortable
> giving wine away that I wouldn't give to someone with good
> tastebuds...
>
> Jim
Is it possible that you had some undissolved KMBS crystals that got left
behind in the bottles? They might not 'drip' out, and would dose the
filled contents. Just a thought.

Gene