Man has been adding sulfur dioxide to wine for more than a thousand
years. A
large body of knowledge exists on the use of sulfur dioxide in wine
and in many
other food products. The benefits of using sulfur dioxide are well
documented,
and its positive effects are indisputable.

I think your reference to time may be somewhat exaggerated. It's
positive effects are also relative to what you want to obtain. For
most home-made wine makers you will find that they generally do not
store their wines for more than 3-4 years. They keep it stored usually
under constant conditions and in a fairly cool cellar (10 - 15 C). And
they are fairly hygienic in the way they work with the must and wine
(compared to commercial production).

There is a minimum of risk w.r.t. spoiling the wine under such
circumstances. The SO2 mania is something which have caught on by home
wine makers, not because of an experienced problem, but rather because
there is a belief that they need to take on all the practices of
commercial wineries.




(Ben Rotter) wrote in message . com>...
> > I often read that the k-meta contain 57% sulphite and the campden
> > tablets 48%. I would like a clarification on that.
>
> K-meta is about 58% SO2.
>
> Campden tablets are designed to have about 0.44 grams of (often K-)
> meta. Whether they are 48% SO2 or not really depends on the tablet
> size, which tends to vary depending on the manufacturing process.
>
> > B) The 57% mean that from any given amount of k-meta added you will
> > roughly get 57% of free SO2 ( theorical of course )
>
> It means you'll get ~58% *total* SO2. Some of that will then become
> free, and some will become bound (total = bound + free).
>
> See http://members.tripod.com/~BRotter/SO2.htm for more.
>
> Ben