Dad has been making wine for thirty plus years, and I don't think he even
knows what SO2 is, or cares.

Fred

"K.J.Kristiansen" > wrote in message
om...
> 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