On Oct 10, 7:05 pm, wrote:
> On Oct 10, 3:03 pm, Joe Sallustio > wrote:
>
> > On Oct 9, 8:15 pm, wrote:
>
> > > Is it possible for pot.meta. to go stale or lose its potency if the
> > > powder is kept in a plastic bag for a few years?
>
> > Absolutely. Most vendors recommend replacing it yearly. I don't keep
> > any more than 2 years old. I use fresh each year for winemaking and
> > use the older 'stuff' for sanitizer.
>
> > Joe
>
> Thanks, Joe, for the useful reply. I wonder would the old stuff even
> be good for sanitizing. What made me have doubts was that there were
> no fumes off it when I mixed it up, though usually I find myself
> choking and opening the windows.
>
> Bofak

No fumes equals no good... Maybe your container wasn't sealed
well enough and it died over time.

Here is what I do. I rarely go through more than 4 ounces per year
so I get 4 ounces at the beginning of the season. I mark the date on
the bottles. I make less than 100 gallons per year, usually between
60 and 90. Any leftovers from the year before gets used as sanitizer
in a spray bottle. The way I make sanitizer is add 1 teaspoon citric
acid and 1/2 teaspoon potassium meta to 1 qt water in a spray bottle.
If the sulfite is old I double it.

As to smelling it, it is a good test but I 'waft' it to my nose, I
don't sniff. That's one thing I learned a long time ago. Just open
the container and uses your hand to pull the smell to your face, that
way you won't get a nose-full and a gag attack. The way I make my
sanitizer seems to work and i can tell if it's got some power left by
wafting. I use this as a sanitizer for beer too even though all the
texts tell you it's not good for that. I'm not sure if they ever
added the citric to it though. SO2 is useless in a high pH condition,
adding the citric brings the pH down and makes it effective. Any acid
is fine, I use citric because it's cheap. I'm not saying beermakers
should do this, just that we do it and so far so good. We have had
beers that were a year old and they were great. That doesn't happen
too often though.

Joe