I stabilized a brilliantly clear Strawberry wine (3 gal) with 1.5 tsp
of sorbate and three campden tablets. The wine went cloudy
immediately... The same thing happened to the last couple of Apple
wines I treated with sorbate and campden tablets. I thought I had a
defective chemical so I threw them all out and bought fresh sorbate
and campden. the fresh chemicals did exactly the same thing. Does
anyone have any idea what causes this? Does anyone use Metabisulfite
powder for small quantities of wine? If so, how do you measure it out
for 1, 3, 5 and 6 US gallon batches??

Frustrated,
A.J.
Anchorage Alaska, USA

Sorry I don't have an answer for you but I'm getting close to bottling and
back sweetening a few batches myself, I'm curious on how long it did take
for them to clear after treating and what was the aprox temp they were
resting at?
also was there sediment afterwards are did the sorbate and campden
combination fully meld into the wine?

Rick


"A.J. Rawls" > wrote in message
...
> I stabilized a brilliantly clear Strawberry wine (3 gal) with 1.5 tsp
> of sorbate and three campden tablets. The wine went cloudy
> immediately... The same thing happened to the last couple of Apple
> wines I treated with sorbate and campden tablets. I thought I had a
> defective chemical so I threw them all out and bought fresh sorbate
> and campden. the fresh chemicals did exactly the same thing. Does
> anyone have any idea what causes this? Does anyone use Metabisulfite
> powder for small quantities of wine? If so, how do you measure it out
> for 1, 3, 5 and 6 US gallon batches??
>
> Frustrated,
> A.J.
> Anchorage Alaska, USA

I assume you are using campten tablets that are crushed, then dissolve
in water or wine. I,ve had the same problem in the past. Really the only
thing you can do is wait until the "filler" particles settle-out over
time, or re-fine with a reagent, which may put added stress on your
wine. A mortar and pestal work well to crush the tabs to powder, but I
found the type of campten used made a big difference for me. ID Carlson
were bad; Crosby and Baker Ltd. work best. After pulverizing, make sure
you add the powder to hot water,let cool,then add wine before pitching.
I have been reluctant to use metabisulfite powder. Correct and effective
measuring is tediuos, but essential. A scale should really be used. I
know your frustration; after preparing to bottle, I had to wait a couple
of weeks until the filler particles sank. Hope this helps. Jim.

A.J. Rawls wrote:
> I stabilized a brilliantly clear Strawberry wine (3 gal) with 1.5 tsp
> of sorbate and three campden tablets. The wine went cloudy
> immediately... The same thing happened to the last couple of Apple
> wines I treated with sorbate and campden tablets. I thought I had a
> defective chemical so I threw them all out and bought fresh sorbate
> and campden. the fresh chemicals did exactly the same thing. Does
> anyone have any idea what causes this? Does anyone use Metabisulfite
> powder for small quantities of wine? If so, how do you measure it out
> for 1, 3, 5 and 6 US gallon batches??
>
> Frustrated,
> A.J.
> Anchorage Alaska, USA

A.J. Rawls wrote "Does anyone use Metabisulfite powder for small quantities
of wine? If so, how do you measure it out for 1, 3, 5 and 6 US gallon
batches??"

A.J. - You need a small gram scale that will make it possible to weigh parts
of a gram. I usually have at least 5 gallons of wine so the quantities of K
metabisulfite are easily weighed;
25ppm SO2 ~ (0.16 gram K meta/gallon wine)...0.8 grams for 5 gallons
50ppm SO2 ~ (0.33 gram K meta/gallon wine)...1.7 grams for 5 gallons
75ppm SO2 ~ (0.49 gram K meta/gallon wine)...2.5 grams for 5 gallons

K metabisulfite is pretty cheap so you can prepare a standard solution and
use a portion for your wine. Example; 25ppmSO2 needed for 1 gallon wine.
Dissolve 1.6grams K meta in 100ml water. Pipet 10ml into your gallon of
wine.

Some time ago I weighed up multiple samples of K metabisulfite. The average
of these weights worked out to 1.5grams per 1/4 teaspoon. If 1/4 teaspoon
is added to 5 gallons of wine you are adding about 45ppm SO2.

A note about Campden tablets. While it's probably not worth worrying about
Campden tablets do vary in weight from batch to batch. They are convenient
to use but probably are no more accurate in providing SO2 than weighing
small quantities of K metabisulfite with a proper scale.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas

The batches were treated and stored at 54 degrees F and I let the sit
for 93 days before fining with Bentonite. No clearing happened until
I fined. There was approximately 1 inch of very loose sediment in the
3 gallon carboys. I bottled one without filtering and ended up with
fluffy sediment in the bottles... I filtered the other and it is
lovely. I suspect the sorbate caused the problems somehow but it has
only happened with Apple, Rosehip and Strawberry.

Later,
A.J.

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 03:29:24 -0800, "Rick" >
wrote:

>Sorry I don't have an answer for you but I'm getting close to bottling and
>back sweetening a few batches myself, I'm curious on how long it did take
>for them to clear after treating and what was the aprox temp they were
>resting at?
>also was there sediment afterwards are did the sorbate and campden
>combination fully meld into the wine?
>
>Rick
>
>
>"A.J. Rawls" > wrote in message
.. .
>> I stabilized a brilliantly clear Strawberry wine (3 gal) with 1.5 tsp
>> of sorbate and three campden tablets. The wine went cloudy
>> immediately... The same thing happened to the last couple of Apple
>> wines I treated with sorbate and campden tablets. I thought I had a
>> defective chemical so I threw them all out and bought fresh sorbate
>> and campden. the fresh chemicals did exactly the same thing. Does
>> anyone have any idea what causes this? Does anyone use Metabisulfite
>> powder for small quantities of wine? If so, how do you measure it out
>> for 1, 3, 5 and 6 US gallon batches??
>>
>> Frustrated,
>> A.J.
>> Anchorage Alaska, USA
>