Sulphur replacement (No sulphites allowed)
 

Hey all.

Family member is allergic to sulphites. what can I use instead of
Campden tabs and metabisulphite?

It's not very common for a person to be allergic to sulfites. If diagnosed
by a doctor, I would agree. Typically, the reactions are due to tannins (or
some other things that people more knowledgeable here will tell you about)
and mistakenly pin in on sulfites. It seems almost an urban legend that
people pass on to each other. I digress...

You cannot avoid sulfites in wines; they are a byproduct of fermentation.
The concentration is VERY small when present from only fermentation, though.
I don't add much sulfite and imagine if I were a little "cleaner" and always
had my carboys filled to the necks, I could eliminate it altogether. The
wines wouldn't age as nicely in the bottle, though.

I don't know of an additive to replace sulfites. In your vinting, you could
top the carboy off with an inert gas and that would help.

--
Patrick McDonald
Athens, GA USA


"Julie" > wrote in message
om...
> Hey all.
>
> Family member is allergic to sulphites. what can I use instead of
> Campden tabs and metabisulphite?

"Julie" > wrote in message
om...
> Hey all.
>
> Family member is allergic to sulphites. what can I use instead of
> Campden tabs and metabisulphite?

Use nothing, but you will need to keep it clean. You are probably better off
sticking to kits with boiled water for diluting.

Use a non-sulfite sanitizer at all stages, like Iodophor (hope they don't
have iodine allergies) or Star San (an acid based sanitizer and my personal
fave).

Make sure the wine has a suitably low pH. High pH wines are more prone to
spoilage. You may have to resort to a little sweetening to balance the
acidity if you find it too tart.

Don't be shy about keeping the alcohol level up, again, alcohol is a
preservative.

Drink your wines up within a couple of years.

These tips should allow you to make wine without any sulfite additions.

Brian

You can use a 10% household bleach solution as a sanitizer too, but you
must rinse very well.

If you are looking to make a sweet wine keeping it from refermenting
may be difficult without sulfites. One solution to that would be to
keep the sweetened wine refridgerated.

The amount of naturally occuring sulfite in wine is pretty low, I think
it's on the order of 10 parts per million. If that is a concern, you
should verify the value. Total sulfite content and free sulfite are
not the same thing, I'm not sure I know a way to lower total sufite.
Joe