Potassium Metabisulphite Help

[nozzleman]

I bought some sodium metabisulphite and the instruction on it say to use 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons. I am racking my cheap welchs red wine and want to add this and sorbate (1/2 tsp) so I can back sweeten it. The problem is I am only making 1 gallon batches.

So how much do I use of this on a 1 gallon batch of wine? I have some measuring spoons that say smidgen, pinch, dash, and tad. It's not exactly scientific sounding but will one of those work?

 

[BeginnerBill]

best way I can guess is weigh 1/4 teaspoon on a gram scale and divide by 6. then weigh that out. Hope it helps.

 

[stpug]

You need less than one-quarter of one-quarter teaspoon

I would use your best judgment but aim for as close to 1/6 of a quarter teaspoon. One idea would be to measure out 1/4 teaspoon and lay that down in a line (like a cocaine line) on a piece of aluminum foil. Split the line into 6 equal parts and use just one of those parts, then put the rest back in the bag. Seems reasonable enough to me.

Here's a calculator if you can measure weights that small (better yet, use a campden tablet instead):
http://winemakermag.com/guide/sulfite

(default values should be good, however I aim for 50 ppm free sulphite - then again, I'm just a noob )

 

[saramc]

Place 1/4 tsp k-meta in glass, add six teaspoons water. Use 1 tsp solution per gallon. Also, you can fill a pint jar (or other size) with this solution, label, date, mark as POISON, with note to use 1 tsp/gallon...keep in refrig. It is good as long as you can smell it; if in doubt ditch it & make a new batch. Comes in handy if you are treating batches that are bulk aging, etc.

If you do not want to add 1 tsp/gal then prepare the solution using the volume you desire.

And buy some appropriately marked measuring spoons, you will need them if you continue with winemaking.

 

[WVMJ]

What Sara says, but make a fresh batch up everytime you have a racking or bottling frenzy, its so cheap why not be fresh and dont burn your nose out going around sniffing sulfites WVMJ

Place 1/4 tsp k-meta in glass, add six teaspoons water. Use 1 tsp solution per gallon. Also, you can fill a pint jar (or other size) with this solution, label, date, mark as POISON, with note to use 1 tsp/gallon...keep in refrig. It is good as long as you can smell it; if in doubt ditch it & make a new batch. Comes in handy if you are treating batches that are bulk aging, etc.

If you do not want to add 1 tsp/gal then prepare the solution using the volume you desire.

And buy some appropriately marked measuring spoons, you will need them if you continue with winemaking.

 

[nozzleman]

Thanks for the info.

DO I just add it once or does it go in at each racking?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the info.

DO I just add it once or does it go in at each racking?

At every other racking and at bottling is plenty!