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Sodium Benzoate or Potassium Sorbate

SWMBO likes the blackberry sligtly sweeten. Just enough to smooth it a bit. So I need to stabilize and sweeten some before bottling.

I have read the archives threads and have DAGS on sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.

One site recommends sodium benzoate over potassium sorbate, but there is really precious little written up about it. It is not used ni the wine industry, overdose can cause a salty taste. OTOH postassium sorbate can impart a 'bubblegum' ? flavor if overdosed and caN cause geranium smells if MLF is not halted by potassium metabisulfite.

Any have experience with both for home made wines, what do you use now and care to share why?

Sure appreciate any insight.

Steve - Noobie Oregon

Reply to
spud
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I use potassium sorbate and sulfite to 0.8 molecular on sweet whites. I have never used anything else. No issues.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Hi Steve

I ran my own tests on this some years back by splitting small batches of dry clear wines and treating each half with these chemicals. I feel the results were notable. While I cannot really detect sorbate in a wine, I _can_tell the difference when these wines are compared side by side. The Benzoate gives a somewhat "brighter", cleaner tasting wine. While I still sometimes use Sorbate on "sweet" wines (eg end SG >1.007), I now have a large preference for Benzoate in "off dry" and "medium" wines. No real science here, simply an empirical determination.

The "commercial" world has rules, and one of those rules is that Benzoate cannot be used. As always, rules don't have to make sense but they_do_ have to be followed. Home winemakers are not bound by these rules and can therefore do as they think best.

If nothing else, Benzoate does have one advantage: No geraniums.

Both chemicals are effective, so I suggest that you split a batch of wine just as I did, and make your own determination which one you prefer. Sugar tends to "cover" this difference, so I suggest that you try it on an "off dry" wine. HTH

Frederick

Reply to
frederick ploegman

Hi Joe:

Thanks for the response, I appreciate the help.

Steve - Noobie Oregon

Reply to
spud

Hi Frederick:

Thanks for the response. This is very helpful, as my better half would like the blackberry with some added sugar, but not a /sweet/ wine. I'm really new to this, but off-dry sounds like the right term for her taste.

Experimenting and keeping notes is part of the fun, so we'll try some trials using both as you suggest.

Thanks

Steve - Noobie Oregon

Reply to
spud

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