Lessons learned in home wine making.

Ben,

Thanks for your comment and the link. Here's the update on the FDA study. It's been out since the summer.

I was and am aware of the possibility of Benzoate being degraded by Ascorbic acid in the presence of copper or iron ions.

However, the amount of benzene produced in all but a few (high Ascorbic) products is really quite small... only a few parts per Billion. It is quite close to the average benzene levels in most cities. This also compares to the OSHA safety standard for workplace air of 1 part per _Million_, which is obviously a thousandfold higher. For that matter, ordinary gasoline is about 1% benzene, roughly 10,000,000 times more, and people use gas freely, breathing its fumes every time they fill the car or mow the lawn. The known exposure to benzene from everyday sources is far greater than any theoretical exposure from a few glasses of wine.

I ran some calculations on the possible exposure to benzene from my wine. At 1 ppb,it's like a single drop of the stuff in 40,000 Liters of wine. That's 180 standard 225 L barrels. Considering that I make about

75 Liters of sweet wine each year, I would have to drink it all myself for the next 530 years to consume that much benzene. To get the exposure that a cigarette smoker does, I'd have to drink all my wine for the next 5,000 years. I don't think it's something even remotely worth worrying about.

Bottom line? Sure, there's the possibility of a tiny amount of benzene forming as a result of using Benzoate, but the risk associated with it gets totally lost in the risks of everyday life. Considering what else is in wine, this is quite insignificant, IMHO.

Thanks again for the input, but it I think needs to be kept in perspective.

Mike McGeough

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This does look very interesting - where do you get yours, Lum? I did some quick hunting online, but the product is hard to pin down in North America - the DSM site doesn't list it and neither does theit US dealer, Gusmer.

Thx,

Pp

Pp, A friend in Australia sent me some Actistab a couple of years ago. TTB has not approved Actistab. So, it may not be available in the US yet, but it is readily available in Australia. Lum

Joe,

It is. I did a lot of research in both the abstract Biological area and in the practical area of the food industry, and came up with that number in both. Some organisms are susceptible at lower levels, a rare few at higher levels, but common yeasts & fungi & many bacteria are stopped by levels in the 200-300 ppm range. A few commercial food applications are considerably higher, but I could see no benefit in going higher for winemakers. At the lower levels mentioned by Pp, the literature talks of percentage effectiveness, but partial protection seemed pointless to me.

BTW Pp, even the 250ppm level isn't effective at stopping an active ferment. I forgot to add the benzoate to a jug of my "sweet reserve" juice 'til it was too late. When I did, it had no noticeable effect on the yeast, which was probably 71-B. Refrigerated and settled, it did stop and made a really nice sweet sparkler for immediate consumption.

Mike McGeough

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pp wrote: .

You're right. The literature makes it sound effective & safe. If you uncover a source, let me know; I'd like to try it. I'll look too.