Sodium Metabisulfite

Well, it's one of the reasons I stopped buying Gallo (and all other) products and started making my own. But I don't bottle anything. I just let nature take its course and when it looks relatively clear I add ice and well, you can guess the rest.

When I taste the commercial stuff these days it tastes like preservatives.

Quite safe to use, but you'd be well advised to use potassium metabisulfite instead. Be sure to avoid breathing the dust of either. That is definitely _not_ safe.

Tom S

I only use Sodium MB for sanitation, otherwise Potassium MB is preferred.

Tom and Dave are right. Na-MB is fine for sanitizing, but use K-MB as an adaptive to your wine. Some (all?) commercial wines use way to much of the stuff and it has given it a bad name. When used in the proper amounts it is perfectly safe and absolutely required if you are going to age your wines for extended periods - 2+ years.

Ray

Why is it better to use K-MB vs. NA-MB for preserving the wine?

Health-wise, some people are allergic or sensitive to sulphites. Usually the symptoms are a headache (of varying degree) or mild rash...there are others I'm sure but these are the only ones I know of.

Most people (at least 99% of the population) are not sensitive, and thus in reasonable concentrations (say 100 ppm or less) it will have no health effect.

For taste/smell, 100 ppm of free sulphur would leave the wine tasting and smelling of the stuff for most people. Some people can detect sulphur in very small amounts and thus even 20 ppm will ruin the taste or smell of the wine for them.

You can pretty much count on every commercial wine that doesn't state that they are sulphite free or organic having at least 20 ppm to protect the wine.

Well to start with, do you really need another source of Na when something better is available?

Ray

My question came about due to a bottle of Campden tablets I have that have been labeled as containing Sodium Metabisulphite. Since Many recipes recommend adding a crushed Campden tablet at various stages of the process, I was wondering if you were recommending something else. I have since looked at another bottle of Campden tablets and see that they are labeled as Potassium Metabisulphite. Since these are clearly labels printed by someone who is repackaging them from bulk, I suspect that someone has simply mislabeled them. Or are there 2 kinds of Campden tablets as well?

I have no idea - which is part of the reason why I don't use them. I buy potassium metabisulfite in a sealed, foil bag, weigh out 220 grams, dilute it to a liter and use that for sulfite additions. 20 ml of that per 60 gallon barrel adds ~10 ppm SO2.

Be sure to keep the unused portion (both liquid and powder) tightly sealed, as it's _very_ reactive with air, which reduces its potency.

Tom S