first WOW brew and a few questions

[zippy40]

Hi All

A bit of advice from you fine chaps :)

I have just brewed my first WOW wine and stabilised it tonight. It has cleared lovely and I let it completely ferment out and tonight back sweetened it with Youngs wine sweetner. I believe this sweetner is unfermentable so it should not be affected if I haven't really stabilised the wine well enough.

Anyhow a couple of questions...

I bought Youngs sodium metabisulphite to stabilise along with the other stuff. On the tub it says to add one teaspoon per pint so I added several spoonfuls. Does this not sound an awful lot and would I be better getting campden tablets instead for future brews???

Also, since I have now racked several times, the amount is of wine in the DJ is getting less. But will this not increase the chances of oxidation if there is more headspace in the DJ???

Any advice much appreciated - as you can see I haven't a clue lol

 

[El Draco]

Ive only done a few wow brews so someone will be along to answer better.
One of the threads has a video to watch for advice.

When i rack, i either back sweeten with the juice i used in the original brew or top up with cooled boiled water to keep the wine dry ish.

 

[Rockuronium]

Hi All

A bit of advice from you fine chaps :)

I have just brewed my first WOW wine and stabilised it tonight. It has cleared lovely and I let it completely ferment out and tonight back sweetened it with Youngs wine sweetner. I believe this sweetner is unfermentable so it should not be affected if I haven't really stabilised the wine well enough.

Anyhow a couple of questions...

I bought Youngs sodium metabisulphite to stabilise along with the other stuff. On the tub it says to add one teaspoon per pint so I added several spoonfuls. Does this not sound an awful lot and would I be better getting campden tablets instead for future brews???

Also, since I have now racked several times, the amount is of wine in the DJ is getting less. But will this not increase the chances of oxidation if there is more headspace in the DJ???

Any advice much appreciated - as you can see I haven't a clue lol

Hi Zippy, Sodium Metabisulphite is not a stabiliser, you need Potassium Sorbate to cease/stabilise fermentation. Campden tablet are used to prevent infection and oxidation whilst racking, 1 campden tablet is sufficient for 1 UK Gallon (4.5L).

 

[zippy40]

Hi Zippy, Sodium Metabisulphite is not a stabiliser, you need Potassium Sorbate to cease/stabilise fermentation. Campden tablet are used to prevent infection and oxidation whilst racking, 1 campden tablet is sufficient for 1 UK Gallon (4.5L).

I put the sorbate in too - couldn't remember the name of it then.

The sodium metabisulphite is a replacement for campden apparently but it scared me how much I had to put in compared to a campden tab - I don't know if I am reading the instructions right!

 

[Rockuronium]

Campden is Sodium Metabisulphite in tablet form.

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[zippy40]

Campden is Sodium Metabisulphite in tablet form.

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Thanks for that. That is what scared me. I know it is one Campden per DJ and the youngs stuff is just powdered Campden but it said to add a teaspoon per pint which would equate to 7-8 teaspoons!

Hey ho I will know in a few days if my wine tastes like the crater of a volcano!

 

[zippy40]

note to self - get campden tabs next time and save myself the worry lol

 

[paulmccre]

Don't the instructions say 1 teaspoon per gallon ?

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[zippy40]

Don't the instructions say 1 teaspoon per gallon ?

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The Sorbate said half a teaspoon per gallon but the sulphite says 1 teaspoon per pint!. I am beginning to wonder if it is a mistake on the label.???

 

[Graz]

The Sorbate said half a teaspoon per gallon but the sulphite says 1 teaspoon per pint!. I am beginning to wonder if it is a mistake on the label.???

It largely depends what you're using the sulphite for. In the dim and distant past some folk used to use it as a no rinse sanitiser (maybe they still do?) and for that purpose I'd say that a teaspoon per pint would be about right. I'd guess this is what the instructions relate to.

For preserving your wine unfortunately not, the amount of sulphite in a Campden tablet equates to about a tenth of a teaspoon of the powdered stuff. I'm afraid your WOW is now toxic, and drinking it could be pretty dangerous. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablet

 

[zippy40]

ah b£$%^&cks

 

[Razor]

Won't the Campden eventually drop out enough if left for a while in the FV? Although at 24 hours per tablet which, as Graz said above, is 1/10 teaspoon that could be another 80 days if you added 8 teaspoons.


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[Rockuronium]

I was thinking more like 8 years. [emoji23]


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[Razor]

I was thinking more like 8 years. [emoji23]


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At least it would be well conditioned haha.


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[zippy40]

Ah well - I live and learn lol. Looks like I will be down to lidl for some more juice tonight!!!

 

[Graz]

At least the beauty of WOWs is they're so cheap to make so even if you have a batch you don't like for some reason or another it's not particularly upsetting to lob it.

Good luck with the next batch.

 

[Rockuronium]

Zippy, I've ditched plenty of WOWs for one reason or another and that's how we learn.


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[zippy40]

well I have thrown out the WOW and glad I did - the sulphur physically made my eyes water and catch the back of my throat!

Anyhow, Ive got some more stuff and have a turbo cider and sauvignon on the go tonight - hopefully better luck with these brews lol:thumb:

 

[ravey]

The fumes off of that stuff are horrible, which works great as a sanitiser. If you add citric acid (which might be in your wine) it's about 10 times more effective and the fumes are awful (which I found out when I realised my extractor fan had packed in).

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