Stabiliser

[Smoey]

Hi,
I recently made a wilko cab-sav kit and apart from the seemingly customary eruption on topping it up, all went well until it was time to add the stabiliser. On dissolving it I remarked to the mrs how strong it smelt and that I was reluctant to add it but being new to wine kits i thought it best to do what was recommended. It's now been a month since i bottled it so i cracked one open last night (early I know) and it reeks of stabiliser, but tastes fine. I've since done a second kit (blow off tube this time) which has finished but I don't want to add the stabiliser. I've only read of one other person having this issue and that was back in 2013 and they didn't post again, so my questions are these:
Has anyone else experienced this, or are the wife and I just hyper sensitive to it?
Will it go away, and if so, how long will that take?
Can i get away with not adding it and/or is there an alternative?
Sorry for the length of this post, I'm not sure if multiple questions or multiple posts were the way to go as I'm a newbie here but any feedback, partial or total, would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Smoey

 

[Janulka098]

Sorry just seen this post and I know it’s a bit oldish but I am also curious about the outcome, I have done wilkos Sauvignon blanc and have experienced the same thing, it’s been bottled since June and opened one the other day and although it calmed down a bit I can still smell it, somebody on the forum has mentioned they only add half the sachet of the stabiliser and it was better and never had any problems. Has your wine matured the smell out? I dumped the recent bottle as could not get past the smell although the taste was fine, just like my wine to smell good too. Keeping the remaining 4 bottles till Christmas and if it’s still reeks will make it into a white mulled wine.... or cooking with it. I have made some country wines and add campden and half a teaspoon to gallon of fermentation stopper - it’s the same as the stabiliser- and never had any smells of it like this one. Perhaps next time I make the kit will do that instead of their sachet....

 

[johncrobinson]

Never use it myself.
I always ferment to bone dry.
back sweeten with non ferment-able ( if needed)

BTW stabilizer is normally sorbate based and is stable in wine so its unlikely to "dissipate" with time.