Recycling day = hidden treasures

[Boogaloo]

Recycling day was last night in the neighborhood and I walked around with the family and dogs. Our rummaging picked up a good amount of empty wine bottles! Soaked'em and pulled off the labels. So I'm almost ready to bottle!

I going to wait a couple more months before I bottle but I do have a quick question. If I'm not concerned with carbonation can I pop a campden tablet into a one gallon jug before bottling it out? Can I do it now or wait till right before I bottle? Any help is great. Thanks.

~Boogaloo

 

[Braxton]

Potassium Sorbate is what is usually used for inhibiting further fermentation in a completed mead. It is usually used along with Potassium Metabisulfite, which is what Campden tablets are. By itself the campden tablet will help prevent oxidative staling in the bottle and preserve the shelf life of the mead. It won't do a very good job of preventing refermentation and carbonation in the bottle if sugars are still available. If you are bottling in wine bottles, you definitely don't want any carbonation. They are not designed to hold pressure and will break.

To get the most out of your campden tablet, you should add it to the gallon jug just before bottling. That way any oxygen picked up during the splashing and transferring of the bottling process will hopefully combine with the sulfites and not negatively affect your mead. Some mead and wine makers also use metabisulfite when they transfer from primary to secondary, or during long periods of aging to maintain a constant protective level.

 

[Chevette Girl]

The simple explanation, campden tablets (sulphites) will stun the yeast, but the potassium sorbate permanently keeps them from replicating so if most of the yeast are knocked out, anything left won't do much... and just remember not to use potassium sorbate without some sulphites, if there are other organisms there they can make nasty-smelling compounds that are impossible to remove.

And I just scored a couple cases of empties and two large carboys from my mother! Off to the bottle-washing station with me! Yay for recycling!

 

[PitBull]

And I just scored a couple cases of empties and two large carboys from my mother! Off to the bottle-washing station with me! Yay for recycling!

Ditto on the recycling... or better yet re-using. The enery saved by re-using a bottle or can as compared to re-melting them and then re-casting is enormous. You can likely sanitize a hundred bottles or cans for the energy it takes to re-melt a single one.

Bring back returnable soda bottles as well. There's also a savings of fuel returning bottles to a store where one is going anyhow as versus making a special trip to a recycling center.

Oh well, I've finally gotten to the point where I don't have to constantly hound relatives for used wine bottles (but I'll still take them). It's a nice feeling.

 

[Boogaloo]

Thanks for the tips! Ok.. so I need to get some potassium sorbate. Add that and my campden tablets right before bottling. I think I'll bottle around the 3-4 month mark. I'd like to bulk age longer BUT I need my carboy for the next batch!!

Tonight is recycling day in the neighborhood again! Wonder what I'll find.....

 

[calicojack]

makes me wish that we had an active recycling program in our hood.

 

[JamesP]

I "inspected" the recycling bins at the back of the local tavern, repeatedly, early in the morning before they opened, to supply my wine bottle requirements.