Salt question

I'm doing my first ever fruit wine (blackberry) and I'm about ready to rack it for the first time. I was thinking of adding a small amount of salt (say a teaspoon per 750ml) to bring out the sweetness in the wine, help preserve it a bit longer, and inhibit any yeast that may still be kicking around in there. Is this a bad idea or will it probably work fine? Can I use table salt or should I look for something without the preservatives and iodine?

21stAmendment said:

I'm doing my first ever fruit wine (blackberry) and I'm about ready to rack it for the first time. I was thinking of adding a small amount of salt (say a teaspoon per 750ml) to bring out the sweetness in the wine, help preserve it a bit longer, and help inhibit any yeast that may still be kicking around in there. Is this a bad idea?

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Well, I love wine and I never considered ever adding salt to it. I guess you can pour yourself a sample and sprinkle it with salt and taste it and see if it improves it?

That sounds perfectly awful to me. It also will NOT work as a preservative and it will not inhibit yeast.

Yooper said:

Well, I love wine and I never considered ever adding salt to it. I guess you can pour yourself a sample and sprinkle it with salt and taste it and see if it improves it?

That sounds perfectly awful to me. It also will NOT work as a preservative and it will not inhibit yeast.

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Hmm... perhaps what works in pastries won't work in wine terribly well! Maybe I'll do a bit more research first.

I've had a salty white wine before, it was a manzanilla. I think for a blackberry you could add a little to increase the flavor, but not add a salty flavor.

I'm with Yooper on this one. Sounds kind of disgusting. Maybe if you used just a touch it might help. 1 teaspoon per bottle will be too much in my opinion. But pour some in a glass and sprinkle just a touch in and see what happens. You might enjoy it. Also, I would recommend using salt without iodine in it. If you taste two salts side by side one with iodine and one without, you can notice the difference and the mineral flavor of the iodine. Personally I prefer to use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt for my cooking needs. You can get a 2 pound box for a few bucks at most grocery stores.

I would use pickling salt instead of kosher, it will be easier to get to dissolve. It also doesn't have Iodine.

You could also hit kosher salt with the cuisinart to make ersatz pickling salt. I've done that when I didnt feel like putting on shoes to buy pickling salt for other non-brewing applications.