Arau

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I'm making my first batch of mead (1 gallon just to test) and i couldn't get any campden tablets. instead i got "wine sulfur" which i'm guessing is powdered sulfur, i have no idea. anyway, i was wondering how much to use when i'm getting ready to bottle it to prevent re-fermentation.

Any help would be much appreciated

bredler

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I doubt it's powdered sulfur. If that's what it is, it would be bright yellow and stink...bad. We used to use it in organic chemistry lab.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sulfur_powder.jpg

Arau

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yeah i figured that, but any idea how much to use?

bredler

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Nope I know chemistry, not mead...sorry.

Rushis

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I bet the wine guru's can chime in more accurately. But a quick off the cuff estimate:

1 Campden tablet treats 1 gal of must. So 5 campden tbas per 5 gal batch.

From the wiki, 10 campden tabs is equivalent to 1 level teaspoon of sodium metabisulphite. Without knowing exactly what your "wine sulfur" is, we can't make an exact calculation. But as a crude ballpark figure, 1/2 teaspoon of sodium metasulphite (which is likely what you have the "wine sulfur" package or at least something very similar) should get you close the effective concentration range to inhibit wild yeast.

If you can find out what exactly "wine sulfur" is, we can get the formula weight and calculate exactly how much you need to reach the roughly 50 ppm of sulfur dioxide recommended for wine.

malkore

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campden is tabletized potassium or sodium metabisulfate.

'wine sulfer' is probably powdered potassium metabisulfate. but, I think these can come in different concentrations.

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Arau

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yeah i've been working on that for a day or two now, trying to find out what this "wine sulfur" actually is. but since i already started the must, using it it prevent wild yeast isn't a concern of mine right now. i was wondering whether i use it before bottling to prevent re-fermentation. like put it in. let it sit for a couple days then bottle it?

hightest

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Personally, I would not add anything to my "brews" unless I was fully aware of what it was. Wine sulfur could be anything, but rather than guess at what it is, or rely on a "long distance" guesstimate, I would take it back to the dealer and get my $$ back.

In its place, I would get some potassium metabisulfite, which you may choose to use as an oxygen scavenger prior to long term aging - added to ~50-75ppm.

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Arau

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i actually found a site now that seems to have claered up my question. apparently 1 campden tablet is equal to .5g of this wine sulfur, and according to my source (which unfortunately is in swedish so i can't show you guys) i should add a fifth of a teaspoon of this stuff per 5 liters? seems like a little but i guess that if half a gram of it is equal to one campden tablet then it is probably pretty strong.

like i said before this is my first batch of mead, and i'm still new to the stuff. when am i supposed to use winesulfur/campden?

1.before adding yeast to kill any wild yeast/bacteria. i heated the must before adding the yeast though, and washed my carboy with boiling water so i think i'm in the clear on this one.

2. i've read that i'm supposed to add it after every other racking to prevent oxidation. wouldn't this stop the yeast present from fermenting it?

3.before bottling to i guess prevent re-fermentation and oxidation?

hightest

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Actually, you could still list the website link as there are website translators capable of translating between languages.

In my case Firefox, has a handy translator add-on that I'd like to try out (hint)...

I mitt fall Firefox, har en behändig översättare add-on som jag vill prova (hint) ...

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