rrwolf

Recipes 

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, so thank you ahead of time for any help.

I had an unfortunate reading accident inolving Sorbistat K in a mead to stop yeast activity before sweetening the mead. The issue is that I put 3 tablespoons rather than teaspoons into 5 gallons of mead. I'm aware of the potential for a geranium flavor, what I'm wondering if there are any health concerns regarding having that much Sorbate in the 5 gallons?

Thanks again for any help, I appreciate it!

Rob

Kauai_Kahuna

Recipes 

I'm not a doctor or a chemist, but in order to be food safe qualified I would think the concentrations are tested at massive increases.
Of course some things such as sugar, salt, caffeine, are grandfathered in.
My concern would be in taste and possible headaches, my body reacts poorly to some of these chemicals.

hightest

Recipes 

Anytime someone has a "will this hurt me" question related to chemicals, the first place to check is the Toxicological Information section of that chemical's MSDS (Material Data Safety Sheet) - a Google search should locate one.

In this case the MSDS does not specifiy any human toxicological information, but it does list this: Toxicity to Animals: Acute oral toxicity (LD50): 3800 mg/kg [Mouse]. BTW, LD50 refers to a Lethal Dose for at least 50% of a test population.

Even though we are not mice, will adding 3 Tbls of Sobistat-K to 5 gallons of liquid exceed the 3,800 ppm LD50? The short answer is no. To achieve 3,800 ppm one would have to add 7.2 Tbls and you only added 3.

One variable not described was what type of tablespoon measurement - heaping, rounded, level? While this might seem like splitting hairs, it is important as Sorbistat-K has a low density, and volume measurements (like a Tbls) are not as accurate as measurements by weight, which is the foundation of a ppm calculation.

Even considering that factor, the error margin is over 50% to reach the LD50 and you should be safe...

__________________
Visit me at the Brew Brothers

noiz2

Recipes 

I would add to this old thread incase anyone (like me) Googles Sorbistat-K and finds this post.

The kg referred to in the LD50 is the weight of the subject. So that would be 3800 mg / kg (of body weight).

So the recommended dosage for 5 gal is 7g. Assuming you were close that makes your dose 21g or 21,000 mg. Lets take a skinny woman who only weighs 100lbs = 45kg and change.

so the ld50 for her is 3,800 X 45 = 171,000mg. You added 21,000 or about 1/8 the ld50 for a 100 lb person. Or closer to 1/16 for your average guy.

You are no where close to the danger zone.

And the ld50 should not be thought of as a linear scale. There is a tipping point not too far from the ld50 where the risk drops very rapidly. I would not be comfortable at all with being at 1/2 of the ld50 since that may be close to the tipping point and having one out of a hundred of your friends conk off could be depressing. At 1/8 you probably safer than taking an aspirin.

As others have said you should check with someone (like the company) to make sure but if I had done that and it tasted fine I would not be worried about drinking it. Well I wouldn't be worried if it tasted bad either but I wouldn't drink it ;~)