Sulfites in grape juice, will it ferment?

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Bluelinebrewer

Bluelinebrewer

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Hey winemakers, need some advice here. I'm brewing up a grape ale (trying to clone a professional brewery beer) and I have to add some Muscat grape juice to the wort prior to fermenting. I looked around a bit and found some Muscat grape juice from a Napa Valley vineyard. I went ahead and ordered three bottles, and when it arrived, I noticed that it has "Sulfites added". I'm adding 3 bottles to 4.9 gallons of wort. Will the sulfites have a negative impact on fermentation or cause any kind of off flavors? Thanks in advance for any help!
 
it depends on the amount of sulfites added, generally wine/beer yeast can handle low levels of sulfites fairly well. You should be fine.
 
I'm not sure how much is in it, it doesn't say on the bottle. I have read somewhere else that the sulfites dissipate quickly, any truth to that? If so, would I be better to let the juice set out for a couple hours and let the sulfites evaporate, or whatever it is that they do to dissipate?
 
typically, we add K meta to the must to kill bacteria and wild yeast. Then we wait 24 hours and pitch the yeast so if you want to wait 24 hours after opening the container before pitching the yeast I am sure that would be fine. Just make sure the container is covered so you don't get any nasties in it.
 
You can easily go to 75-100 ppm of sulfites without any problem. Winemakers use sulfites routinely as an anti-oxidant. Wine yeast strains are very tolerant of sulfites and that is winemakers use them. In fact, most winemakers add sulfites in an effort to keep sulfites at about 50 ppm throughout. It's often added at every other racking and at bottling.

Another thing to note- even "sulfite free" wines have sulfites! It's a natural by product from fermentation, although it's in smaller amounts than those wines where the winemaker adds additional sulfites as an antioxidant and preservative. so of course it's fine to use sulfited juice, wine, and fruits in winemaking.
 
Yooper said:
You can easily go to 75-100 ppm of sulfites without any problem. Winemakers use sulfites routinely as an anti-oxidant. Wine yeast strains are very tolerant of sulfites and that is winemakers use them. In fact, most winemakers add sulfites in an effort to keep sulfites at about 50 ppm throughout. It's often added at every other racking and at bottling.

Another thing to note- even "sulfite free" wines have sulfites! It's a natural by product from fermentation, although it's in smaller amounts than those wines where the winemaker adds additional sulfites as an antioxidant and preservative. so of course it's fine to use sulfited juice, wine, and fruits in winemaking.
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Thanks for your input Yoop! I'm gonna be using a champagne yeast with this brew, so I think everything will be ok! If not, I'll always think it shoulda been! :)
 

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