Adding Camden

Is there an advantage to adding camden after the fermentation appears to be more or less complete. Started with SG of 1.1. Now at .995 in secondary. Should camden be added at this point?
Any help would be appreciated.

It depends. Adding K-meta will provide free sulfur dioxide, and free SO2 will inhibit oxidation. The amount of free SO2 needed is dependent on the pH (the lower the pH - ie the more acidic the wine, the less free SO2 needed, the more alkaline the wine, the more SO2 required) So, if you are making a large batch OR you intend to age the wine in the bottle a year or longer, then you may want to inhibit oxidation. If you are making only a gallon or so and /or and you plan on drinking the wine in the very near future, then oxidation is not really going to be an issue - and SO2 appears to affect the flavor , certainly in the short term (It is often referred to , I think, as bottle shock)

Sorry, can you explain to me what is camden, and k-meta? Probably here in Portugal we use other names for what ever that is! Sorry im lost in translation!

Pedro_PT said:

Sorry, can you explain to me what is camden, and k-meta? Probably here in Portugal we use other names for what ever that is! Sorry im lost in translation!

Click to expand...

Potassium metabisulfite- often just called "sulfite" or SO2.

I add k-meta (campden) routinely, at every other racking, with the goal of keeping approximately 50 ppm in my wine. It's primarily an antioxidant, but it does help as a preservative as well to discourage microbes from taking hold.

Oh! Ok... LOL!!!
I know what potassium metabisulfate is!

50ppm, in white? Or red?

Pedro_PT said:

Oh! Ok... LOL!!!
I know what potassium metabisulfate is!

50ppm, in white? Or red?

Click to expand...

All wines, generally.

Over here just before botleing we put up to 62ppm SO2 in white, the botleing process makes it come down to 56ppm in a few days.