confused?? Campden tablets

[steph3harper]

Hi. I've just tested my wine and it's ready to bottle. It's the first time I have used Campden tablets. I crushed it and added it to the demijohn and it just floated. So I stored it in and now there's a shed load of sediment in suspension.
Am I supposed to leave it or bottle it? So confused. I've left it for now because I just don't know what to do. Help please.
Steph

 

[alane1]

You probably disturbed the lees when you stirred in the campden, let it all settle to the bottom before you bottle. Is it the same vessel that you used for your primary fermentation?

 

[scumbuster]

Hi. I've just tested my wine and it's ready to bottle. It's the first time I have used Campden tablets. I crushed it and added it to the demijohn and it just floated. So I stored it in and now there's a shed load of sediment in suspension.
Am I supposed to leave it or bottle it? So confused. I've left it for now because I just don't know what to do. Help please.
Steph

Just curious as to what made you decide it was ready to bottle?
It should settle back out if you leave it sit for a while. Don't be in a hurry to bottle if there are lees in suspension. In time it will settle and should clear. If you bottle it now it will settle in the bottles.

 

[scumbuster]

Hi. I've just tested my wine and it's ready to bottle. It's the first time I have used Campden tablets. I crushed it and added it to the demijohn and it just floated. So I stored it in and now there's a shed load of sediment in suspension.
Am I supposed to leave it or bottle it? So confused. I've left it for now because I just don't know what to do. Help please.
Steph

Just curious as to what made you decide it was ready to bottle?
It should settle back out if you leave it sit for a while. Don't be in a hurry to bottle if there are lees in suspension. In time it will settle and should clear. If you bottle now it will settle in the bottles.

 

[scumbuster]

Hi. I've just tested my wine and it's ready to bottle. It's the first time I have used Campden tablets. I crushed it and added it to the demijohn and it just floated. So I stored it in and now there's a shed load of sediment in suspension.
Am I supposed to leave it or bottle it? So confused. I've left it for now because I just don't know what to do. Help please.
Steph

.

 

[steph3harper]

It was fine before I added the tablet. Clear as a bell.
It's stopped fermenting and I tested it with a hydrometer.
I ran out of demijohns that's why this one hasn't been changed.
I'll leave it until it's settled again now

 

[Yooper]

It was fine before I added the tablet. Clear as a bell.
It's stopped fermenting and I tested it with a hydrometer.
I ran out of demijohns that's why this one hasn't been changed.
I'll leave it until it's settled again now

Remember when you add campden (sulfites), it needs to be crushed and dissolved in a little water or some of the wine. It's not stirred into the wine- the wine is racked onto the solution of the campden and water/wine, so it stays dissolved.

Sulfites are used by winemakers as an antioxidant, so they bind to the wine so that oxygen can't. But not dissolving them first, and not racking onto the them (instead of stirring), they are probably ineffective at best.

You never, ever, ever, want to stir a finished wine. To move the wine, it should be siphoned "quietly". There are some kit wines that are degassed via stirring, but that is a special exception to rush a wine to bottling.

The wine should be racked whenever there are lees present of 1/4" or more, or any lees at all after 60 days in a new vessel. I add campden (sulfites) at every other racking to help protect the wine from oxygen.