Campden tablets and potassium sorbate
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Seamonkey84
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You need both to prevent a ferment from restarting. Neither kill the yeast in the amounts we use, just keep them from reproducing and growing. If you reached/exceed the abv tolerance of the yeast, and have let it sit and clear for months before bottleing, you should be safe, but no guarantees.
When you want to backsweeten a wine/mead/cider, it's a 3-step process:
1. Age long enough (months-year),or cold crash and use fining to eliminate all visible yeast. In other words, get it so clear you can read through it. The yeast won't all be gone, but numbers will be low.
2. Dose with both potassium metabisulphite (Camden) and potassium sorbate.
Wait a day or two and backsweeten.
3. Give her another week to make sure fermentation hasn't restarted before bottling.
As an alternative, you can fine filter, or pasteurize. I pasteurize my Grafs, which I want slightly sweet and moderately bubbly, but I don't anything else. And I only sulfite and sorbate the meads/wines that I'm going to backsweeten. Even then, I've occasionally had a cork pop out, especially early on in my wine/mead career.
1. Age long enough (months-year),or cold crash and use fining to eliminate all visible yeast. In other words, get it so clear you can read through it. The yeast won't all be gone, but numbers will be low.
2. Dose with both potassium metabisulphite (Camden) and potassium sorbate.
Wait a day or two and backsweeten.
3. Give her another week to make sure fermentation hasn't restarted before bottling.
As an alternative, you can fine filter, or pasteurize. I pasteurize my Grafs, which I want slightly sweet and moderately bubbly, but I don't anything else. And I only sulfite and sorbate the meads/wines that I'm going to backsweeten. Even then, I've occasionally had a cork pop out, especially early on in my wine/mead career.
Jeff Wilson
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I agree with the previous posts. But it is important to understand why the 2 should be used and what they are actually doing.
Potassium sorbate will generally prevent the yeast from reproducing. They are still there but reproduction is heavily halted. This may not completely do the job which is where campden tablets come in for the one-two punch.
Camden tables are a packaged, tablet form of sodium or potassium metabisulfite (which are technically different but do the same thing and generally considered interchangeable and often enough referred to as KMB). KMB sterilizes the environment and has a number of benefits preventing oxidation and killing bacteria which are also good in the bottle. KMB "inhibits" yeast killing off many weaker ones but, again, may not do the job completely which is why you don't want the survivors to reproduce - hence the potassium sorbate. KMB also degrades as it does it's job which is why you add every couple rackings when new yeasts are likely to be introduced. You can't just add once and know that it will forever protect your wine. So making sure the population can't easily grow back is important.
It is true neither will do the job completely but when used together, you create an environment in the bottle that helps keep things under control in most cases.
There are other threads that go into details as well: Difference between campden tablets and potassium sorbate.
Potassium sorbate will generally prevent the yeast from reproducing. They are still there but reproduction is heavily halted. This may not completely do the job which is where campden tablets come in for the one-two punch.
Camden tables are a packaged, tablet form of sodium or potassium metabisulfite (which are technically different but do the same thing and generally considered interchangeable and often enough referred to as KMB). KMB sterilizes the environment and has a number of benefits preventing oxidation and killing bacteria which are also good in the bottle. KMB "inhibits" yeast killing off many weaker ones but, again, may not do the job completely which is why you don't want the survivors to reproduce - hence the potassium sorbate. KMB also degrades as it does it's job which is why you add every couple rackings when new yeasts are likely to be introduced. You can't just add once and know that it will forever protect your wine. So making sure the population can't easily grow back is important.
It is true neither will do the job completely but when used together, you create an environment in the bottle that helps keep things under control in most cases.
There are other threads that go into details as well: Difference between campden tablets and potassium sorbate.
DoctorCAD
Well-Known Member
The K is the chemical symbol for potassium, so KMB = potsassium meta bisulfite.
Sodium meta bisulfite would be NaMB.
Sodium meta bisulfite would be NaMB.
I'll try to resurrect this thread with a few questions.
1. How much KMB and Sorbate to use in a 2.5 gal batch of BOMM?
2. Can I put the chems and honey into the bottling bucket and bottle directly to get some secondary ferm to carbonate?
Thanks
1. How much KMB and Sorbate to use in a 2.5 gal batch of BOMM?
2. Can I put the chems and honey into the bottling bucket and bottle directly to get some secondary ferm to carbonate?
Thanks
1. K-Meta (KMB) is usually used in very small quantities, like 1/4 tsp for 5 gallons. For smaller batches it's more convenient to use the tablet form, called Campden tablets. 1 tablet per gallon. Potassium Sorbate is usually 1/2 tsp per gallon, but follow directions on the package.
2 . Once you've stabilized with sorbate, continued fermentation and carbonation is not possible.
2 . Once you've stabilized with sorbate, continued fermentation and carbonation is not possible.
Does the sorbate stabilize the mead immediately, or does it take awhile? I guess that is my 2nd question. Thanks
I've always assumed it to be immediate, as I have added sweetening sugar and sorbate at the same time.
