Campden tablets: how to degas without exposing to air contaminents?

[Kevin_j_sayers]

Wine and ale yeast are very tolerant of sulfites- that's why we use them. In the amounts of +/- 50 ppm (FAR below the limits allowed in commercial wine which is something like 300 ppm), you won't have any issues.

Don't overthink this. Yes, sulfites dissipate and are added at intervals, but no need to degas/offgas/whatever.

But I'm bottling wine and don't want bottles exploding or corks flying....

 

[DaveC73]

Yooper, you asked above why I thought there was any description of offgasing campden tablets and I gave two links that had confused me on the issue. Did you have any thoughts on how I had misinterpreted the information on those two other websites? I'm curious what you think of that.

Thanks.

Yeah, I started out at EC Kraus as well. They're not 100% correct about everything, but are a good starting point. As far as sulfite/campden addition goes, most commercial wine yeasts you buy these days can handle that initial does of sulfite, which is meant to kill/inhibit bacteria and wild yeasts. I've found that the sulfite can seriously limit the effectiveness of the pectic enzyme that I add. So allowing the sulfite to offgas (by covering the fermenter with a clean towel or putting on an airlock with no liquid inside) for 12-24 hours is, for me, more about pectinase effectiveness than giving my EC-1118 juggernauts a reprieve from sulfites.

Prior to pitching, exposing your must to air isn't going to hurt it much/at all. Once you pitch your yeast will happily munch on any dissolved oxygen.

Once primary is finished, this is when you really want to minimize O2 exposure. Adding sulfites during racking is as much (or more) about limiting O2 as limiting bacterial growth. This is why you don't offgas the SO2 during racking, it needs to be in solution in order to offer any protection from O2 and other nasties. Hope this helps a bit.