Campden Tablets / Wine ?

[BrewTech117]

OK I have yet another question , Sorry I'm sure y'all are getting tired of these dumb questions but here goes again:

So 5 Weeks ago I brewed a batch of watermelon wine following the recipe here:

http://www.eckraus.com/winerecipes/watermelonwine.pdf
(A week later i brewed another batch so i have 2 carboys full of this stuff)

Today hits the 5 week mark and I was asking if it was ready I was told to put into a 2ndary (which this is the 4th time) and wait until i have a 1/4 inch of cake on the bottom of the carboy which its less than that and seems to have stopped bubbling. So im going to bottle the 1st batch to free up one of my carboys as I have a beer Id like to brew now.

Anyways To the Question: Step 7 Says:
7. Once the wine has cleared completely, siphon it off of the sediment again. Stir in 5 Campden Tables that
have been crushed and then bottle. When siphoning off the sediment, unlike the first time you siphoned the
wine, you want to leave all of the sediment behind, even if you lose a little wine.

My thought on this is im going to siphon from the Carboy to my bottling bucket (I dont have a racking cane but do have a hose to do so) SO Can I just siphon into the bottle bucket while stirring in the 5 crushed Campden Tablets than immediately bottle or do i need to wait 24 hours like i did in the first part of the recipe before pitching wine, I did some research and found that basically it creates a "GAS" will this cause an issue while in a bottle and corked? Am i Fine to just bottle it right after transferring from the carboy to the bottle bucket than to bottles and cork them? I assume I should let them sit a few days before trying it?

 

[DoctorCAD]

The campden tablets are used for a number of reasons, the first is that when starting a wine, it stuns wild yeasts until the wine yeast can take over, that's why you wait for a short while, to let the campden knock out the wild yeasts.

The second is to give protection to finished wine (or not quite finished wine) from organisms that are floating around in the air that want to ruin your wine.

The third is to bind to the wine molecules so as to prevent oxygen from doing the same and ruining the wine.

Nothing bad will happen if you add campden and bottle right away, and using the "one tablet per gallon" rule is a tried and true way to protect your wine. However, if you haven't waited a long time between campden additions, you run the risk of over-campdening (not a real word) and having your wine smell and taste of sulpher. It will eventually go away, but it is really embarrassing to open a bottle of rotten egg wine!

Oh, and 5 weeks is about 1/5 to 1/10 of the time you really should let the wine sit before bottling

 

[BrewTech117]

DrCad Why does the recipe say up to 5-6 weeks ? I kinda need the carboy lol, I know i am rushing this one - the 2nd batch im gona let sit longer. I wish i had a LHBS but we are in the middle of no where so im limited on buying another carboy .... Its either harvest the wine and brew a new 5 gallons of Chinook IPA or wait ... and IPA is my favorite lol. What happens if i harvest this wine 1/5 - 1/10th too soon? The flavor was good when i tasted it on my FG reading and im at .998 now. can I age in teh bottle rather than the carboy?

 

[lumpher]

i've got some of that going also. i agree with the timeframe CAD gave. i made mine 7/3, and have racked it twice since then. it's still in a carboy, and i'm not likely to do anything with it till thanksgiving or so. i may try it around christmas, but i know it will still be young then. before you bottle, you might want to add both potassium metabisulfite - campden tablets- AND potassium sorbate, but make sure the wine is where you want it in sweetness ( or dryness ) unless you plan to backsweeten or if you specifically want potential bottle bombs, as this combo will kill the yeast and stop any more from propagating. also, be careful with the sorbate if you use it. if you plan to keep the wine a long time, the sorbate taste will get stronger over time. as i have several people drinking it, my wine doesn't usually last long enough for that to happen...

 

[BrewTech117]

No the wine is going to go QUICK, My entire work crew wants some and i planed to keep a few bottles for my self but the wife is a wine-o and im sure it will be gone in a few weeks. Id love to wait but I was stupid and made 10 gallons of this stuff instead of one carboy, So now im short I only own 3 and need to be able to rack the 2nd batch today, and brew a beer leaving me with 0 carboys (if i order one it wont be here in time as i go back to work for 2 weeks straight) OH the Drama of Home brewing lol!

 

[DoctorCAD]

Kit manufacturers give their time frame so you buy a kit every 8 weeks. Its marketing, no more or no less.

 

[Mismost]

Kit manufacturers give their time frame so you buy a kit every 8 weeks. Its marketing, no more or no less.

I have never heard it put that way....but, I suspect you are correct.