How long does kmeta take to degrade into so2?

[Goyagon]

I just added .8 g of kmeta to 5 gallons of a mead like substance in order to kill off wild bugs from the raw honey for long term storage. It has only been 1 day since I addded kmeta. I tasted it and it tastes like sulfur. I’ve never tried something with kmeta the day after I added it.

I was wondering how long kmeta takes to degrade into SO2.

Do I even need to add kmeta for the wild bugs or is it usually okay to add raw honey. It is relatively sweet I think, compared to dry meads and I was worried it might ferment.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Sulfite reacts with oxygen to form sulfate.
How long the sulfite in the mead takes to oxidize depends entirely on how much it is exposed to oxygen.

Yes, I recommend sulfite.
Sulfite is mainly to protect against oxidation, but it does also prevent unwanted microbial activity.

 

[Maylar]

0.8 gm seems like a lot. How much is that in volume (teaspoons)?

 

[RPh_Guy]

0.8g k-meta in 5 gal adds only about 25ppm free SO2. That seems OK to me, without knowing the pH or the amount of residual sulfite from the yeast.

The pH would need to be 3.1 to be near the taste/aroma threshold for molecular SO2 (1.2ppm). ... So either the pH is pretty low and/or there was residual sulfite from the yeast (very plausible) and/or the OP is detecting the SO2 taste below the average taste threshold (anywhere above 0.8 ppm molecular SO2 may cause the off flavor).
... Or the OP is actually tasting something else like sulfide vs sulfite.
Sulfite does not stop fermentation, so if fermentation is still occurring, yeast could definitely be producing hydrogen sulfide.

 

[Goyagon]

Should I attempt to degas? Or will this taste subside after a few day? I taste how kmeta smells. Would it be better to use sorbate? Fermentation is over and I don’t want it to start but I thought sorbate only stops yeast from fermenting. Not sure if this is true or not.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Should I attempt to degas? Or will this taste subside after a few day? I taste how kmeta smells.

You said it's for long term storage, right? The sulfite will protect it during storage. You don't need to worry about off flavors from it until packaging or drinking.

If you want to prevent fermentation you also need to add sorbate.

Cheers

 

[Goyagon]

You said it's for long term storage, right? The sulfite will protect it during storage. You don't need to worry about off flavors from it until packaging or drinking.

If you want to prevent fermentation you also need to add sorbate.

Cheers

Okay thanks