How long to wait to bottle after adding k-meta?

[Intheswamp]

I thought I would be bottling some mead tonight but I got to thinking. This is some seven year old traditional mead that has been sitting in a carboy on a thin layer of lees all those years. I had gotten everything together to bottle and was just about to the sanitizing stage when it dawned on me that in most bottling situations the k-meta is added (usually along with k-sorbate) and then the wine/mead is watched for 3 days or so to be sure fermentation has stopped. Well, the fermentation has been stopped for quiet some time with this 3-gallon batch so I'm not concerned with it cranking back up and was going to add the k-meta and bottle. But, does the mead need a day or three to absorb/assimilate/incorporate/whatever the k-meta? Or, can I add the k-meta, stir lightly, wait an hour or so, and bottle?

 

[Yooper]

You bottle immediately when racking onto the k-meta, no need to stir.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks Yooper. So I add the k-meta to the carboy of mead and immediately start bottling?

Or, are you saying to add the k-meta to another carboy, rack the mead into the carboy and then bottle. I was planning on going straight from the current carboy to the bottles. I'm (getting) old and slow, be patient with me.

 

[RPh_Guy]

The second one.

Gently dissolve the sulfite in cool water, add it to another vessel (e.g. a bottling bucket), gently rack the mead, and then bottle immediately from there.

The action of sulfite is two-fold:

1. Prevent oxidation.
2. Prevent wild microbial activity.

If it sat for 7 years, sulfite might not be of much help now... But it's still good insurance.

Let us know how it's tasting! Cheers

 

[Intheswamp]

Ok, I've got it now. When Yooper said, "...when racking onto the k-meta..." that's exactly what he meant. So the standard procedure for bottling is to rack to another container one last time before bottling at which time any k-meta, k-sorbate, etc., is added. Makes sense, just hadn't thought it through previously. When I finally got to the point of "doing" the thought of exactly "how" to get the k-meta dispersed appeared. Looks like it'll be tonight or tomorrow. I'll thief some mead and check the pH and SG. After that I'll do my personal taste test on that sample...hopefully I won't find out what buzzard puke tastes like!

Thanks for the clarification!!!
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Got it done. It took me a while but things actually went pretty smoothly. The mead ended up being really good!!! I ended up with:

11 - 750ml bottles
4 - 375ml bottles
2 - 12oz beer bottles
1 - pint jar
and ever how much I ended up drinking while bottling.

And, uh, the pint jar and one of the 12oz beer bottles disappeared a little later when I visited a friend and watched the second half of the Alabama/SC game. I think my buddy has glass-termites...they tend to make holes in glass bottles.

I did not feel really "swift" the next day...I think the flu is going around.

 

[KuntyMackenzie]

Got it done. It took me a while but things actually went pretty smoothly. The mead ended up being really good!!! I ended up with:

11 - 750ml bottles
4 - 375ml bottles
2 - 12oz beer bottles
1 - pint jar
and ever how much I ended up drinking while bottling.

And, uh, the pint jar and one of the 12oz beer bottles disappeared a little later when I visited a friend and watched the second half of the Alabama/SC game. I think my buddy has glass-termites...they tend to make holes in glass bottles.

I did not feel really "swift" the next day...I think the flu is going around.

Aside from the obviously-damnable glass termites, how was the flavour?
I just did a search here and you had the exact same question I did.
I'd love to hear more about the flavour profile of your Seventh Son. Sounds like it'd be dreamy.

 

[Francis Eric]

Good it was a thin layer of lees
I had autolysis or decaying lees made my wine taste like rubber
Glad to hear it tasted good.

I wasn't sure what to expect to hear from you
but my first wine was a 25 year old french wine (we aint rich a case of parents wedding gift)
and it had sediment it was great tasting. -- but thought this might be different
So good to hear,

Ever Heard of Sir Lees (it is stirring of the Lees a French phrase)
Haven't tried but would like to in a white wine) (with fine Lees)