K Meta and hot water

[Mallerstang]

Does the temperature of the water affect the action of the potassium metabisulphite when you're assembling ingredients in the primary?

I start with frozen fruit in a mesh bag, then add boiling water with the sugar dissolved in it, plus everything else except the pectic enzyme and yeast (those go in after 12 and 24 hours respectively). Is it OK to add K meta to a warm/hot primary, or does it make it disperse faster? By "disperse" I mean breaking down - the process by which it makes gases, does what we want it to do, then is mostly gone from the wine.

 

[RPh_Guy]

From a purely theoretical standpoint it makes sense that heat increases volitilization. I'm not sure to what extent that matters, but I've seen reports of sulfite being added hot and the sulfite not working (the wine was spoiled).

There are two ways that sulfite inactivates:

1. Gassing off as SO2
2. Reacting with oxygen to form sulfate

Both of these will reduce the anti-microbial action.

 

[DoctorCAD]

No, but it really affects you sinuses if you get a nice steamy whiff of it!

 

[Mallerstang]

No, but it really affects you sinuses if you get a nice steamy whiff of it!

Lol no kidding!

We're having a worse plague of fruit flies than usual - so I'm trying to take the lid off as few times as possible. Hence bunging in all the ingredients at the same time.

 

[Yooper]

I've added it to hot water, and it seemed to be fine but I don't have an SO2 meter and it's more just of a guess on my part.