i am looking for some help on brewing completely organic earlier this year my wife had to have her thyroid removed as a result she cant eat anything that has chemical additives or preservitives without getting from moderatly to severely ill. i know to brew with purely organic materials to handle most of the problem but she is allergic to the sulfites u put in at the end of a batch to stunt the yeast any advise on alternatives would b greatly appreciated
looking for help to brew organic
- Thread starter rooky1
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What do you want to make? I make wine and beer (and in lesser amounts mead and cider) and you can make them organic if you want. I use fruit from my own garden for wine, but I do purchase sugar or honey for those. You could get a source for pure honey, I'm sure.
Remember if she is allergic to sulfites, then she shouldn't consume ANY wine at all- as sulfites are produced naturally during fermentation. It's a natural product from fermentation and it's unavoidable. That said, you can make a wine without added sulfites, but for someone who is truly allergic and not just trying to avoid them, it can be a huge issue.
im kinda new to the brewing world and have only been brewing for 4 months ive made a batch of mead and wine using the poor man method foud i enjoyed it and bout a basic equipment kit so im still kinda in the i want to experiment phase as far as the sulfites in wine according to the dr the ones that occur naturally are ok the ones u put in at the end of the second fermentation to make sure the yeast will no longer produce is what gets her
as for what im planing on making i think im going to stick to different variations of mead, hard cider and mabye a wine every now and then
for some reason its only the synthetic chemicals that make her sick. ive fixed most of the problem by buying only organic honey, fruits, and juices, and sugars. im just scared im gonna have bottles popping if i bottle them if the yeast isnt completly done
as for what im planing on making i think im going to stick to different variations of mead, hard cider and mabye a wine every now and then
for some reason its only the synthetic chemicals that make her sick. ive fixed most of the problem by buying only organic honey, fruits, and juices, and sugars. im just scared im gonna have bottles popping if i bottle them if the yeast isnt completly done
Well, there aren't any "sulfites you put in wine to stop fermentation", so your doctor is obviously not aware of winemaking and ingredients. Sorbate is what is used at that point to inhibit fermentation. Perhaps she is sensitive to sorbate, or perhaps not, but sulfites don't stop wine fermentation.
Sulfites are naturally occurring, and routinely added as antioxidants, but dissipate quickly so are usually re-added at intervals and at bottling. You can leave those additions out but the wine will not last as long as with it. No big deal, but chemically they are IDENTICAL to the sulfite produced during fermentation, and home winemakers use tiny amounts compared to commercial winemakers. There would not be any discernable way to tell which sulfites are naturally occurring vs those that are added at racking to inhibit oxidation, and they do dissipate to a degree anyway so it's not like they would be there later on.
In any case, you don't have to add sulfites anyway so it doesn't matter. Wine will ferment until it's done, and if you are not sweetening it, there is no reason to add something like sorbate to stop fermentation. If you want to do a sweet wine, that would be an issue. Any sugar added would be likely to create bottle bombs if bottled without stabilizing before adding unfermented sugars.
Still there are some techniques like adding sugar at intervals so that the yeast is overwhelmed, resulting in a sweet wine when done. The issue with that is that you can have an 18% sweet rocket fuel for several years until it ages out.
Or, you could try bottle pasteurizing by bottling with crown caps and doing a hot water bath. It's iffy if it'll work, but it might be worth a shot if you want a sweet wine or cider but don't want to stabilize with sorbate.
Sulfites are naturally occurring, and routinely added as antioxidants, but dissipate quickly so are usually re-added at intervals and at bottling. You can leave those additions out but the wine will not last as long as with it. No big deal, but chemically they are IDENTICAL to the sulfite produced during fermentation, and home winemakers use tiny amounts compared to commercial winemakers. There would not be any discernable way to tell which sulfites are naturally occurring vs those that are added at racking to inhibit oxidation, and they do dissipate to a degree anyway so it's not like they would be there later on.
In any case, you don't have to add sulfites anyway so it doesn't matter. Wine will ferment until it's done, and if you are not sweetening it, there is no reason to add something like sorbate to stop fermentation. If you want to do a sweet wine, that would be an issue. Any sugar added would be likely to create bottle bombs if bottled without stabilizing before adding unfermented sugars.
Still there are some techniques like adding sugar at intervals so that the yeast is overwhelmed, resulting in a sweet wine when done. The issue with that is that you can have an 18% sweet rocket fuel for several years until it ages out.
Or, you could try bottle pasteurizing by bottling with crown caps and doing a hot water bath. It's iffy if it'll work, but it might be worth a shot if you want a sweet wine or cider but don't want to stabilize with sorbate.
a hot water bath sounds like a good idea i havnt heard of that one yet do you boil the wine or do u put it in bottles then boil them like u r canning them i am still working on the cheap end so i store my finished product mostly in resanitized wine bottles and mason jars
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