sorbate when bottling

[koniowsky717]

i have a 5 gallon batch of traditional and 2 gallons of cyser. trad finished at 1.006 and cyser finished at 1.02. with my original gravity and yeast used, this is where they both should have crapped out. both meads are crystal clear and have been in aging carboys for over a month.. when i racked i added campden but did not add sorbate. i want to get these bottled to free up carboys, but want to know if this is a bad idea since i didnt use sorbate?

 

[mredge73]

Bottles with crown caps - go ahead, worst that will happen is a little carbonation.
Bottles with corks - don't risk it, add a little sorbate and wait a day or two. Carbonation will spit the corks out.

 

[koniowsky717]

Bottles with crown caps - go ahead, worst that will happen is a little carbonation.
Bottles with corks - don't risk it, add a little sorbate and wait a day or two. Carbonation will spit the corks out.

Would you suggest just popping the airlocks off and dump sorbate in? Without adding more campden?

 

[mredge73]

Sorbate works best when added with campden. But you don't want to bottle until the campden evaporates out of solution (about a day or so).

So if you are pressed for time just add the sorbate; if you are convinced it is mixed well you can bottle.

 

[koniowsky717]

Sorbate works best when added with campden. But you don't want to bottle until the campden evaporates out of solution (about a day or so).

So if you are pressed for time just add the sorbate; if you are convinced it is mixed well you can bottle.

I mainly want to avoid off flavors.. I would add it with campen and let it sit for a week, but would this be to much sulphite since I added 1 campden per gallon about a month ago

 

[Maylar]

I'd skip the Campden if you added it a month ago.

 

[Yooper]

I don't add sorbate to wines and meads, unless I'm sweetening them. I don't like the flavor it imparts.

If the mead is done, and at FG, I wouldn't add sorbate.

 

[koniowsky717]

yea, i decided im just gonna let it sit for another month or so. checked gravity again last night didnt move, still taste young and appears to be off gasing still. just gonna push my next batch back or by a new carboy. i thought sorbate was a MUST if it had a FG above 1

 

[John Doe]

If I may biggie back on to this question.
Is there a time frame where you can skip stabilizing and just bottle? I've seen it said to wait three months and just bottle.

 

[mredge73]

yea, i decided im just gonna let it sit for another month or so. checked gravity again last night didnt move, still taste young and appears to be off gasing still. just gonna push my next batch back or by a new carboy. i thought sorbate was a MUST if it had a FG above 1

If you let it sit another month, you won't need sorbate.
Neither sorbate or camden is a must. You will need them if you are in a hurry to bottle early or want to do some additional flavor additions like back-sweetening.
Just let it off gas naturally until it goes still.