Wine additives in Dark Belgian Strong

[FinestHour]

I messed up today. Not my finest hour. Or maybe too fine. (Wine additive jokes)

Three months ago I made a Belgian Strong, with plans to age at least 9 months before bottling. It's a bigger beer, and I wanted to give it extra time in a carboy.

One month ago I started a batch of Red Zinfandel. It finished primary ferm 3 weeks ago, was racked to a carboy for secondary. Tonight I planned to add everything for stabilizing and clearing...

Except, I brought the wrong carboy out of the basement. I don't know how I didn't notice. It wasn't until I was stirring with a power drill that I noticed my "wine" was dark brown. The foam from all the agitation was a beautiful, toasty cream. Not pink. Uh oh.

Okay, so to the specifics. I added 4g Metabisulfite, 5.5g Potasium Sorbate, and 300 mL Chitosan to a Dark Belgian Strong that was in storage. I'm familiar with the purpose of each of these additives in wine, but having trouble extrapolating that to their impact in my beer. Any ideas on what happens next? Does the chitosan attract my special beer molecules and make them fall out of solution?

I know, I know: RDWHAHB, but I really want to understand the impact of this mistake before aging the Belgian for another 6 months. Any advice or informed comments are very appreciated!

Thanks,

Long time lurker, first time beer finer.

 

[aviator01]

I assume you were going to bottle this one. The additives will likely inhibit any remaining yeast for carbonating in the bottle, so kegging will likely be your only option. As far as effect on anything else, I doubt it will have any adverse impact.

If you haven't started kegging yet, this would be a good time to take the plunge. I'd keg it, purge it with CO2, and forget about if for a few months.

 

[FinestHour]

Thanks for your input. I generally keg, but you assume correctly, I was planning to bottle this one and enjoy it over a longer period of time. I may still try to bottle via keg and homemade beer gun.

Any thoughts on the chitosan?

 

[aviator01]

I've never used Chitosan, but I've used other fining agents for wines and ciders. I doubt the Chitosan will impact your Belgian Strong other than further reducing any yeast in suspension. I guess tif there is any excess proteins floating around in your beer they may fall out of suspension as well. I assume your Begian strong is a little on the "darker" so I doubt you'll notice how "clear" it is.

I'd be more concerned about oxidation due to the splashing around when you mixed in the sulfites and chitosan, hence the recommendation to age in a keg under slight CO2 pressure.

I hope it all works out.