Comments on: Using Potassium Sorbate When Making Wine

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 19:24:00 +0000

In reply to Dan212.

Appove

Matt Williams
Winemaker’s Academy
WinemakersAcademy.com

By: Dan212

Dan212 — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 13:33:00 +0000

In reply to Matt Williams. Thanks Matt, We made 5 of the same Cab/Merlot kits because after the first one , that's what everyone said was the best ever. We have bought a Vino Mini filter and like the clarity and it does not change the taste. Plan to try other selections in the future. My wife loves red wine but was never able to drink it because see has migraine problems and always has a problem with red wines, now without sorbate , no problem after 2 glasses. Guessing its the sorbate.

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 12:25:00 +0000

In reply to Dan212.

Hey Dan212! Sorbate does have a bad reputation among many winemakers but it does work for back sweetening if you don’t have a filter. In my mind sorbate is a good tool for beginners to make sweet wines who aren’t ready to spring for a filtration system.

Were your friends making primarily dry reds? What a great opportunity though to learn from three experience winemakers first hand.

By: Dan212

Dan212 — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 03:43:00 +0000

I have only been making kit wine for about one year, and the 3 older men from Italy that showed me how NEVER use potassium sorbate and everyone loves the taste. It has always been a red wine.

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 16:06:00 +0000

In reply to Ross. Hi Ross, thanks for sharing your experience! This is an experiment I need to try sometime so I can have a better grasp on how sorbate affects the flavor of a wine. Cheers! -Matt

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:50:00 +0000

In reply to Ross.

Appove

Matt Williams
Winemaker’s Academy
WinemakersAcademy.com

By: Ross

Ross — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 15:53:00 +0000

I have been making wine with wine kits for over a decade now and I never use potassium sorbate in my process unless it is a fruit wine kit where you have to add juice to it in the clearing stage. i found that when i did use it in my regular wine kits such as California Red and such, it did not turn out quite as nice as if i left it out. Just try it some time. buy two kits the same and make one with and one without. This way you will know for sure what you want to do with the sorbate. So making dry wine leave it out. sweet wines you put it in.

By: Matt Williams

Matt Williams — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 15:12:00 +0000

In reply to Adan.

Hi Adan, glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I have experimented with leaving out the sorbate. If I’m making a dry wine that will not be back sweetened I will not use it.

If you’re going to back sweeten you can do any one of the following:

1. Use sorbate to keep the sugar from fermenting
2. sterile filter the wine (0.45 micron filter pads) to remove the yeast. (no sorbate required)
3. back sweeten with a non-fermentable sweetener (no sorbate required).

Non-fermentable sweeteners like stevia may give your wine an artificial sweetener taste so be careful there but that is a method a few Academy members employ.

By: Adan

Adan — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 20:55:00 +0000

Hey Matt. Thank’s for the read! I was wondering if you’ve experimented with leaving out the potassium sorbate when kit wine-making yet?