the use of campden tablets at bottling stage

Russ2109

Hi yet another question, I am confused about putting campden tablets in bottles of wine, is it to help preserve the wine ? I have looked up this topic on many sites, from Europe & even the states, & not one site has offered a consistent answer some sites say 1 tablet in 5 gal one site even said 1 tablet in a bottle, which just sounds wrong to me but I will bow to greater knowledge than I have on the subject . is there anyone out there that can give me a simple answer do you have to put campden tablets in your wine at the bottling stage ? or as it will not last that long, IE no longer than say 6 months, can I get away with not adding campden tablets at all . All the wine I am bottling is from 7 day wine kits, does this make a difference ? I await a simple answer , from this very well informed  forum .

Cheers Russ

HBO_Staff

If simple is what you want then you've come to the right place! Basically Campden tablets are added to wine at the end of fermentation to help prevent contamination by bacteria which could happen during the syphoning and bottling stage, and also helps to prevent oxidation. It also aids the stability of the wine. One crushed Campden tablet per gallon is the right dose for the ones we have. Campden tablets can also be crushed and mixed in hot water to make a sterilising solution for cleaning equipment. You don't have to use them, but it can help, and are used for preserving wine.

Russ2109

Thank you , thats the sort of answer I was looking for. Straight to the point.

Cheers Russ.