On Apr 10, 10:21 pm, "Dirty Harry" > wrote:
> I have a white Zinfandel that's at about 1.050 and I'd like to stop it there
> for a sweeter wine. I've read about a few ways to stop it but wonder what's
> the best. I have potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulfphite, I have a
> filter, and its about 32f outside right now. I could stop the fermentation
> by putting it in the cold for a while and then add the sorbate and
> metabisulphite and then filter? I'd like to use as little chemicals as
> possible. Thanks guys.

Dirty Harry:

Depending on how big your container is, it could take a long time to
get down to 32 °F, so that's a consideration. Regarding your desire to
use as little chemical as possible, there is a usual dosage of sorbate
that most people use, but I found an article that gives a table of the
dosage needed based on alcohol %. Obviously, the higher the alcohol%,
the lower amount of sorbate needed. Here is the link:

http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/sorbate.htm

10%: 200 mg/l
11%: 170 mg/l
12%: 135 mg/l
13%: 100 mg/l
14%: 70 mg/l

The above numbers are assuming that the levels of SO2 and pH are
correct (whatever that means). The threshold for detecting the
geraniol smell is 182 mg/l. Another source that I found is Margalit,
who says to use at least 200 PPM of sorbate, and then points out that
the smell threshold is 150 PPM.

In your case, since you are at 1.05, and assuming that you started at
1.09, then you would have a pretty low alcohol content, which would
mean that you're gonna have to use a lot of sulfite and sorbate.