SODIUM METABISULPHITE?

[Mike Neilson]

For the first time i have used this in my fermenter? Followed instructions and now I have no fermentation activity! pitched a well active rehydrated S-05 at 22deg. Fermenter is sitting at 20deg and hydrometer reading is at OG after 24 hours. Pulled a sample off and it is carbonated? going crazy here any thoughts? has the sodium metabisulphite killed the yeast?

[Martin Bridges]

I've used Sodium Met to sanitize since I started homebrewing and never had a problem. Are you saying you left a quantity of sodium met in the fermenter when you added the wort and pitched the yeast? There's no need to rinse after sanitizing with sodium met, but it's a good idea to tip it out.

At low-ish levels sodium met shouldn't harm your yeast. It could just be that your fermentation is taking a bit of time to kick off - if there's no activity after 48 hours then I'd get a bit more concerned.

How much sodium met did you use and how did you use it?

Martin

[Mike Neilson]

1 teaspoon per litre of water as per instuctions, I did tip the solution out after sanitizing and gave just a little rinse. Hopefully it will kick off!!

[Martin Bridges]

If that's the case, it isn't the sodium met that's causing any problem you may have. Let it go for a bit longer then see what happens. If nothing kicks off, post a few more details of your brew process and I'm sure someone here will have some ideas.

Cheers,

Martin

[Mike Neilson]

Standard brew, 67.8deg mash and batch spage, 1 hour boil, aertate and pitched a working rehydrated yeast. Ferments in black Stowers fermenters. Normaly my brews start within 5-6 hours but this one its been 18hours will wait and see what happens

[Barry]

"Working" re-hydrated yeast? I assumed by that you mean you re-hydrated/started in wort? That's against any instructions I have read. All the literature points to re-hydrating only in water. For S04 and S05 the recommended temp is 27 degrees (+/- 3 degrees).
The scientific reason (or the one that I've heard) is that when the cells are re-hydrating they are unable to regulate what passes through their membranes. You don't want anything other than innocuous old water to get through until they get their collective shit back together.
When re-hydrating with water you get the best recovery rates, should be up to 95% healthy cells from a pack of well stored dried yeast. When you don't do it properly you may only get 50% which could account for some lag time.

But, in my opinion, lag time schmag time. As long as it doesn't take 3 days to show any sign of fermentation you should be fine.

[MrC]

I agree with Martin, wait a bit longer. If the wort is carbonated then fermentation has started. you won't see any bubbling in the airlock untill the wort is saturated with CO2 first.

Sodium Metabisulphite will kill the yeast. My understanding is that wine makers use it to stop fermentation and prevent any fermentation occurrung in the bottle. I use Sodium Metabisulphite for sterilisation also and have never had any problems. I always rinse with boiled water after sterilisation.

If you haven't seen any activity in the airlock after 48 hours you may want to pitch some more yeast. US-05 usually kicks off within 24 - 48 hours for me. Although I usually aim for 18c which would slow things down a bit compared to 20-22c.

[Fairlane]

Wine lecture 1.01 :)

Sodium Metabisulphite (SMS) gets used in most wineries for sterilization of equipment and it's just as effective as anything else. Generally it is also acidified (has some citric acid added to it) to make it more effective and they rinse well with cold water afterwards to remove any trace that may prevent a ferment from kicking off quickly. They add PMS (Potassium Metabisulphite) to juice and wine to protect it from microbiological infection and oxidation however it can be used to stop a ferment. When wines are bottled they are sterile filtered so there is no chance of referment so the PMS is there for oxidation prevention only.

I also use SMS for sterilizing and dont even rinse it out most of the time and have never had a problem either.

[Mike Neilson]

Well It has started to ferment, down to 1.030 from 1.052. Just no Air lok actvity, but the is a seal as when i draw from the fermenter it draws the little bit of pressure bak into fermenter.

[Reviled]

Funny thing is, Sodium Met isnt actually a sanitiser, even though its pretty much the main sanitiser sold in NZ (which is a crock of shit and most LHBS's should really look into something else) but Sodium met doesnt actually kill bacteria, it simply inhibits its growth, which is cool, but not really sanitising?

Look into switching to Iodophor, its an awesome no rinse sanitiser which you can get in only 5 litre containers from RD1, but you only use 10mls for 16 litres, so 5 litres will last you three lifetimes... You may be able to get some from a dairy farmer as its what they all use for sanitising milk lines etc... So its gotta be decent aye?

I have a full unopened pack of Sodium met and im never gonna use it, I hate the stuff aye!

[vdog]

If you don't want to go as far as investing in iodophor, household bleach will do the job too - low strength (like 50ml in 23l) is enough to kill any bacteria - and if you rinse well with hot water there won't be anything left to damage the precious little yeasties in your beer.

[Barry]

you'd need to rinse well, and with sterile water (no sense in rinsing with tap water after you've taken the trouble to sanitise!)
bear in mind too that bleach is unsuitable for stainless steel.

[Reviled]

There is a no rinse solution with bleach and vinegar, do a search on AHB and youll find it.. Sorry, not sure what it is exactly but it was given by the owner of Starsan as a substitute...