Bulk aging and sulphites

[jonnyt]

If I made a RIS and decided to bulkage should I use Sulphites in the form of Campden tablets to reduce the risk of oxidation and infection?

Everything I've read suggest anything below about 15% alcohol carries risk of bacterial infection if not treated this way.

[orlando]

As I see it the problem of killing the yeast along with any bacteria would be the main issue. I would of thought that a long boil, relatively high alcohol content, hops and a low pH is a good starting point and so as long as you are scrupulous over the sanitation during packaging you have little to worry about. I have read about crown caps that help scavenge oxygen from the beer to help with oxidation, but have no experience of them so no idea if they actually work or just some kind of placebo for those easily parted from their money.

[Maltmaniac]

Can't say much about bulk but certainly never had any problem with long term storage in bottles. Same bacteria would exist in the beer and still good 2 years in on a 4.5% brew. Stored in the right conditions and with the proper procedures regarding sanitation I can't see there being too many problems.

[Doingatun]

I add 1/4tsp of Potassium metabisulfite to the 23L after filtering, as some instructions suggest if aging longer than 6 months +

[Andy__]

I have kept barley wines & a RIS in demi Johns for months before bottling or kegging. I have never added any preservatives and so far I have not had an infection.

The only implication of bulk ageing is that all the yeast falls out. When you come round to bottling you need to re pitch a small amount of yeast into each bottle to achieve swift carbonation. For my RIS I used a keg to carbonate before bottling.

[Derby Dabbler]

Personally I'm not keen on sulphites, makes the beer smell like farts and like about 1% of the population I'm intolerant to it, causing asthma, rapid pulse, blotched skin etc. Higher quantities are used in New World wines and those are a panic attack in a bottle, French, Italian and Spanish are usually safe.

It was very popular in commercial cask beers in the 80s and I nearly had to give up drinking beer because of it, how serious is that? There's a bit of a resurgence these days for bottle condition beers as its anti-oxidant properties are good flavour stabilisers. I prefer the Belgian approach which is a line on the label that says the flavour of this beer will change as it ages. A stronger beer and particularly a dark one with its consequent higher levels of antioxidants from the polyphenols and tannins from the dark grains is unlikely to need anything, unless you're a food techonologist type that cannot resist adding chemicals or a brewery accountant who can't handle 'non conformity'. Personally I started brewing my own beers to consume less chemicals so it seems a bit pointless to reconstruct a commercial chemical soup.

Each to their own obviously

[jonnyt]

I'd certainly prefer not to use it, but if the option is to store for months in a plastic screw top barrel/container which will inevitably have some air inside I'm thinking it maybe a good idea.

Doesn't it break down after a while also?

[Eric]

My thoughts for what they are worth.
A small amount of sulphite should have no ill effect, but get the wrong side of the dividing line and you could wreck even the best of beers.
Oxygen in a sealed, sanitised, airtight, pressurised, near full vessel shouldn't be a threat to young beer containing yeast, it will be consumed and converted.
It's not easy to see how contaminated a dark beer is, but if it's at the usual pH after a good boil of at least 90 minutes, solid fermentation and decanted free of trub and any debris, you should have little concern.

[darkonnis]

I'd do a double on the sanitation, vwp then starsan. age it in a cool place, I have found that that really does slow any infection that may be there. I had a batch and put half in the fridge and the remainder in the hall under one of the shelves as I had no more room. The fridge lot are mostly all right, coulda just ben lucky though and I haven't bothered taking them out to see if the infection grows if left out.... could be an experiment worth doing.