It doesn't work without sulfite. Sorbate stops yeast budding but does
nothing to bacteria, so a drink with sorbate and no SO₂ is open to lactic
bacteria.
It must never go into a drink that may still go through malolactic
fermentation. Lactic bacteria metabolise sorbic acid to 2-ethoxyhexa-3,5-
diene, which smells of crushed geranium leaves and can't be removed from the
wine afterwards.
It doesn't stop an active fermentation. It prevents a new population
from establishing, so it's for backsweetening, not for stopping a ferment.
All three are notes on the explanation, because they matter more than the
grams.
Potassium sorbate for a drink about to be sweetened.
Reads SORBIC_ACID_BY_ABV at the drink's alcohol, interpolating between rows, and converts to the potassium salt at POTASSIUM_SORBATE_SORBIC_FRACTION.
Three caveats
It doesn't work without sulfite. Sorbate stops yeast budding but does nothing to bacteria, so a drink with sorbate and no SO₂ is open to lactic bacteria.
It must never go into a drink that may still go through malolactic fermentation. Lactic bacteria metabolise sorbic acid to 2-ethoxyhexa-3,5- diene, which smells of crushed geranium leaves and can't be removed from the wine afterwards.
It doesn't stop an active fermentation. It prevents a new population from establishing, so it's for backsweetening, not for stopping a ferment.
All three are notes on the explanation, because they matter more than the grams.