Pennies for Sodium Dioxide

Do you mean hydrogen sulfide?

Sodium dioxide is not alive, so killing it should be fairly easy. :) You may be thinking of H2S (hydrogen sulfide), which has a rotten-egg smell, and which sometimes occurs during or after fermentation. Copper is part of the treatment for H2S, but pennies and scouring pads would be a poor choice.

Pennies minted after 1983 are made of zinc with a thin copper coating. If the penny is worn, the zinc may be exposed, and you do NOT want zinc in your wine.

Scouring pads have other substances, including the oils used in manufacturer, which you probably don't want in your wine.

Whatever the source of the copper, it needs to be thoroughly cleaned first.

Probably the simplest thing to use --- when H2S is a problem --- is copper wire, which can be cleaned very easily, and where all the exposed surface is "pure" copper.

However, if you have sodium dioxide (NaO2) in your wine in any significant quantity, that is an entirely different issue.

Nope! In the article, it say's "I don't over sulfur and pour the wine over pennies. . . to kill sodium dioxide"

Do you have a link to the article or was it in print? If it's in print, it might be a typo!

In an Internet search, I found several occurrences of the term "sodium dioxide" (NaO2) used to describe "sulphur dioxide" (SO2), obviously confusing the meaning of the chemical symbol "S" for sodium. SO2 is found in wine (since it occurs naturally in the grape skins, and we add it as a preservative), but there is usually no reason to "kill it".

I still think the author is confusing SO2 with H2S (hydrogen sulfide), as well as confusing sodium and sulphur.

Yeah, but other than that his chemistry is dead on. ;^D

Tom S

Stirring the wine with a clean section of copper pipe isn't too bad either. Wire might be kind of slow for a batch larger than a gallon or so.

Tom S

You are correct, of course. But it's difficult to clean the inside of copper pipe (and it is pretty dirty when you buy it). How do you clean it? Dip it in acid and flush it with water?

How about a bottle brush and Bon Ami, followed by lots of water?

Tom S

LOL, Tom!!