Red wine smells like sulpher after adding deacidifier.

Phil, Does your wine smell like a burned match or like rotten eggs?

Hmm, now that you mention it, it is not like the sulpher smell from a typical lager beer fermentaion, maybe it is a bit, "rotton egg".

Anyway, I'm sure is came from the deacidifier product I added. When I added it, it foamed like a volcano! So what is it about that particular deacidifier that causes this smell?

If it is hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell), adding the gas released during deacidification would have carried some H2S with it. It's not that the deacidifier causes the smell, just that it makes it much more noticeable.

noticeable.

Err, what is hydrogen sulfide? What is the cause and is there a cure?

Why does this not affect the taste? If there is no cure I guess I either dump it, or wear nose plugs:-(

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is what smells like rotten eggs. H2S is usually a result of low nitrogen nutrient in the juice or must being fermented. The yeast generate H2S when they are stressed by low nutrients or temperatures that are too high or too low. Best treatment I've encountered is Bocksin. It can be obtained from several of the online beer/wine making supply shops.

Buy enough for two treatments. just in case.

Too high OR too low. Well if anything, my temps were too low. I have an outside basement and the grapes were picked at the end of October so my ferment and ripening temps were always too low. It's been sitting at 50°f or less most of the time. But it is totally fermented out.

More beer just happens to be my supplier for all of my beer stuff. I'll have to check it out.

Bocksin sure is a wierd name.

Man this is my very first grape wine, my second overall, 1st was a cherry wine and that went sooo smooth. I feel like I'm over doctoring this wine big time.

OK we will see.

I was really hoping for the, "time cures all ills" answer. I have a buttload of that on hand and I wouldn't have to doctor it anymore. Next year I'm not gonna do a red again. I'll try a white. If that does not turn out, I'll quit making grape wines. Can't wait for June to do another cherry wine.

Too high OR too low. Well if anything, my temps were too low. I have an outside basement and the grapes were picked at the end of October so my ferment and ripening temps were always too low. It's been sitting at 50°f or less most of the time. But it is totally fermented out.

More beer just happens to be my supplier for all of my beer stuff. I'll have to check it out.

Bocksin sure is a wierd name.

Man this is my very first grape wine, my second overall, 1st was a cherry wine and that went sooo smooth. I feel like I'm over doctoring this wine big time.

OK we will see.

I was really hoping for the, "time cures all ills" answer. I have a buttload of that on hand and I wouldn't have to doctor it anymore. Next year I'm not gonna do a red again. I'll try a white. If that does not turn out, I'll quit making grape wines. Can't wait for June to do another cherry wine.

H2S problems can arise in _any_ fermentation. A trick that may work for you if you don't have a severe case is stirring the wine thoroughly with a _clean_ piece of copper tubing. If this is going to work, it'll only take a few minutes. The H2S reacts with the surface of the copper to form copper sulfide, which will stick to the pipe. Hanging a clean sterling silver fork in the wine will do the same thing, but not as quickly.

Tom S

Cool!

I'll try the copper pipe treatment.

I have a 4 liter and a 25 liter carboy full of this wine.

The 4 liter is for topping up the 25'er.

I think I'll try it on the 4 liter one first to see what happens.

That is similar advice that I got when I was doing searches on this board. They were saying to 'rack' to another container through a copper pipe.

Thanks again!

By clean, do you mean any oxidation layer must be buffed off, so you are left with shiny new metal?

Brian

Tom is correct on the copper pipe treatment. Copper Sulfate can also be used. I personally prefer not to use copper treatments on my wine simply because copper is toxic and I don't feel I can guarantee that the copper level in my wine is low enough after treatment.

CHEERS!

Yes, that's what I meant. I suspect that a dirty copper pipe would _probably_ do the trick too, but do you really want to put something dirty into your wine? :^)

Tom S

The reaction is pretty much self-limiting, and the contact time really isn't long enough to dissolve much copper into the wine, as copper is nearly inert. Besides, copper is not _that_ poisonous - especially in such low concentrations. Might even be a required trace element in humans' diet.

If you're really worried about it, use the sterling silver trick instead. That's extremely safe.

Tom S

OK Tom,

I stirred both of my carboys. The 25 liter and the 4 liter. I'll let'em go a while and seed if it did the trick.

If it workd, it worked immediately. No need to wait. If it didn't work, you didn't stir for long enough to get all the H2S or you have a mercaptan problem. Mercaptan is harder to treat.

Tom S