Help with wine aging in barrel - sulfur smell.

[Pumpkinman]

I've had 2 - 5 gallon batches of Amarone aging in oak barrels for approx. 3.5 months, both were aged in carboys for 9 months before being rotated into the barrels, both had been racked off any lees 3 times during those 9 months.
I've tested both batches with the SC-300, making adjustments when needed.

Both taste amazing, but upon tasting a sample yesterday, I noticed that one batch has taken on a sulfur smell, although it isn't very pronounced right now, you can definitely smell it, and I really would like to be proactive before it gets any worse.

The taste of the wine in question is very good, so I feel that this is something that has materialized in the past week or two.

The other Amarone is fine, and the Brunello that I've had barrel aging for 5.5 months is fine, as a matter of fact, it is incredible.

My first instinct is to splash rack the wine in question into a carboy, and possible rinse the barrel real well, followed by a meta rinse, I don't know if this is the right course of action, I'd really like to barrel age this wine for a few more months, it has been getting better and better, until this sulfur issue started.

I'd rather try to correct this without using any additives, but I will use Noblesse if necessary to correct this.

I look forward to your recommendations.

Tom

 

[Pumpkinman]

I figured out the problem thanks to the SC-300, now to figure out if adjusting a few levels will be enough to fix it.

 

[WI_Wino]

What was the problem? Too much k-meta? Drowned mouse?

 

[Pumpkinman]

No, the barrel aged wine is depleting the free s02 faster than I thought it would, my question now is whether an adjustment will fix the issue, I still need to get rid of the "rotten egg" smell, it's light, but I can tell it is there.

 

[Pumpkinman]

I ended up adjusting yhe SO2 levels on all wine that tested low, and I treated the wine in question with Redulees.

 

[sdelli]

I had the same problem earlier this year.... Also smelled like rubber a little.... Found my so2 crashed! Brought it up to a little higher then specs to accommodate the extra binding.... Within a week or two it was back to fine.... Since then it has been fine too.... So2 still a little higher because of my panic but I have more of the same batch to mix with down the road before bottling...

 

[Pumpkinman]

Yep, I brought mine up a little bit higher...I'll be keeping an eye open for this more often!

 

[JohnT]

hve sed that reduless product in the pas and have to say that it worked wonderfully! This stuff is just simply amazing!

 

[Pumpkinman]

John, Thanks! I had "armed" myself with several emergency products which included Redulees, Noblesse, and a few more.
I'm glad to hear that it worked well for you!

I am a bit disappointed in the fact that I let the free SO2 get so low, I never would have thought that it would be depleted as fast as it did in an oak barrel.
From here on out, I have a SO2 management plan which includes a detailed list on a clipboard that hangs on the rack with the barrels, this will at least tell me when the PH, TA and Free SO2 Levels were last checked, an the individual levels along with any adjustments that I made.
Time to cross all my "T's" and dot all my "I's".

 

[justsgm]

I've gotten the rotten egg smell out by racking the wine through copper tubing. This is easier for me then the recommended fix of adding copper sulfate. Totally disappeared. Simple trick is take a few ounces of stinky wine and swirling a copper penny in it. If it works rack thru copper to fix the whole barrel.

 

[antont]

I had a similar issue with a batch of Chilean Malbec grapes last spring. I guess they had a rainy season and used some extra sulfur. Instead of adding SO2 or copper sulfate I did several very generous rackings and aeration. Tasted after each racking waited re-tasted and stopped when the smell disappeared.

The wine was fermented without any additives or yeast. I just added up to 50 ppm during these racking sessions.

Then the wine rested for a few months in demijohns and I bottled a few weeks ago. The smell is clean and the free SO2 is 2ppm.

I've heard that additions of copper sulfate must be done carefully since it may be poisonous.

Other than that, isn't it possible that sulfur smell can be caused by too much SO2?