Sulfur smell

[RedRedWine]

We just did our final racking and some of the wine has a sulfur smell to it. It was very strong back in November and with each racking it has diminished a little more then the last. Does anyone know why this is happening or any idea of what we can do?

Thanks,
J

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!

Is the sulfur smell like rotten eggs, burnt tire, or burnt match smell?

 

[RedRedWine]

Rotten eggs.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I would give it a good splash racking over a copper pipe.

 

[closetwine]

I 2nd that....

 

[Runningwolf]

Ensure if using a pipe it is clean and sanitized inside and out. If you have some copper wire you can strip that would also work well and would be easy to sanitize/clean.

 

[joea132]

This is caused by hydrogen sulfide (H2S), I believe, which has that rotten egg smell. It is caused by wild yeasts or by stressed yeast that aren't properly aided with nutrient. Be sure to sulfide your must before adding yeast to kill off wild yeasts and to properly "feed" your fermenting yeasts with nutrients.

 

[Randoneur]

This is caused by hydrogen sulfide (H2S), I believe, which has that rotten egg smell. It is caused by wild yeasts or by stressed yeast that aren't properly aided with nutrient. Be sure to sulfide your must before adding yeast to kill off wild yeasts and to properly "feed" your fermenting yeasts with nutrients.

I would add to this - stirring the must or punching down the cap daily while fermentation is active to prevent the yeast from being stressed by lack of oxygen.

 

[RedRedWine]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will try the splash racking. Correct me if I am wrong...this means when racking the wine we just would pour it over a copper pipe letting the wine come in contact with the pipe before it enters the new car boy?

 

[Runningwolf]

Splash racking is done transferring wine from one vessel to another with a vacuum pump OR dumping it from one primary to another a few times. Then I would stir it with clean/sanitized copper.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Splash racking is done transferring wine from one vessel to another with a vacuum pump OR dumping it from one primary to another a few times. Then I would stir it with clean/sanitized copper.

Yup - agreed!

 

[RedRedWine]

Thanks for the clarification.

We just transferred the wine from one carboy to a new clean one this past Sunday an we had zero sediment this time. Can I just stir with the copper pipe now or should I rack it again? Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure we do it right.

Jeff

 

[winemaker_3352]

Splash rack it - this has nothing to do with getting the wine off the sediment. You are wanting to aerate the wine to get aid in getting rid of the smell.

 

[Runningwolf]

It's easiest to pur from pail to pail but if you need to go into a carboy, use a large funnel and pour it in that way if you can. Like Jon said it's all about aireation.

 

[RedRedWine]

Ok I got it. Thanks. I am going to use a funnel to do the aeration. Hopefully this will work.

 

[Jwatson]

I did the same prodedure last week for a Brunello in which I used BM45 yeast, and it worked. Grapestompers gives a nice step by step tutorial. Make sure your sulfite levels are up; you may need to add more k-meta to counter the effects of the added oxygen from the splash racking. An additional racking (gentle) may need to be done 1 or 2 weeks later to remove the copper sulfides that have precipitated out.

http://www.grapestompers.com/hydrogen_sulfide.asp

 

[RedRedWine]

Update for all. Finally did the splash racking yesterday. Out of the seven different carboys we have, only one had the sulfur smell/taste to it. We poured the wine from carboy to carboy using a large funnel then gave it a quick stir with a sanitized copper pole. About a month and a half left then we bottle and start next years.

 

[robie]

Just make sure the sulfur smell, which is likely H2S, is gone before you bottle. Watch your free SO2 levels closely, since you are having to splash rack.