Can I fix stinky wine with a filter?

[xriddle]

My dad makes old school (russian roulette) wine. No sulfites no yeast no MLF ... This year his wine has a funky stick ... like a sulfury burt smell .. could filtering with my minijet fix this? Can anything fix this?

Thanks

 

[Arne]

You mite be able to fix it with splash racking. Otherwise try a piece of new copper wire and stir the wine with it. Sanitize the wire and stir for a few minutes. Some folks leave the copper in overnight. It does work, not always but many times. Arne.

 

[robie]

Filtering won't make any difference. The stink needs to be determined and corrected.

If it is just H2S (rotten egg smell), splash racking may help. It is the word "burnt" that could be a more serious problem.

In a half cup of the wine put in 3 or 4 very shinny, non-oxidized pennies. Stir the wine for 3 or 4 minutes. If the smell lessens and the taste is better, it is H2S.

H2S can be corrected by a product called Reduless. Or, placing a solid copper pots & pan scrubbing pad, found in any super market, in with the wine for a week or so can help. Another method is stirring with a copper pipe. The wine will need to be racked afterward. Letting the wine splash while racking (called splash racking) will help, but it can result in the wine becoming oxidized, so be careful. The splashing will allow the H2S to sort of blow off.

Just make sure anything that touches your wine is clean and sanitized.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I agree with Robie...

 

[rjb222]

It is the burnt comment that is cause for worry. This is usually due to a very stressed yeast and once it is there it remains. If it is not too prominent a good oaking my add enough complexity to use the burnt part to your favor. Robbie is dead on with his evaluation and solution to the H2S.

 

[xriddle]

thanks for the info guys ... I'll try and report back. I dont know if this helps but I passed some through a homemade activated charcoal filter and it did made it a little better although it did strip the color and taste some.

Thanks

 

[grapeman]

If the wine begins developing that funky small when fermenting, add a bit of yeast nutrient such as DAP (di ammonium phosphate) to feed the yeast. If the must is too low in YAN (yeast assimmable nitrogen), the ammonium part adds some nitrogen to the mix and keeps the yeast healthier so they don't produce the stink.

Charcoal filtering should always be the LAST resort as it will remove color and taste as you found out.