first time with H2S

[winemaker81]

I've helped others with H2S, in the distant past -- I recently got the "opportunity" to help myself. I also have a couple of questions (see below).

My son and I racked a carboy of a second run Vinifera blend and it smells and tastes great (for a totally green wine). Then we started racking the 54 liter demijohn. After a minute he backed up rapidly with a wrinkled nose. "Dang Dad! That is rank!"

Except it wasn't me (not sure a live human can produce a smell like that). I sniffed, my first thought was, "what the heck!" and my second thought was, "Oh @*#$!!!". Yup, H2S.

I immediately checked my barrels for H2S. Losing the demijohn would hurt, but it's 2nd run wine, so I can philosophically handle that. If I lose either barrel? Serious catastrophe! Thankfully both barrels are good!

Recently @sour_grapes recommended Reduless for treating H2S. BITD we racked over new copper pennies or copper scrubby pads, as that was the accepted method at that time. If I had no other choice I'd do it, but since I do have choices I opted otherwise.

Quick research found several sites that I figure I can trust, that all recommended stirring hard to drive the H2S off and then hitting it with K-meta. I racked the wine into 3 separate buckets and stirred each for 5 minutes with a drill mounted stirring rod, changing direction every 30 seconds. This drove off a LOT of gas.

WARNING: H2S is apparently flammable -- I opened all the windows and had a fan running across the buckets.

I ordered 30 grams of Reduless, which arrived yesterday. The directions say 0.4 to 0.6 grams dissolved in 6 ml water per gallon of wine. The demijohn is 14 gallons and I went with the middle ground, 0.5 grams, so I need 7 grams. Except I don't have a scale fine enough to measure. 30 divided by 4 is 7.5, so I divided the package in 4 and added 1 portion.

I siphoned 1 gallon out of the demijohn, added the Reduless, and stirred for 2 minutes, changing direction every 30 seconds. There was some sediment on the bottom, but it was completely distributed, so I figured the Reduless was distributed. This produced a lot of gas, but almost no perceptible H2S smell. Then I poured the reserved gallon back in.

Directions say to rack in 72 hours, so on Wednesday I'll rack.

Question 1 -- is there anything I should have done differently? While it won't change my situation, it may help others who read this. Given the lack of smell this morning, I'm wondering if I needed the Reduless, or if I should have used less.

Question 2 -- should I add a fining agent to help precipitate the solids? I have bentonite, but can buy Super-Kleer tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[CDrew]

My son and I racked a carboy of a second run Vinifera blend and it smells and tastes great (for a totally green wine). Then we started racking the 54 liter demijohn. After a minute he backed up rapidly with a wrinkled nose. "Dang Dad! That is rank!"

Question 1 -- is there anything I should have done differently? While it won't change my situation, it may help others who read this. Given the lack of smell this morning, I'm wondering if I needed the Reduless, or if I should have used less.

Question 2 -- should I add a fining agent to help precipitate the solids? I have bentonite, but can buy Super-Kleer tomorrow.

Thanks!

A couple of thoughts and some speculation:

Given that this was a "second run" I'm thinking the must would not have the nutrients of actual grape must since you're using spent skins, sugar and water. Lack of nutrients is one of the commonly mentioned reasons for H2S. Not sure why you would want to do a second run in the first place, but more yeast nutrients would be an obvious place to start.

Another thing to do would be to use a H2S preventing strain of yeast from Renaissance. I've used Avante(mostly) and now Allegro and can recommend with great enthusiasm. Really a smart choice and no possibility of H2S.

Good luck, at least it isn't your main wine, so it could have been worse.

 

[winemaker81]

@CDrew, the recipe includes dosing with nutrient, as the must is guaranteed to be deficient. I didn't get the second dose in, as the wine fermented faster than expected, and I believe that was the source of the problem. I had 3 fermenters, and it appears #1 or #2 developed the H2S, as the carboy and topup bottles, which were filled from the 3rd batch, are clear.

I'll look into the yeasts you suggested, and will dose next year's 2nd run with more nutrient. I don't normally check SG before the 4th day of fermentation, I just punch down the cap. Next year I'll check starting on day #2.

As to why make a 2nd run? Let me count the ways!

• Increase yield by 50% at a fraction of the cost. Last year's wine cost $0.38 USD per bottle.
• Ages faster and is drinkable sooner, reducing the temptation to touch the 1st run early.
• More accessible to non-red wine drinkers.
• Dirt cheap cooking wine.
• It's a lighter wine for the days I don't want a heavy red but also don't want a white. Last year's 2nd run resembles a Pinot Noir in color, a bit lighter in body.

Then there's the most important reason:

• I get something else to ferment!

 

[user 38734]

Ditto what Drew said about prevention, spot on.

Obviously the problem could have also been a too-cold or too-acidic ferment.

I agree with the measures you've taken so far.

WRT additional remediations, you could try adding nutrient to assist any remaining yeast.

Scott Labs reco's racking or filtering off Reduless, but as a low-intervention guy I'd rack and fine it out (adding an intervention) with egg whites or a commercial agent like Super Kleer or Sparkolloid in order to remove as much of that product as possible.

In no case would I DIY with copper (how much actual copper is even in pennies any more?) or even use commercial copper sulfate - but that is just me.

 

[winemaker81]

@Booty Juice, temperature and acid level are 2 more good points. I don't believe either is valid in my case (75 F and acid according to recipe), but they are things to consider.

SG on the wines is 0.992 or 0.994 (can't remember which, although I wrote it down) and the wine has been stable for weeks. I'm leaning towards Super-Kleer, as it can't hurt.

If I used pennies, I'd use old copper (I have a large jar full of pennies 1980 and older) which I'd clean VERY well. But the more I think about it, that would be an absolutely last resort before throwing the wine out. Given the tremendously reduced smell this morning, if I didn't have the Reduless, I'd probably stir well again and add another dose of K-meta. Maybe a bit of prayer for good measure.

 

[David Violante]

I had an issue with H2S and did the splash racking and kmeta, and also at the suggestion of @sour_grapes did nitrogen sparging with a 0.5 micron head. The nitrogen helps to drive off the H2S gas and is inert so it won’t affect your wine. I found the head here: 0.5 micron diffusion stone. We have a gas supply place locally where I sourced the nitrogen tank and regulator. I use it now also in the headspace of carboys and when racking into an empty container. I would be very cautious about using copper where you can’t measure how much actually goes into the wine (Pennies, scrub pad, flashing sheet) since it can be toxic at higher levels. The sparging worked really well for me.

 

[winemaker81]

Stirring and adding a heavy dose of K-meta removed most of the H2S. Adding Reduless, then adding kieselsol/chitosan and racking appears to have removed the remainder. I could smell a tiny bit of H2S at racking, but I believe that was from the lees. I sniffed it last night, all seems well.