Oh no I have the rotten egg smell in my Skeeter Pee .

[NSwiner]

I just checked my SP in the carboy and it has the rotten egg smell .I haven't stablizered or sweetened yet . Is there anything I can do to fix this or do I just have to throw it out :< . The SG is .992 .The color is a little different then it was a couple days ago ,not as yellow thats what made me check it today ,plus I figured the SG must be close if not ready to move to the next step .

 

[grapeman]

Maybe it has an itty bitty UTI or a

Seriously though, since this is a type of wine- use the copper wire trick. Strip the insulation off a foot or so of copper wire (preferably fairly new)- clean it with some sandpaper or steel wool and stir the SP with it for about 5-10 minutes. If that isn't enough, put the wire in it overnight and retrieve it in the morning. The copper ties up the S02- end of.

 

[Dugger]

Darlene - the first thing I would do is to splash rack it to see if aeration dissipates the odor, this being the simplest and safest treatment; if that doesn't work, there is a product called Bocksin that is recommended for this problem but I don't know if it's available in this area. Failing that the copper treatment as suggested.
.. Doug

 

[Wade E]

Id us the copper wire before the bockskin but id do anything and everything before trying coppersulfate! Using the copper wire is not the same as the sulfate at all and is very safe, remember that most of our pipes are copper. The racking and the copper pipe both work well just be careful not to oxidize your wine with the racking toomuch especially if its a white wine. Ascorbic acid or k-meta should be used just in case when doing this.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I can't miss this one. The Skeeter Pee smells like Skeeter Poo. I agree with cooper wire. Adding a chemical is always last resort.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Darlene,
Can you answer some questions to help me research and improve?
1. What is the warmest your batch ever got while fermenting?
2. Did you use a heating pad, blanket, or brew belt?
3. Did you use both energizer and nutrient?
4. Was this batch made with bottled lemon juice?
5. Did you start this batch with a starter or slurry? If a slurry, what was the parent wine?
Thanks, Lon

 

[NSwiner]

1. What is the warmest your batch ever got while fermenting? definitely not warmer then 80 F but I don't check the wine temps everyday unless the room temp seems really off in either direction
2. Did you use a heating pad, blanket, or brew belt? no
3. Did you use both energizer and nutrient? yes but when I read my notes I see I added 5tsp nutrients at the start by mistake . After adding the rest of the juice & nutrient & energizer I left it in the bucket a couple days longer to make sure there wasn't any problems
4. Was this batch made with bottled lemon juice? yes the Realemon brand
5. Did you start this batch with a starter or slurry? If a slurry, what was the parent wine? yes I used a slurry it was from a wine I made from juices .Here's the juices ocean spray cranberry / pomegranate ,ocean spray white cranberry , welshes white grape/ pear & 1/2 cup of lemon juice .SP started reall good for me .

 

[NSwiner]

Ok before i do anything else to it should I syphon it into a clean carboy ? I've never splash racked any of my wines , so do I dump it from the carboy into the bucket or syphon it letting it splash ? I'm pretty sure i have a piece of copper pipe in the basement I could clean up & use . Thanks for your help guys .

 

[Runningwolf]

Darlene, when I splash rack I siphon from one container to the other. Instead of positioning the exit hose on the bottom of the container, I leave it near the top so it splashes in. I use a vacuum pump for doing this so I get a bit more force behind it bit you should be fine.

 

[NSwiner]

Ok now I have another question if I add the K-meta before I splash rack ( how much it's a full batch ? ) do i still add the amount it calls for when you add the sorbate & sparkolliod ? I will probably let it sit for another week after I try the splash racking & copper pipe would that be enough time to make sure the smell doesn't come back .

 

[Runningwolf]

I rack to the primary first then add all of my chemicals then splash rack back to the clean carboy and degas once again. I am not positive in your situation. I Think I would give it a good stir with the copper first then siphon to the bucket, add chemicals and stir once again real good with the copper then splash rack back to your clean carboy.

 

[Dugger]

I'm guessing here, Darlene, but splash racking to aerate means you want to expose the stuff to air and since oxygen might be one of the critical components to accomplish whatever aeration does, I would be inclined to do this without adding the sulphite which acts as an antioxident.
Just rack it from your carboy into your bucket, letting it splash good. A bucket is better if you want to stir it with the copper pipe. The copper pipe must not just be clean, it needs to be shiny ( sanded), otherwise the oxidized surface of the pipe will not let the copper do its thing.

 

[NSwiner]

Well i decided to sit the pipe in the carboy while i had my shower and got the bucket & other carboy ready to go . Then i read your post went back in to get the pipe to sand it because i forgot that part pulled it out and it's shiny as can be ,my guess is the lemon juice cleaned it even more .BTW the smell is going away already & I haven't even racked it yet but I'm still going to rack it .

 

[NSwiner]

Ok here's what i did so far put the pipe in like I mentioned in above post then I racked to the bucket degassed added stablizers didn't add any clearing agent yet .Then I racked into clean carboy but when I did I stuck the pipe in and let the SP run down it . I don't smell any funky smells anymore but just to be on the safe side I left the pipe in the carboy . I was wondering if there's was a reason why you couldn't use the pipe to stir the SP with right from the start then yuo definitely wouldn't get that smell .

Thanks again for all your help .

 

[Wade E]

The copper has a reaction with the acids but I wouldnt leave it in there any longer then needed or use it when its not needed as it may take out some aromas that you do want in there. Copper has a way of pulling out tastes and smells and its the main reason why distillers use it in their stills especially when making neutrals like flavorless grain.

 

[grapeman]

Personally, I would not use the copper pipe. That is why I said electrical wire. Copper pipe has an inside and an outside and you likely can't get both clean. Wire you can clean the oxidation off the outside really easy. It also does not expose the wine to a large surface area of copper. I have given this advice to many new winemakers and every one who uses it says it really works miracles. I guess my attempt at humor must have swayed folks away from my advice. Even Wade said copper wire, not pipe.
I realize I don't have a lot of posts on this forum, but do have may years of experience.

 

[Wade E]

I would make him a mod if I had my choice and he is on FVW forum with me but I guess he feels that he wouldnt be on here enough to do so here with his vineyard and the Cornell university vines he takes care of and the fact that he will be going commercial soon, the offer still stands though anytime Rich!

 

[NSwiner]

Well the only reason I went with the pipe over wire I had the pipe here already . Now it's going into my winemaking supply closet incase this ever happens again . As for your humor Grapeman at first i had not idea what you were talking about until I reread it later . When someone put advise out there doesn't mean we have to follow it by the letter , usually I take everyones advise thats good enough to offer it and use what works best for me with what I have on hand to work with . Wade thanks for explaining why i shouldn't use the copper all the time .

 

[Wade E]

My pleasure NSW. We all learn from posts like this and hopefully anther besides you reads this and stores this in his/her knowledge base.

 

[grapeman]

Darlene yes we all need to choose what we use for ourselves. My point was that nobody that I read offered advice to use a copper pipe to stir with. Wade mentioned copper kettles, etc used in brewing beer. Some folks do use them, but they should be new and shiny to be effective. Few pipes laying around in the basement qualify for that. When you use wire, you can just cut off a foot or so, strip the insulation off and it will usually already be clean. Most households already have some extra wire laying around somewhere- if not it is cheap.

I didn't mean to sound critical of your choice- just wanted to let you know that I am not new at this. I'm glad what you did worked well for you. Keep this trick in your arsenal to help battle problems.