Ooo-ooo that smell! Can you smell that smell?

[YoungsBlock19]

Apologies to Lynard Skynard.

Caught a subtle wiff of H2S in my fermented/MLF-completed wine. Subtle, but it's there. Need suggestion(s) for next steps, from simple to more aggressive remediation.

I have yet to rack the wine post-MLF. I had a surgery that prohibits me from lifting my carboys for a few days, perhaps a week. My question is, does the H2S get progressively worse until it's treated (i.e. do I forsake my doctor's orders and do the heavy lifting and get the wine off the lees and do, perhaps, some aggressive aeration?) or is the wine as it is and can be dealt with when I'm able?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ceeaton]

Apologies to Lynard Skynard.

Caught a subtle wiff of H2S in my fermented/MLF-completed wine. Subtle, but it's there. Need suggestion(s) for next steps, from simple to more aggressive remediation.

I have yet to rack the wine post-MLF. I had a surgery that prohibits me from lifting my carboys for a few days, perhaps a week. My question is, does the H2S get progressively worse until it's treated (i.e. do I forsake my doctor's orders and do the heavy lifting and get the wine off the lees and do, perhaps, some aggressive aeration?) or is the wine as it is and can be dealt with when I'm able?

Thanks in advance.

Here I thought this was a Lynyrd Skynyrd thread...oh well.

Do you have a neighbor or someone who could lift up the carboy so you could rack it? I woudn't forsake the Dr's orders, they get paid big bucks for a reason. I think I would rack it first, let it hang out under airlock for a day or two and see if you still get a wiff.

If it's still there, I'd consider trying a treatment of this:

https://morewinemaking.com/products/reduless.html
Have heard good things about it (ie. works for slight H2S issues).

 

[YoungsBlock19]

Here I thought this was a Lynyrd Skynyrd thread...oh well.

Do you have a neighbor or someone who could lift up the carboy so you could rack it? I woudn't forsake the Dr's orders, they get paid big bucks for a reason. I think I would rack it first, let it hang out under airlock for a day or two and see if you still get a wiff.

If it's still there, I'd consider trying a treatment of this:

https://morewinemaking.com/products/reduless.html
Have heard good things about it (ie. works for slight H2S issues).

Thanks Craig.

 

[cmason1957]

The ha ha was in response to the title. H2S is one of those those things that need to be taken care of sooner rather than later. One of the few in winemaking.

Sorry to hear you are under orders not to lift. Good excuse to order an allinonewinepump? Or see if you can get someone to do that lifting for you. Reduless is the cure, if a good splash racking disbelief take care of it for you.

 

[winemaker81]

Hit the wine with a double dose of K-meta and stir very well. Run a fan, as H2S is totally noxious, even at low concentrations. If you caught it early enough, that will be all you need to do.

If that doesn't handle it, then Reduless is an answer -- if you're just getting a whiff, you may be able to avoid it.

 

[Rice_Guy]

* there is a published procedure on the web from The AWRI for dealing with mercaptan flavors: treat with vitamin C > wait 24 hours > treat with another vitamin C > wait 24 hours > treat with Reduless (measured copper sulfate) > wait 24 hours > rack off the Reduless,,,,, life is a lot easier if you deal with this early, ,,, even if you rack into one gallon milk jugs and then combine.
* H2S has a detection threshold of roughly one drop (0.05gram) in the volume of a high school gymnasium. Most reductive sulfur reaction compounds are potent as one to several drops in the gymnasium volume. Reductive sulfur compounds will mask any fruity aromatics, BUT you can recover fruity aromas by removing reductive sulfur.
* more sulfur in the wine pushes the reaction forward creating H2S. Early vineyard sulfur as well as excessive metabisulphite make the issue worse.

 

[Brant]

The ha ha was in response to the title. H2S is one of those those things that need to be taken care of sooner rather than later. One of the few in winemaking.

Sorry to hear you are under orders not to lift. Good excuse to order an allinonewinepump? Or see if you can get someone to do that lifting for you. Reduless is the cure, if a good splash racking disbelief take care of it for you.

Do you have a HSA or FSA? Maybe you can justify using health care funds for purchasing a AIO pump.

Wouldn't that be nice!