"Charlie" > wrote in message
news
> Lum ( and others that offered suggestions ) - thanks
>
> I'm thinking the next problem will be size of the container to use. I
> have about 70 botles of the pongy wine, ie about 55l. If I use the 200l
> container I will have too much head room and oxygen, so I was thinking
> of doing the fix in 2 batches using a 25l container I have - it's a beer
> brewing kit with an airlock.
>
> This of course means that I will be adding miniscule amounts of copper
> sulphate with the resultant risks of getting too much copper in the
> final blend, but I read this from your book:
>
> "Home winemakers remove hydrogen sulfide from wine when fermentation is
> complete by adding about 50 milligrams per liter of sulfur dioxide. The
> wine is then racked with a great deal of splashing and bubbling"
>
> In you opinion ( or anybody elses) would this be a method work - I would
> add 2500 mg of SO2 to a cup of water and then pour (and splash it about
> a bi) 35 bottles into the container. Let it settle for a few days,
> then re-bottle after it has settled.
>
> Or should I just get a really small dose of Copper sulphate??
>
> And a really stupid question - the only way I will know if the H2S is
> gone is by sniffing and slurping - right? there's no fancy tests
> available????
>
> Once again, any help would be appreciated.
>
> Charlie
>
>
> PS Getting everybody together again to re-do the process will be tricky,
> so I can't use our 200l (or 500l) containers.

Charlie,

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in wine can be converted into mercaptan. Then,
mercaptan can be oxidized into disulfide. Disulfide smells worse than H2S,
and it is much more difficult to remove from wine.

Removing hydrogen sulfide by splashing the wine works pretty well IF only
small amounts of H2S are present, but aeration can be dangerous if a wine
really stinks from large amounts of H2S. Adding a small amount (1/4
teaspoon) of 1% copper sulfate solution is an easier and safer way of
removing the H2S stench. However, many home winemakers do use the splashing
method, and it is successful most of the time.

lum