I searched this group and a few other places. I found that the skunky
smell means Hydrogen Sulfide but no ideas on how to correct this.
And, for future concerns, how to avoid it?


Any ideas?

Tanks!

If you found references to H2S, you should have found discussions of
what causes it, and how to treat it. Briefly, it seems most often to
be caused by over-stressed yeast, especially if they have inadequate
nutrients. The best approach for avoiding H2S problems therefore is
to make sure you have sufficient yeast nutrient during the initial
growth stages (when the yeast are reproducing rapidly).

In terms of treatment, if the H2S isn't too bad, you may get by with
"rack and splash" -- rack back and forth a few times between
containers, splashing/aerating in the process. If this doesn't solve
the problem, you can try using copper, which reacts with H2S to
produce copper sulfide (which is pretty much insoluble, so you allow
it to settle and rack off, and/or filter the wine). The simplest way
to use copper is to stir the wine with a clean copper rod (or pipe)
for a few minutes. Try a couple of stirring sessions, then wait a day
or so and check the wine again, to see if the H2S is reduced. Make
sure you remove the copper when you are finished stirring - you don't
want it in long-term contact with the wine. You can also treat wine
with copper sulfate, but you should read about this treatment first,
and make sure you are adding just the appropriate amount to react with
your H2S, since there is no good way to remove copper sulfate from
wine if you add too much, and copper (being a heavy metal) is toxic.
There is also a non-toxic chemical sold under the name Bocksin, which
removes H2S; you might want to consider that if using copper makes you
nervous.

Doug

Thanks! I found lots of information on the nutrients.
Hopefully we can prevent this in the future.