I was searching past postings for info on causality, preventon, and
cure for Hydrogen Sulfide. One poster last spring (link below)
suggested using copper sulfate as a final remedy.

I have some Merlot that has otherwise been looking great; good sugar
and acid, good color, good palate - but is carrying the dreaded rotten
egg odor. I have racked with moderate aeration; but am wondering what
remedies might still be there if another racking or two doesn't fix the
problem. Does CuSO4 work? What amounts - and how to add?

Ric


http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...ba867fd6 a143

Don't use this until you rack with splashing; it sounds like you didn't
do that. I had a Grenache start developing H2S this year and after
racking it off the gross lees I took the batch and dumped it through a
large funnel to aerate it; it cleared up. I normally don't abuse wine
like that but a red can tolerate sloppy racking when it's young.

You normally do testing with Copper Sulfate; you should follow the
directions that come with it. I only say that because I have seen it
sold in different concentrations. Tell us what concentration you have
and we can go from there if you need it.
Joe

Ric wrote:
> I was searching past postings for info on causality, preventon, and
> cure for Hydrogen Sulfide. One poster last spring (link below)
> suggested using copper sulfate as a final remedy.
>
> I have some Merlot that has otherwise been looking great; good sugar
> and acid, good color, good palate - but is carrying the dreaded rotten
> egg odor. I have racked with moderate aeration; but am wondering what
> remedies might still be there if another racking or two doesn't fix the
> problem. Does CuSO4 work? What amounts - and how to add?
>
> Ric
>
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...ba867fd6 a143

becareful.. Cupric Sufate is a poison. It can be used to get the algae out
of a pond by dragging a bag of it up and down the pond , and it is a great
aid when you get white phosphorous on your finger , it plates copper on the
phosphorous so you can go to the hospital and explain to the homeland
security folks why you have it on your finger in the first place. Just be
extremely careful with it.
"Ric" > wrote in message
ups.com...
I was searching past postings for info on causality, preventon, and
cure for Hydrogen Sulfide. One poster last spring (link below)
suggested using copper sulfate as a final remedy.

I have some Merlot that has otherwise been looking great; good sugar
and acid, good color, good palate - but is carrying the dreaded rotten
egg odor. I have racked with moderate aeration; but am wondering what
remedies might still be there if another racking or two doesn't fix the
problem. Does CuSO4 work? What amounts - and how to add?

Ric


http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...ba867fd6 a143

Last year, I had a similar problem and, after a very bubbly racking, I
hung a stripped copper wire into the carboy for about a week. Just
added a couple copper ions to solution, and the smell went away.

Rob

Very interesting. I may try that in a bench trial. Thanks

I was unclear - that is what I meant by "racking with moderate
aeration" - I racked and allowed the wine to splash into the carboy. I
intend to monior (with my big nose), and rack again in 4 weeks if
problem persists. If it persists after that, I will try copper. I think
I'll try some bench trials with the copper wire first (see Rob's post)
- and then try a bench trial with CuSO4.
What I think I need is some guidance on levels. As I understand it, apx
25% of CuSO4 is copper. And half of that will be active when applied in
the wine? I also understand that something like .5% is legal limit? So
if I use a 1% concentration ... etc. I need some info on those
parameters.Got any thoughts?

I have heard of that and know people who just poured the wine over a
piece of copper flashing. Margalit's book has good info on testing, I
can get back to you on levels. Are you planning on using 1% copper
sulfate if necessary? I'm pretty sure I have data on that. If racking
fixes it the smell is usually gone the next day with a good rack in my
experience; maybe other have had it stick around longer.

Joe

I have heard of that and know people who just poured the wine over a
piece of copper flashing. Margalit's book has good info on testing, I
can get back to you on levels. Are you planning on using 1% copper
sulfate if necessary? I'm pretty sure I have data on that. If racking
fixes it the smell is usually gone the next day with a good rack in my
experience; maybe other have had it stick around longer.

Joe

I have Margalit's book - I'll look that up, thanks.

Next day, huh? Well, I guess that first racking didn't work. Per
Keller's site, I am waiitng a month before another racking. Don;t know
what concentration I would try - that will be determined by what I can
get. Plan on seeing what I can order through the winestore outlets.

Ric wrote:
> I have Margalit's book - I'll look that up, thanks.
>
> Next day, huh? Well, I guess that first racking didn't work. Per
> Keller's site, I am waiitng a month before another racking. Don;t know
> what concentration I would try - that will be determined by what I can
> get. Plan on seeing what I can order through the winestore outlets.

The problem with waiting is there is an increased chance the sulfides
will transform to mercaptans or disulfides, which are significantly
harder to get rid of. From past posts on this subjects, the copper
pipe/copper sulfate thing should work within minutes.

I ran into this problem from sort of a weird angle. It's a tayberry
wine that sat on the gross lees for about 10 days, but I never did get
any rotten egg out of it in the carboy. But when I racked it, there was
definitely something nasty there, not much but noticeable. So I tried
the copper pipe treatment and it didn't seem to help. So I'm not sure
what's going on but will do a mercaptan/disulfide test this weekend to
hopefully rule that out.

Pp

A good explanation of what to do can be found in Lum's book. Just
download it and search for copper. He talks about 1% copper sulfate
which is the most common one sold. I know Presque Isle sells it, I
keep it on hand; piwine/com. You should be able to find it many
places. The link:

http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/book.doc

Joe

The smell took a couple of days to go fully away, but that first day
was markedly better!

Rob

The smell took a couple of days to go fully away, but that first day
was markedly better!

Rob

"Ric" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I was unclear - that is what I meant by "racking with moderate
> aeration" - I racked and allowed the wine to splash into the carboy. I
> intend to monior (with my big nose), and rack again in 4 weeks if
> problem persists. If it persists after that, I will try copper. I think
> I'll try some bench trials with the copper wire first (see Rob's post)
> - and then try a bench trial with CuSO4.
> What I think I need is some guidance on levels. As I understand it, apx
> 25% of CuSO4 is copper. And half of that will be active when applied in
> the wine? I also understand that something like .5% is legal limit?

The legal limit of residual copper in commercial wine is 0.5 ppm, which is a
lot lower than that!

It's generally used by adding the minimum amount of a 1% solution of copper
sulfate needed to achieve removal of the stink, as determined by bench
trials. Reagent copper sulfate pentahydrate (the blue, crystalline form) is
25% available copper by weight.

Tom S

If I may ask a few obvious dumba** questions: so, you just go to Home
Despot, buy a length of primary, strip it, sanitize it & dangle it ? Seems a
lot less mess than racking every couple of weeks! Does the wire have to hit
bottom on the "cowboy" or does one use a shorter length? And is an air lock
still in place?


"Rob" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> The smell took a couple of days to go fully away, but that first day
> was markedly better!
>
> Rob
>