Eggy eggy EGG!

hello forumites! So I have spent a good while looking at the 'smelly wine' threads and haven't seen an answer that deals with the issue I have - most deal with posters asking about their fermenting or newly fermented wine/cider smelling sulphurous, whereas my blackberry wine is two months old and only now is a bit pongy, whereas it smelled fine at fermentation.

I have two DJs of the stuff that I had added yeast nutrient to at fermenting, racked off after a week and added campden tabs (everything else cleaned and sterilised)

I just racked for the second time yesterday after two months and noticed the egg smell - should I have done the second racking much sooner after the first?

Attempting to fix it I have been trying to aerate it by racking again and the smell seems to have diminished somewhat in one DJ but not the other, does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance :)

Here is a what you can do list i found. http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm

Here's what we recommend you do:

First, measure the amount of sulfites in your wine using a test kit

If deficient, treat wine to 50 PPM sulfites

Rack and splash - rack your wine two or three times, being sure to splash it around a lot as the wine goes from vessel to vessel. The aeration (introduction of oxygen) will help counteract the H2S, Put the airlock back on and wait a couple of hours or overnight. If it still smells like rotten eggs, keep going.

Get a piece of copper (i.e. copper flashing) from a home supply store,Pour the wine over the copper so that it runs over the surface of the metal into a receiving vessel.

Fine or filter the wine.

By now, the sulfur smell should at least be greatly diminished. If you can still detect a smell (we've heard that humans can detect H2S in quantities as low as 2 parts per billion), you might try to use an egg white or a gelatin fining agent and fine your wine. Add normal amounts recommended by the manufacturer.

Filter wine through a tight filter.

When all else fails you can use copper sulfate on your wine. A 0.1% solution added at about 0.5 ml per gallon, will give you about 0.3 PPM copper sulfate in your wine. BE CAREFUL. Remember, this stuff is poisonous. DO NOT EXCEED 0.5 PPM of copper.
Fine your wine with a bentonite or Sparkolloid fining agent. This will remove all the copper sulfate.
Filter wine if necessary to remove fining agent.

Conclusion

A rotten egg smell doesn't necessarily mean you throw away your batch of wine... it simply means your wine has a hydrogen sulfide problem. It's easily treated if caught in the early stages, but you can bring in the heavy stuff if need be. Of course, it's much better to prevent H2S from forming in the first place, by ensuring proper winemaking techniques and sanitation.

Above are the classic responses but here's a newer approach. Scottlabs makes a yeast derivative that contains copper called Reduless. It also contains bentonite so it serves as a fining agent. It is normally sold in bulk to wineries but morewine repackages it in smaller amounts. I would try this first.

Fantastic advice guys, off to look up all these things, I'll report on how I get on. Thank you!!

tuumi said:

Above are the classic responses but here's a newer approach. Scottlabs makes a yeast derivative that contains copper called Reduless. It also contains bentonite so it serves as a fining agent. It is normally sold in bulk to wineries but morewine repackages it in smaller amounts. I would try this first.

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It would seem its a great product but i cannot find it anywhere.

Reduless® : the end of reduction-type defectsREDULESS® : SULFUR DEFECT MANAGEMENT

Reduless® is an innovative biological tool developed by Lallemand to treat wines showing sulfur-related defects. This product is comprised of yeast derived products and can be used in white and red wines.

During the 2006 International Wine Challenge (London, U.K.), 9,000 wines were tested and 7% showed sensory defects. It was concluded that the sulfur like compound defects were related to current winemaking conditions (high grape maturity, long maceration, reductive conditions during white winemaking, types of closures), coupled with poor yeast inoculation preparation and inadequate yeast nutrition.

Immediately after adding Reduless to wine, the product reacts with the sulfur like compounds to eliminate them. Reduless has the advantage of removing the sulfur like compounds without the negative input of usual treatments (e.g., copper sulfate), where negative properties can surface, such as harsh tannins and metallic tastes. After approximately 3 days the polysaccharides in Reduless® will help maintain the wines smoothness and volume. Reduless is eliminated simply by racking or filtration. All the problem wines that underwent trials with Reduless showed improvements.

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I searched too but was going to cost an arm and a leg to import from the US. Have added sulphites to my brew and am spending tomorrow on a vigorous rack and splash....

Keep us posted.

Racking should help. I have often found unpleasant smells disappear as a result of expelling accumulated gases.

What about putting it under vacuum to pull out sulphur dioxide and remaining carbon dioxide? Just a thought, maybe someone has tried this late in the game?