31
Dec
If you ve made any number of wines you will eventually encounter the dreaded rotten egg smell. Specifically hydrogen sulfide h 2 s is the culprit for the stinky rotten egg or rotten sewer smell while mercaptans are responsible for the burnt rubber or rotten cabbage smell.
While sulfur is used in winemaking to prevent microbes and bacteria overuse or improper use can cause it to form hydrogen sulfide or dimethyl sulfide.
Rotten egg smell in wine. What causes rotten egg smell in wine. The reduction flaw comes about because of two of the many sulfur contents in the wine sulfur dioxide so2 and hydrogen sulfide h2s. What your nose has picked up is the colorless hydrogen sulfide gas a mixture of sulfide and hydrogen all wines contain the sulfide compound.
It is a natural byproduct of fermentation in winemaking. If the wine still smells like rotten eggs you can pour the wine through a copper scouring pad. When the wine comes into contact with copper a reaction will occur the encourages the hydrogen sulfide to release as fumes.
The reaction will cause the copper to corrode so your may need to use more than on copper pad. And holy heck it smells like rotten eggs. You ve met your unfriendliest enemy.
Splash racking helps and copper sulphate can be a miracle cure. But copper sulphate can be toxic. No worries there s an easy hack to solve rotten egg smell in your wine cider or mead with just simple copper wire.
They occur when wine is made in a reductive winemaking style where the wine s exposure to oxygen is limited. A byproduct of reductive winemaking can be volatile sulfur compounds called mercaptans which smell like rotten eggs to me but i ve also heard their aroma described as fresh rubber rotten cabbage struck matches or even sewage. Wine smells of rotten eggs or burnt rubber a stinky smell of rotten eggs or burnt rubber is the result of the production or presence of sulfide compounds in must or wine.
Specifically hydrogen sulfide h 2 s is the culprit for the stinky rotten egg or rotten sewer smell while mercaptans are responsible for the burnt rubber or rotten cabbage smell. If you ve made any number of wines you will eventually encounter the dreaded rotten egg smell. Rest assured that it is something that can be solved but the.
When a wine has a whiff of rotten eggs it typically means the wine is reduced resulting from reductive winemaking which limits the wine s exposure to oxygen. Someone unfamiliar with the smell of rotten eggs lucky you might instead perceive this note as the smell of a freshly struck match. Hydrogen sulfide h2s is the rotten egg odor you smell and it usually forms at the end of fermentation.
Most home winemakers won t notice a smelly problem until the first racking. If you do smell rotten eggs the quicker you can act the better your chances of saving the wine. Stinky and offensive hydrogen sulfide has the unmistakable scent of rotten eggs.
While sulfur is used in winemaking to prevent microbes and bacteria overuse or improper use can cause it to form hydrogen sulfide or dimethyl sulfide. Not to be confused with sulfites.