Help Eggy Wine

[Rio]

Hi everyone.

Backgound.
Im a complete novice at wine making and need help. My mother inherited and grows her own grapes in conservatory/pagoda and used to supply a home-brew winemaker. He has given it up though old age, therefore i could not let my mother cut the vines down and i have produced approx 15 gallons of wine.

Now here is where i need help. The wine was racked in the garage, but i had a home water damage and left the home for 3 months. I have finally managed to get round to the wine after +8 months and some of the seals have let in air and some of the wine has prob been contaminated with bacteria and has sulphur smell.

I desperately want to save it so not to disappoint, and more grapes are coming and she only let them grow for me. All my equip/guides to make the rack has gone, so im no so sure what i now need.

I READ:
First, measure the amount of sulfites in your wine using a test kit
If deficient, treat wine to 50 PPM sulfite

How do i measure (cheaply) with acid test kit (ph reading) or sulphate strips.

I have campden tablets that just say add 1 tablet per gallon.

I really want to save the wine so adive on what o do (idoits guide) would be great

thanks all Rio.

 

[Tau]

If swerage from flooing has got in, then I wouldn't risk it. Did read somewhere that lack of nutrient sometimes cause and eggy smell, but would risk drinking those batches.

 

[Rio]

thaks but no water got anywhere near the wine and was protected.


As an experienced wine maker. When it suggests using sulphates to 50ppm. how do i measure that. do i simply put in campden per gallon or do i need a sulphate strip test kit.

 

[Tau]

1 Camden Tablet will give approx 75 ppm when added to one gallon. If selling then must declare sulphites or sulphates present when over 10ppm in us and Eu.

Have you tasted the wine?

 

[Rio]

Thanks Tau.
Have added tablets and will leave over night. Before re racking, how do i test the wine to make sure its safe to drink and not high in sulphate, What is acceptable level?
Sulphate testing kit is really expensive and not sure if i need to.

I really appreciate your help. kinda lost my way after following steps to get the wine and now need guidance, how to ensure safe to drink

 

[Tau]

Thanks Tau.
Have added tablets and will leave over night. Before re racking, how do i test the wine to make sure its safe to drink and not high in sulphate, What is acceptable level?
Sulphate testing kit is really expensive and not sure if i need to.

I really appreciate your help. kinda lost my way after following steps to get the wine and now need guidance, how to ensure safe to drink

Only one way to taste, if vile spit it out and wash your mouth out, if ok drink a small glass and have some IMODIUM on hand lol

 

[NorfolkBrew]

The sulfurous smell comes from unhappy yeast - usually if it's too warm or as another poster pointed out, not enough nutrient. I get this when I make cider sometimes as temperature control is an issue but a way to get rid of it is to stir the wine with a steralised piece of copper piping for about a minute, gently as not to introduce air into the wine.

What this does is bind the volatile sulphur compounds in the wine given off by the stressed yeast by reacting with the copper, producing copper sulfide, which does not smell as it is not a volatile/aromatic compound.

This works every time with my wine and cider and has saved many batches, good luck!

 

[Tau]

The sulfurous smell comes from unhappy yeast - usually if it's too warm or as another poster pointed out, not enough nutrient. I get this when I make cider sometimes as temperature control is an issue but a way to get rid of it is to stir the wine with a steralised piece of copper piping for about a minute, gently as not to introduce air into the wine.

What this does is bind the volatile sulphur compounds in the wine given off by the stressed yeast by reacting with the copper, producing copper sulphide, which does not smell as it is not a volatile/aromatic compound.

This works every time with my wine and cider and has saved many batches, good luck!

His wine was open to the air, humans can only smell a few parts to the million of hydrogen sulphide before it becomes lethal as my father found out falling unconscious from an oil refinery cracker some 500ft, luckily landed on a platform plank that must have absorbed the fall, he lived uninjured. Thing is lots of bacteria and other micro-organisms also produce hydrogen sulphide and other than under a microscope and a few agar plates to check there's no way to tell if it's benign, except taste and wait for 48hours if drunk a sample to see if there are any i'll effects. Although the camdens would have killed most bacteria, yeasts etc the toxins could still be in the wine! Copper has good anti-bacterial properties, why brass handles and rails always have less bacteria than steel. Does the copper taint the wine with a metallic taste?

 

[NorfolkBrew]

Hm, from what I can gather only some of the seals were letting air in. What I would probably do is use copper on the ones that still have a good seal and possibly dump the rest if it's not too much to get rid of. Never had a problem with metallic taste by using copper, possibly because its only in there for a minute and I stir up the sediment which usually provides a brief resurgence in yeast activity before dying down again.

Either way, Tau makes a good point I wouldn't be too comfortable drinking the stuff that has a bad seal but the copper should sort out the ones with a good seal.

Tau - do you have a recipe for that marmalade melomel in your sig? sounds lovely!

 

[Tau]

Melomel link smells great at moment haven't tasted yet. Marm' cheap from lidl no preservatives in.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64946

What I ment with hydrogen sulphide is that we go nose blind over a certain amount of ppm so cant tell if theres a lot being produced by bacteria or a slight amount from yeast.