HOW TO remove ROTTEN EGG smell from homebrew wine or mead with copper wire - hydrogen sulfide hack
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- Опубліковано 13 сер 2020
- You walk into your brew space. And holy heck, it smells like rotten eggs. You've met your unfriendliest enemy: hydrogen sulfide. It smells terrible. 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. This how-to video couldn't make it easier! Oh, and we also talk about the science of why it happens. Enjoy!
Have you successfully removed H2S rotten egg smell? Let us know in the comments! 👇
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Really good and informative video but there is one thing that needs to be added and that is there are some yeasts that are very high producers of H2S even when they are not stressed and some yeasts that are known to be very low producers . In the latter category is 71B and in the former is Montrachet. That doesn't mean that you always choose the low producer over the high producer but it does mean that even although you have done everything you needed to do to make the yeast comfortable and stress free including aeration, lots of organic nitrogen, and you've provided nutrients and minerals up the wazoo, there are some yeasts that will belch out hydrogen sulfide like there is no tomorrow.
Good info. Pinning this comment!
Thanks for that! Just made a blackberry mead with 71B and looked up this video, found your comment, so I'm feeling better about my wine!
Funny, I'm making the same mead with the same yeast. Did yours turn out alright? @@slatevalleymountainman
@@stoveone4031 it didnt. I negelcted the fruit so it tasted funky and made me sick. My advice; juice the fruit and add it to the wash. Less chance of mold.
@@slatevalleymountainmanYou can also juice the fruit and boil it to pasteurize it, let it cool and then ferment. Should be a clean bacteria-free slate.
Based off of this video I got a copper plumbing pipe section (1/2 pipe thickness) sanded the surface and cleaned it in and outside. Then used the sanded and cleaned section to stir the mead up for about 30 seconds each and let the liquid swirl around. at 30 seconds per 1 gallon (had 2 of them) the smell was 100% gone. Thanks again for this advice. I think the surface area is why you had to leave yours in for so long.
excellent tip
I just discovered this video and I like the method of using the copper plumbing pipe to swirl the liquid. If this is done does it eliminate the need for the fining agents? In other words, the copper wire sitting in the jar for a long time will cause the copper particles to get into the solution. But swirling for a short time seems like it wouldn't be enough time to cause the copper particles. Can anyone comment on this? Thank you.
WE DON'T DESERVE YOU!!!! I'm so glad we talked about this. If every one of your viewers watched all of your videos, they would be armed with like 95% of the tools they need to be a seriously solid winemaker. How do I know? I started at your Vikings Blood videos and went from there. I've been making wine and mead for a lottle over a year now, and I owe it all to what you've shared with the community. THANK YOU
Thanks for the inspo for making this video! You were the first person I talked to after figuring this trick out. :D
I am very impressed by your knowledge. It makes sense and I will try it.
This works like a charm - Thanks !
Thanks for the video BC. I just came back to this video because I just had a Bach of mead get that rotten egg small. I followed your advice in this video, and it worked.
You're a hero man, thanks, gonna take care of my rotten eggs problem now :D
Thank you 👍
Thank you so much for this video! You save over 5 gallons of wine that I thought I was going to have to pitch. These were special grapes that I picked myself for the first time and was heartbroken at first. I used this technique plus aerated it big time then let it sit for a couple of months. BAM, no smell, and the wine is saved!
OMG it actually worked! Thank you
Another good option is using a 1/4" copper union joint. You can get these at most big box home improvement stores or hardware stores. There's a slight dimple in the middle and it's used go to over 2 pieces of copper piping to solder/sweat together. They're usually under $0.25 but prices will vary. Take it home, clean it as stated in the video for the copper wire, then you can simply insert that into the end of your racking hose. It forces the must through pretty must like swirling and letting it contact the wire. I've had to do this on several cider fermentations, usually only one pass is needed, but obviously just as the video, do so again, if there's still a smell to your wine/mead/cider. Just an alternate method of achieving the same thing as the video.
Thank you for this informative video. ive been battling this on a new cider. I think we have just won!
Ow it’s incredible. I’ll be test in a homebrew production. Will it work? Tks for shares.
I am making the Jack Keller Rasberry Wine recipe, long story short, my temp controller failed causing temps to drop to 58*F. After fixing temp issues, the fermentation started smelling of sulfur. I used 1/2" copper elbow tied to cheesecloth (sanitized) and suspended into wine must for approximately 3 hours. The H2s is gone and primary fermentation proceeding well. Great tip on the copper!
this was a very informative video and something most of us did not know to do,, would you have a video for making ginger ale (non alc or very low abv like 0.5-1%) ?
hello, thank you very much for this video. it helped me a lot, I recently made a mead (my traditional one) and after the fourth day I smelled like eggs. not very powerful but at the end of the day it smelled pretty strong. I immediately thought of your video and I started the preparations. I aerated the must by transferring it and I put two copper wires. at the moment i'm waiting to see if your technique works, hoping that everything goes as planned. Thank you again in advance for this solution, I say hello to you from Switzerland. have a good day.
I just had my first Hydrogen sulfide issues and i am currently trying this method ill update once complete
Brooooo genius exactly what I was looking for. Damn I love even if I don’t know you. Word!
Thanks a lot friend
Thanks man 👍
Thanks for your advice. I vigorously racked my wine and even shook the demijohn made lots of bubbles. The following morning the wine was sweet smelling again and all hydrogen sulphide was gone.👍
Very helpful video. Bookmarked.
How can you tell if a wire is full copper vs an alloy?
I'm glad I found this video! I'm brewing a hard seltzer with Lutra Kveik (my second attempt), and I've had a problem with a slight sulphur-ey smell leftover. Is this a common problem with seltzers as well? Would you recommend the same copper trick to eliminate this? Thanks!
Great video, thank you for the tip. I have that problem with a Pinot Noir. Already splash racked twice and it helped. My question is this, after using the copper wire and adding the Bentonite, how long should I leave the Bentonite in the wine before racking it? Thank you
I just got my first egg smell from some cider. It is like feet almost and does taste a little off. I saved this video just for this purpose and now it helping me. I used concentrate before without issues and this time I used honey crisp apple juice and it must not have enough oxygen when I shook it to death. Thank you.
BC The Science Guy (French pronunciation). I have thus far not had any sulphur fume problems (and have now surely jinxed my next batch) but this is definitely getting uploaded to the Knowledge Bucket inside in me head. Thanks!
I am bummed that one person who reached out about it had already dumped their batch. Hope this prevents some brews from hitting the drain!
I think this is a great video and should help me going forth with future fermentations. Do you think an air stone put in to current ferments would help the must? I have been threating to get a stainless air stone and an aquarium pump. I think bottled oxygen would work better. Thoughts? Thanks again.
Thank you very much.. i hope it will help my mango wine. Regard from Indonesia.
you can also add the wire inside the raking tube. That way you will process the brew more evenly as it is transfered from one vessel to another
New to the craft. On my second 1 gallon batch of apple/blueberry wine. I’m noticing a slight sulfur smell in the second day of primary fermentation. Not sure what is causing this as the only thing different from my first batch is the addition of the blueberry syrup. Will try this method to see if the sulfur smell goes away. Thanks 🙏
Hello Friend, straight to the point I have splashed racked my mead a few times and the smell is stil their, I don't want to use the Cooper method, should I splash rack a few more times and if it's stil their biff it
I just got done fermenting a cider and it smelt especially eggy after the 3rd day, although the smell has got considerably better as the brew has finished up. This is my first cider in years and I remember the same thing happening the last time I made one. If I remember correctly the yeast eventually cleared up the problem themselves and it tasted lovely. I'm thinking I will let the cider sit a bit first before I do any racking or use copper. But it's good to know there are options out there.
Brand new to brewing. Confused about splash racking. At what stage or SG does the rooten egg happen? I understood tha O2 at the beginning a good thing but when the alcohol was really being produced its a bad thing. Thanks for your informative videos 😊
This was a really helpful video. I used the copper wire and saved 9 gallons of Frontenac and Marquette grapes. Unfortunately, I forgot and left one of the wires in a batch for 24 hours. Now that wine has a metallic taste (oops!). Is there a way to now pull the metallic taste out? Thanks.
I have spools and spools of solid copper wire from RS as well, so I'll remember this trick for the future.
An older friend, who made wine back in the day, told me about using copper to get rid of hydrogen sulfide.
I have used either a short copper tube piece at the end the vinyl tube, or a funnel with copper tubing pieces in it and splash rack either way.
I gently swirl the must after racking and then airlock it after setting it where it'll stay. Haven't had any issues using either method.
It's one of those things that you hope you never need to know, but you are certainly glad to know WHEN you need to know it! Man, Radio Shack memories are strong. As an employee, I walked away with so much free gear that had to be removed from inventory due to customer returns. That was 14 years ago and much of it is still in tool bags and on the peg board.
I did this this past weekend and while it help tame the smell, it didn't completely kill it off. I'm going to rack to a new container later today then let it sit for a while. I may add the copper again just to see if it will help further.
thanks for the useful info. can you post a link on where to buy solid copper wire that is 100% copper?
What do you think about using an oxygenating stone and pure oxygen instead of the splash racking?
Doing this right now! Tried splash-racking (it worked, it's way better now) but still have some residual rotten egg smell - crossing fingers!
Thank you so much for solving this frustrating problem! I make Ginger soda and the same thing happens occasionally. I start with a Ginger bug that gathers “wild yeast”. So many steps and a lot of work! As soon as you said copper a light bulb went off, (I remembered I had a Copper supplement I bought on Amazon to try for Hypothyroid but didn’t do me any good there.) I poured out my Ginger soda from the Grolsch bottle into a 2 cups measuring cup opened up one 2 MG veg cap poured that in it and stirred, Right Away it eliminated the Sulpher Egg Smell !!! Yes thank you again so much!!! I’m going to try half a capsule tomorrow and see if that works.
Could that much copper turn the ethanol into ethanal? Which is worse on health?
I’m in the middle of a peached mead where I combined 1 gallon of ~10% ABV mead (2 weeks old) and 7 pounds of peaches which we parboiled, peeled&pitted, froze, thawed, froze, thawed, treated with potassium metabisulfite and pectic enzymes for 24 hours. It kicked off a vigorous 2nd fermentation (as expected), but after about a week the rotten egg smell appeared (I did feed but possibly not enough and I didn’t oxygenate sufficiently, plus I suspect the). I tried splash racking, etc and after a couple of days it persisted. I tried the copper wire trick and that did the trick very quickly. So far so good, things are going pretty well now.
Is it ok to do the racking back and forth before the primary fermentation is done? Or should I try to remove the smell at the end of primary?
Iv just came across this and I’m trying to create a cider and always ends up with the sulphur smell ! How do I use the fining agent ? And which ones the best for the copper ? Thanks in advance !
Thank you for this informative video! I haven't had the rotten egg odor yet, but I've had a couple of batches of wine that took on an acetone or fingernail polish remover odor. I threw them out, but now I'm wondering if there was something I could had done to save them. I appreciate this awesome tip!
add more juice
Thanks BC, you saved my hard lemonade!
Just a tip if you have a copper wire that is dirty from aeration and want to clean it easily you can clean that with ketchup with ease. Best thing for cleaning copper.
Super helpful! Thanks for the tips. Now to find a Radio Shack and get some copper wire. :)
It’s right next to Blockbuster in the same shopping center as Venture and Builder’s Square.
Do I have to keep it airlocked while treating with the copper wire?
so after you remove the copper wire do you juts let it finish primary fermentation and wait till things settle and clear up before racking again?
so happy i came across this video. i have a cider that has that smell. it is slight. its almost at the end of a 2 week fermentation. but has had that scent for a week now. just Gave it a good old stirr up in the fermenter. hopefully i can get it out. as you said at the beginning of the video save this video. instantly went to save it right away. thank you for your knowledge and help.
how did it end up?
@sirgerti9682 honesty one of best ciders.
Curious what to do if this is happening while in a fermentation bucket? Should I wait until I move it to a carboy?
How far into your fermentation is it not okay to splash rack? I'm making my first batches and they have a bit of a smell but it's certainly not escaping through the air lock so maybe that's just the smell mead has during primary and I don't know any better? Smells a little sour and a bit of a funk.
Hi, I'm a newbie meadmake and I have a similar problem: I added K meta in the minimum suggested dosage before pitching yeast because I used raw honey and I didn't trust its hygene. Now the airlock lets out gasses smelling like burnt matches. It's been in primary for less than a week. Should I wait and use this method once I've racked to secondary or can I do the splashing right now? On reddit they told me this smell will fade with time, so I don't need to do anything but waiting. What are your opinions? Cheers
Yep, save this video for later if you do not need it today, as it will help you save a brew later. I had a fully fermented brew in a keg and carbonated. Tasted great but aroma was straight farts and glass smelt bad after emptied. Splash racked a few time, set the copper wire in there for the afternoon. And followed the rest of the process and saved my brew. Thanks BC. (I did run CO2 into the brew after splash racking to help save it)
Hi Nicholas, I have the same problem with a hard cider I made, that has fully fermented and is kegged and carbonated. I'm glad to hear this worked for you as I was thinking of giving it a shot, but wasn't sure if it would work on something already kegged and carbonated!
If I only have access to braided copper wire, would it be ok to go ahead with your method.
I currently have a fermentation going with this situation. This has not happened to me before in approx 20 years of homebrew.
I have splash racked it once so far off all the lees & muck from one demijohn in to a fresh & added to it some fresh must to top up with a little bit of fresh yeast & a little bit of nutrient.
Do you reckon I should splash rack a few more times even though it's still mid ferment 🤷♂️?
how long can i let the wire sit or do i need to remove it
yeah but i read from research this H2S is normal in the beginning stages of fermentation and will gas off on its own with the CO2 after vigorous fermentation starts ,the problem for me is i only encounter this smell and even the taste (funky) when i make ginger ale because i am only using the yeast to carbonate and since its in the bottle there is nothing i can do to remove it aside from making sure it got properly aerated before pitching the yeast and given proper nutrition in the yeast starter so it's a problem for me if those dont work
I found this video very interesting what I'm curious about is if you had continue to swirl and add oxygen to a brew or added more nutrient and then simply just gave it enough time will The sulfur smell go away after a while is this something essentially that you have to do or is this something that just makes it go faster this is just me asking a question I honestly don't know
Racked a peach mead today and I noticed I’m definitely gonna need to use this. Thanks for the info
Good luck, godspeed!
Doin the Most it worked!
Rob Van Kuiken Awesome!
would this work also on a cider ????
it how about adding DAP after fermentation, and leave for few days.Can it belp?
Will splash rack risk making vinegar?
I had a nectarine mead that started farting. I threw three pre 1981 pennies, and that seemed to work too. Have to be 1981 or older. I took them out when I racked them, but I don't exactly remember how long they stayed in. Smell was gone though.
I wonder if a pure copper Penny would do the same and removing the bad smell
I'm making some hard seltzer in a 5 gallon batch that has not fermented very much so far and is already smelling like rotten eggs. Literally just sugar water and 71b. Would this trick work this early on in a brew?
Do you think this would work with cider?
Thank you! Just saved my stinky "May Day" mango mead!
Can i use cupper dishes? And how?
Couple guys from the live stream today told me to check this video, and I'm glad I did! My crispy peach session turned into farts and eggs! I'm gonna do this tomorrow!
So glad I came across your channel as I was think that I was gonna have to dump my investment. This is my 1st time with a Wild Grapes Cab Kit. I bucket racked about 5 times and copper wire has been hanging for about 3 hours and bad smell is nearly gone! Thanks for saving the day!
Gary
Are there dangers for leaving the wire in for like a longer time ?
How can I neutralize my yeast? Can I just add grape juice with potassium sorbate present? Of course it will be careful not to overly dilut the alcohol
I always get the rotten egg smell when I make my carrot whiskey, but that is purely because of the specific high alcohol yeast I use for it. It goes away by itself after the aggressive fermentation stage has passed. I'm sure I read years ago that some yeasts create HS during fermentation and can remove it by itself. I may be remembering it wrong though.
I experienced the same thing with my banana wine using a specific type of banana
It cleared away the bad smell itself in secondary
Guy looks exactly like a minion.
🤣
Wrap the copper wire in clean cheese cloth so the copper salts stick to the cheese cloth 😉
I use a product called Reduless, which is a copper infused yeast and bentonite product, apply per directions and let sit for 3 days, then rack
Scott Labs has a writeup on it. Historically pennies (back when they were actually made of copper) and lengths of copper pipe were also used, but there is so much questionable cheap materials out there, that I find it safer to pay for commercial products
I came across that product being mentioned quite a bit in my research when I'd land on winemaking forums. It definitely sounds like a great option.
You can also remove smells with a silver spoon.
I used some copper on a morat and months layer it still stank 😢
I've only brewed 1 mead thus far so I'm still learning. You mentioned oxygen helps... would a oxygen stone work to do the same?
That'd be a great way to oxygenate your must, for sure. Oxygen in primary is good for yeast health and synthesis. And that can be as simple as whipping or shaking it really vigorously before pitching the yeast, as well as whipping it here and there during primary to ensure the yeast have the oxygen needed to do their job.
Could you use silicone tubing attached to an airstone like they do for fish tanks?
Presumably, but I have never tried it.
Happy wife acres has a video where they make a strawberry wine and the use the air stone and pump. They said it helps add a lot of oxygen
Who is this guy where's the most beautiful, elegant hostess Margaret!!
Who gave Stewie Griffin a camera?
One question... During splash racking oxygen is introduced. So what are the risks of oxidation and how do I tackle that?
In this case you’d want to splash rack just until the smell dissipates. Because the oxygen is removing the H2S. My recommendation would be to stop short. Then take a smell a day later and see if it has gone away. If not, splash rack again. That said, I’d only splash rack a little then use the wire method.
A vacuum pump works wonders you can slowly suck the sulfer smell out after the splash wrack. I've done it a few times. I just use a wine saver pump. Easy peasy. Sometimes it may take several rounds of creating a vacuum and letting it equalize, but it definitely works.
This is probably the simplest fix! I first shook the fermentation container a few times, most of the sulphur smell went out with the CO2. Then I used the wine saver pump a few times, and the smell was gone. Splash racking was not required in my case.
What about a fish tank pump
I used a 30cm long and 10mm thick cable with thick copper wire inside ,stripped 25mm and flarred it opened, put it on a drill and spin it for 20 minutes per day ,it worked perfectly and the smell was gone on the 3rd day.
I like your style! 😁
For how much wein???
@@DointheMostHe was definitely Doin’ the Most!
my mead has done the fermentation does still work but my mead does not smell that bad it just does not smell good do you know whats happening
also what kind of fining agent should i buy
When you splash rack, could there be any oxidation concerns?
That depends on where you're at in the fermentation, mostly. If you're closer to the end of primary, I'd be more cautious. Hitting it with an antioxidant like campden tablets can help alleviate some concerns in that circumstance (once fermentation has completed, or when racking to secondary).
That is what I imagined, I had the rotten egg smell in a small cider batch which right now is sitting in secondary. My hope was that it will go away letting it sit on secondary, I need to check it this weekend.
morris1891 Hope it has course corrected or you can salvage it! Best of luck friend.
Swirling the vessel with the Lees can't be good. Wouldn't it be better to rack it off the lees first, then start the Airiration.
Looks fucking awesome
Thanks! I'm excited to get the set dressed out next.
So I did this and after it stopped smelling like eggs it stopped making CO2 and smells like eggs again
The reason why I looked this up, was because in the game God of War there was a scene where there was wine with a rotten egg smell. So that got me thinking “is that still drinkable”. And yes, it is drinkable (although the taste might be off. The wine was drunk by a god, so don’t think it would’ve influence him)
Everything good until you mention the left over copper particules... How exactly do you get rid of them, what is a fining agent? Where i live i dont have Amazon so what can i use?
Fining agent are compounds/ particles that will pull down particles in suspension, leaving a clear brew behing. Maybe you oculd try gelatine? I use it for beers but use bentonite for wines. You can try to find sparkolloids, chitosan or things like that. Try to reach out to your local brewing shop
@@tim-tim-timmy6571 Thanks, im starting to make wine just finished bottling my first batch, got 160 liters out of 300 kg of grapes. Yeah i noticed my wine was dense after first fermentation, when putting in container for 2nd fermentation i used fine hole colanders as filter and let it rest, i noticed it started clearing up after a week. No need for chemicals and im happy of the wine i made 100% organic additive free, second batch is gonna be better!
@@luccianodfs6711 additive is not necessarily a bad thing! Bentonite is a clay, sparkolloids are crushed shellfish shells. Nothing famcy, nothing weird :)
I poured my wine between to large bowls and whisked it every other time and it lost that wretched smell
How can I neutralize my yeast? Can I just add grape juice with potassium sorbate present? Of course it will be careful not to overly dilut the alcohol
This is why you use copper still in distillation.
My university chemistry is finally becoming useful for understanding this!
😅 Anxiety kicked in when I read the first three words of this comment. “What’d I miss?” running through my head!
Doin the Most we did a reaction where we needed to drop H2S out of a contaminated sample and we used copper in lab, so I’ve done this before!
Hopefully you never have to do it again! hah
You should burn the copper, there is a coating on it....
Kratos likes it just fine smelling like rotten eggs. Just be a man and chug it how it is.
wtf is splash-racking
Lol. You jut managed to get quite a toxic drink now.
How