Save a bottle of wine from developing a rancid smell with copper sulfate.
Removing sulfites in grape juice -- or wine -- is essential for keeping the liquid breathable and healthy. A natural overabundance of chemical substances known as mercaptans can cause the wine to smell like rotten eggs. Adding a copper sulfate solution to the wine will remove the rotten egg smell and preserve the wine for consumption. The trick to removing sulfites involves testing the copper solution in a trial glass before applying it to a large batch of wine. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Buy copper sulfate crystals from your local winery or retail shop. Consult with wine-making and retail professionals and tell them you are interested in making a 0.1-parts-per-million copper sulfate solution. In the United States, according to Wine Maker Magazine, no single solution can legally exceed a level of 0.5ppm.
2. Slide on work gloves, safety glasses and a particulate respirator mask to protect your eyes and skin. Add 1g of copper sulfate crystals to a test tube. Fill the rest of the tube with 100ml of distilled water.
3. Pour the contents of the step two test tube into a second test tube. Fill the rest of the second test tube with distilled water up to the 250ml level. You are now finished making the 0.1ppm solution.
4. Add 100ml of "rotten egg"-smelling wine to a wine glass. Pour the 0.1ppm solution into the wine. Allow the mixture to sit for five minutes. Smell the wine. If the smell is gone, the solution works. Repeat as necessary for each 100ml of wine. Increase levels of copper sulfate up to 0.5ppm if the solution if the foul odor remains. Discard the wine if the smell does not go away after adding a 0.5ppm solution.
Tags: copper sulfate, test tube, wine smell, 1ppm solution, 5ppm solution, copper sulfate crystals