Acid smell from distilling wine ???

[Golly4u]

Hi guys I’m new to the page and got a question about distilling red and white wine. I did buy a new property which used to be an old winery. I been distilling on and off since years with the normal wash process but I found a few pallets full of old wine ( around 2500 bottles ) 5-6 years old red and white wines. Yesterday I started to try to destill some of the white wine and I do get with the turbo 500 around 3.2l of 92% the only concern I have is that it really has got a acidity smell to it and it burns in your nose. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas how I can make it safe to drink. Thanks for any info. Cheers glenn.

[The Baker]

Dunno. Shouldn't be any problems.

I happily made brandy from old red and white wine with a pot still
and will have more to do when I open the rest of the old stuff from my cellar.

Standard pot stilling; if I remember right distil maybe three loads,
then redistill the result.
Do the usual cuts.

Geoff

[Stonecutter]

Sounds like SO2 to me. Some have had luck taming the smell. I have never been able to get it out.

For reference:
https://istillblog.com/2018/08/23/odin-removes-sulfur/

I used this to remediate SO2 added to about 45 gallons of wine that I distilled and it worked perfectly. I don't remember my additions and I had 12% H2O2 available that I use (to prevent bacterial infection in the water) in my lettuce grow room. I can measure both total and available SO2 with a special meter and process but I just computed estimated max and min SO2 and used a medium treatment - Maybe it was 20ml/5gallon carboy of low wines....

SO2 is a natural byproduct of yeast activity as well as a preservative additive against oxidation in dried fruits and juices so it may have come from that and just not been listed on the label..

BTW in my wines I used very minimal SO2 on those batches compared to what I would normally use - I didn't think it would be an issue distilling it but it ended up being very strong in the low wines so I used this and excess copper and let it sit for a week. Worked perfect! Avoid SO2 if you can but before you chuck a batch try this.

Cheers!
-j

[Ben]

Possible that the winery used sulfites to stop their ferment, check the labels. Can you describe the smell a bit more? Does it smell like anything else you are familiar with?

[Golly4u]

There are no labels on the bottles. All cleanskin. It only tells me on the pallet what sort of wine it is. I don’t know how to describe the smell. The first lot maybe 30 min before the spirits starts running out smells like a nice brandy. Once the still starts up I discard the first 200 ml just to be on the safe side after that the smell is like a vinegar acid smell. It kind of reminds me if you spray vinegar on calcium and the fumes from it smells a bit like it. Sorry it is hard to describe. Yesterday I done another batch and it was the same smell again. I’m thinking of distilling both lots again and see if it makes any difference.

[Demy]

As said by others, the presence of sulphites is certainly the problem. You could try to use copper pieces in the boiler (scrubber, tube pieces etc ..).

[StillerBoy]

Yesterday I started to try to destill some of the white wine and I do get with the turbo 500 around 3.2l of 92%

Could you provide further information as to what the above statement means.. and do you have copper somewhere in the system, what this a first run or second, plus a picture of your setup would be of assistance..

Mars

[NZChris]

Double distilling with a copper pot still should do a better job than a T500 pulling 92%.

If you can smell sulfur when you open a bottle, you might be in trouble. A few years ago, someone did post a method he reckons will remove Potassium metabisulfite, but I've never had to try it. Searching the forum should find it.

[Sailman]

I had almost the same thing happened when I made some mulberry wine for a friend and when I did a cold crash to clear it that's when the sulfur/rotten egg smell appeared. I added a few sticks of half inch copper to get rid of the smell and then I wound up adding Potassium Metabisulfite to make sure that I got rid of the smell.

[Saltbush Bill]

If your only discarding 200ml.......and not making proper cuts by taste and smell then that will be some of your problem. Good Cuts cant be made by quantity.
You'd be far better off using a different type of still and trying to turn that stuff into brandy as Chris suggested.
Is your T500 still running the original copper saddles in the column ? If not then that will also be causing a smell problem.

[Trapped-in-Oz]

wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas how I can make it safe to drink.

Making it ‘safe’ is doable, making it good is another matter.

For fun I once bought the worst cheapest possible wine from Aldi (so bad it should be illegal)…… strip ran it with copper… smells were atrocious.... spirit ran it with copper… smells still awful….. big cuts… small hearts…. oak….. and it became almost drinkable.

Truly bad wine is a lost cause, but not all bad wine can be as bad as Aldi wine.

..

[Golly4u]

I think running a pot still to make brandy won’t fix it. Haha. I tipped about 400l of red wine in the paddock and there is still no grass growing so it’s maybe not the best to make brandy out of it. Everything in the still is new! New copper saddles and ceramic things are both brand new. I left the spirit in an open container and this morning the smell was almost gone so I might try and distill the whole lot and see if the smell disappears.

[Yummyrum]

Just curious , was the Red wine drinkable ?
Like , I’m no wine connoisseur , infact I haven’t never tipped out a glass of Red , I appreciate them all for thier unique bouquet , so how bad was it?

But who knows , maybe the apprentice slipped with something . Seems strange they would sell a property with pellets of unsold wine.

[Golly4u]

The red is pretty much vinegar. Full of settlement and horrible to drink. The white is not so bad. Just tastes sour. But it’s still clear. I think the wine is about 5-7!years old!

[Ben]

If it's vinegared there isn't much to do I don't think, cept maybe make a salad. At least you have bottles available

[NZChris]

Make your own balsamic vinegar. It seems like I made mine not long ago, but it is five years already.

[leont]

If it's vinegared there isn't much to do I don't think, cept maybe make a salad. At least you have bottles available

It can be very interesting to make a salad with the wine instead of vinegar. I wonder what the price of this salad can be...

[Bradster68]

Iv done some vinegary reds lots. My son usually gives me what he doesn't consider drinkable wine. I go twice through the pot and age on heavy char oak and its a big hit. Most can't believe it's brandy.