That’s my assumption…warming the liquid, to purge many of the gasses that were able to remain dissolved at fermentation temp.
I honestly think this would work, as well.
As I mentioned above this is what is most commonly used to remove sulfur compounds from finished beer, I had tried bubbling up via a diffusion stone from about 2 minutes for approx. 95 gallons but apparently that wasn’t long enough. The other problem is you tend to blow out other pleasant hop, malt and yeast aromas as well.
Normally I also let all my ales sit at about 68 degrees (or warmer for some belgians) and I believe as well that the warmer temps drive out any So4 as well as cleaning up unwanted yeast characteristics, but in the case of the beer that was the catalyst of this post I believe I rushed it hence the problem.
I am interested in the fact that New Belgium has used the copper technique to clean up some of their beers. I had never heard of this technique before. I do think it works but am hoping I will never have to resort to it again. In my case I had simply immersed a long copper pipe into the top of the bright tank because I did not really have time to rig up a copper coil, but I would be interested to know how long the coil needed to be in order to clear up the beer without causing any deleterious effects.
Any idea how long it will take a 1967 copper penny to rid 5 gals of ass?
I drilled a hole in the penny, tied dental floss to it, and hung it in a keg in an attempt to save a beer.
First time for everything I suppose, this has never happened to me before. Coincidentally, it is also the first time in a very long time I used tap water and used Kmeta to dose it for chlorine/chloramine removal. (Hence the “Ck my math” post to ensure I wasn’t adding too much sulfur).
I know that a modern penny is zinc that’s clad with copper. I’m not sure when they went from solid copper, but exposing the core to beer would not be good since zinc tastes very metallic. The message is to make sure your copper source is pure. Either a piece of wire or tubing is safer.
The copper/sulfur reaction is very quick. A few minutes of swishing should do it.
Thx Martin.
The copper clad zinc pennies began in the 80(s). To confirm, I drilled a hole in a new penny and sure enough got zinc filings. When I drilled the hole in this ‘67 penny I got only copper filings. So, I feel pretty confident there.
1982
A friend said a local brewery has a hose packed with copper tubing. If they have a stinky batch that is used for the transfer to the Brite tank. It doesn’t take much contact time, as Martin says.
Mid 1982 to be a bit more precise, there are all copper 1982’s and clad ones. All copper pennies weigh ~3.1g, clad ones ~2.5g. Tedium ad nauseum ;D.
Even more precise, 1856
U.S PENNY
History of composition
Years Material
1793–1795 100% copper
1795–1857 100% copper
1856–1864 88% copper, 12% nickel
1864–1942 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
1943 zinc-coated steel
1944–1946 95% copper, 5% zinc
1947–1962 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
1962–1982 95% copper, 5% zinc
1982–present 97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper
As a kid we always commented when we got a “steely” in change.
I have been looking into this further and it seems the wine makers among us have a solution. They use Reduless or Copper Sulfate.
Did the sulfur taste go away?
No. The penny has been hanging in there since last night but I still get smell and taste. [emoji17]
I found it interesting that one source stated that to practice detecting the Hydrogen Sulphide off flavor to add metabisulfite into the beer.
Great!
That’s what I did thinking I was eliminating chlorine/chloramine. Instead, I think I shot myself in the foot.
If you used the correct amount at the right time, that’s not what’s causing your problem.
I normally use distilled water. This is a pandemic batch and the shelves were bare, so I used tap water treated with Kmeta.
I’ve brewed this base recipe dozens of times. The only other difference is Eukonot hops. Same yeast, same grist, same mash, same ferment, basta.
Since this has never happened before using my normal processes in over 100 batches, I am looking at an overdose of Kmeta as the smoking gun. Of course, I could be wrong and could have a serious infection.
How much did you use?
.3 grams Kmeta powder in 8.5 gal water
Doing math in my head based on memory (you know how that goes), that certainly doesn’t seem excessive.
ETA: OK, looks like one tablet, which is good for 20 gal., weighs .44 gr. So you were a bit high, but not what I’d call over the top. Martin, where are you?
I used 550 mg for my calculation.
Yeah, I see that now. Different sources list different weights.