Gadget to remove Sulpfites?

WINE TALK
21

Ah, the aroma of fresh, clean, wholesome… [bullshit.gif]

Notice in their FAQ section regarding sulfite sensitivity…“At this time, there are no clinical trials proving this point.”

If they were able to chelate, it would be amazing if it were able to occur at that speed.

22

Exposure to oxygen will quickly convert sulfites to tasteless (and inactive) sulfates (SO3 to SO4). So try decanting a problem bottle and then wait 30 - 45 minutes for the reactions to complete.

23

This thread reminds me of the Glenn Gould de-vocalizer 2000 that removes that pesky hum from those otherwise perfect Goldberg recordings.

http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/

:slight_smile:

24

Hilarious! I never minded his hum but that’s an excellent device.

Now if we could find a device that explains why people revive dead threads! I started laughing as I read it - didn’t even remember how old it was. The effect of too much alcohol I guess . . .

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25

We received the Üllo Chill Purifer as a gift about a month ago. It’s still in the box taking up counter space. Does anyone have one or tried one since this thread was started? I think we’re going to re-gift it.
I do like the “chill” feature…

26

Why not just use the chill/aerator portion and not put in the sulfite filters? I think something that could take a bigger red wine from “American” room temperature and both aerate the wine and bring it down to cellar temp would actually be quite useful…

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27

champagne.gif

28

It’s always funny when you scroll down what you assume is a new thread, and see that you posted in the thread. Then you have a moment of dread while you wonder if the version of you many years ago wrote something that you’d think is stupid today.

29

Get outta here with all this self-awareness stuff, it’s so unberserker-like [wow.gif]

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30

This is a bit of Deja Vu.
A couple of months ago a friend asked me if I knew anything about Ullo sulfite filters and whether they worked; his wife gets headaches from some wines.
I searched around on the internet because I’d never even heard of Ullo and I actually read through this thread you bumped! I told my friend that I had no idea if it would work for her or not.
Last I heard, it didn’t do anything for her headaches.

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31

I get wine headaches and I’ve found a few things work pretty well:

  1. Claritin, not as an acute remedy, but daily; especially during spring and late summer.
  2. Better wine – it’s weird but the headaches don’t seem to happen from small producers or flagship wines from medium to larger producers. Cheaper and mass produced stuff seems to get me more often than not.
  3. Water, but also with salt/food to balance out.

Best thing you can do to know if it’s sulfites is to eat any of the many foods that have much higher ppm of sulfites than most wines. Dried fruits and orange juice are two that I know of. If those bother you as well, then it might be sulfites. If those have no reaction, it might still be something in the wine, but not sulfites so no need to waste money on a filter.

32

The level of sulfites in wine is significantly lower than in many foods / drinks that most people consume on a regular basis - it is really quite rare for someone to have an issue with sulfites in wine.

Wines, especially red wines, do have widely varying levels of histamines. This would explain the efficacy of your Claritin in alleviating symptoms.

33

I’m still trying to figure out what “American” room temperature is.

34

I think spellcheck would be a gadget to remove “sulpfites”…no hard feelings.

35

Last month when I was skiing in Telluride I ended up riding a lift with the Ullo inventor, James Kornacki. We did a few runs together and on the chair he explained his device. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern and suffice to say that it is more than adding peroxide to convert sulfites to sulfates. He ascertained that there is a segment of people that will go to great lengths to remove added sulfites from their wine and are convinced that removing them will make their headaches go away. He just wants to stick with what his device does and wants to stay away from additional claims of any medical benefit. He sent me one and when a friend comes over that claims sulfite issues, I will filter some wine and see what happens.

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36

To be clear, did he suggest it removes sulfites or converts them into sulfates?

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37

If you do the second, you’ve accomplished the first

38

Touché. I’m curious if that’s the mechanism since the claim is backed by a measurement of SO2. Does it leave sulfates behind, or does it “trap” SO2 / SO3 / SO4 in the filter?

For what it’s worth, I made the mistake of engaging in a post on Facebook [oops.gif]

39

Forgot the smilie in my post [cheers.gif]

It’s not trapping SO2, or any other compounds. It’s oxidizing the SO2 (or SO3 ion that’s formed in water) to sulfate, similar to what happens when SO2 reacts with oxygen in the air - precisely why there’s SO2 in there to begin with, to scavenge and protect against the tiny amount of air that gets in through the cork.

Or if it’s copper, it is reducing to sulfide, producing copper sulfide. Either way, lowering the SO2 level.

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