# Bad smell bad taste 2 different wines



## Sammyk (May 9, 2012)

Blackberry Jam started per recipe here on 3/15 tasted/smelled wonderful while fermenting. Added sorbate and kmeta last month now it smells bad and tastes bad. I did check the pH a few minutes ago and it is 3.3

Peach, mango strawberry pineapple from frozen bags of fruit at Wally World started 3/15 same problem only smells worse and taste worse then the blackberry jam. pH a few minutes ago was 3.8

I was getting ready to put them under the house in the crawl space to finish aging and we tasted both a little while ago. They both have a bad smell and taste that we can not distinguish what it is.

The meter is a Milwaukee pH600 I just bought. 

Is there any hope they might taste better with age?


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## Sammyk (May 10, 2012)

Bump...........


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## Julie (May 10, 2012)

can you please give a little more information? how big is the carboy, what is the sg, the fg, what were the ingredients and how much. Did you backsweeten this wine, is it clear? Knowing the ph does not tell the whole story. And tried to described what you mean by "smell's bad" and "taste bad"


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## Sammyk (May 10, 2012)

I will break this into 2 posts so it is not so confusing.

Blackberry started 3/16

7 jars of 18 oz Seedless Blackberry Jam - Smuckers
3 gallons of water
2 pounds of sugar
OG was 1.085
FG was 1.010
KV116


After fining and sorbate and kmeta 3 gallons as I recall, I did not update the water additions. 2.5 gallons now after racking.

ON 4/5 I posted here that blackberry smelled so great and tasted really good, I added sorbate, kmeta and sparklloid. I did one more racking on after that on 4/12. There was a lot of co2 so I splash racked to pail and then back to carboys

It is clear and a very slight taste of smell of blackberry but an overpowering off smell and taste. No lees today. The 3 of us could not pinpoint the smell or taste.
other then it was not good and a friend spit out the sample in the sink.

I did add some inverted sugar and we tasted again. It really does not help much, we could still smell and taste something "off"


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## Sammyk (May 10, 2012)

Dang deleted 2nd post before it posted. Started 3/15

Peach/Mango/strawberry/pineapple

12 pounds of frozen fruit from Wally world. Pineapple was hard and I had a hard time crushing it when I squeezed the bag daily (probably not ripe)

I am thinking it was 3 gallons of water, forgot to update my notes so it may have been more. 12 pounds of fruit took up a lot of space because they were good sized pieces. Maybe I should have cut them smaller.
8 pounds of sugar.
KV116

OG 1.090 FG 1.000 and still that today.

Racked 4/05 over a gallon of lees (down the drain, it smelled nasty). At that time Sorbate, kmeta and sparkelloid I don't recall how much lees that time but down the drain again. Smelled really nasty. I wound up with 2/5 gallons

It smelled great while fermenting and friend was here and said she could not wait for it to be "done". BUT later it did not taste good on the last rack when I racked off more lees.

Today a tiny bit of lees. Friend stopped by again when we were sampling she said this one had a chemical smell, reminded her of a beauty shop where they were doing perms. She spit the taste in the sink it was that bad.

It is clear except the tiny bit of lees. Inverted sugar awhile ago and it still tastes bad.

Do you think there is any hope for this?


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## Julie (May 10, 2012)

Sammyk said:


> I will break this into 2 posts so it is not so confusing.
> 
> Blackberry started 3/16
> 
> ...



It is possible that it is just a young wine. Why did you stabilize the wine when it was only at 1.010? You should have waited until it was completely dry before stabilizing. Leave it go for another month and taste it then.


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## Sammyk (May 10, 2012)

I stabilized because it stayed at 1.010 for over a week....
I assumed it was done.


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## dangerdave (May 11, 2012)

Sammyk said:


> Peach/Mango/strawberry/pineapple
> 
> 12 pounds of frozen fruit from Wally world. Pineapple was hard and I had a hard time crushing it when I squeezed the bag daily (probably not ripe)
> 
> ...


 
I made the exact same batch this winter as well, Sammy. Five gallons. After several months it was very clear---with an interesting orange/amber color. I stuck a thief into the carboy to sample it and it fizzed like crazy! I had been the victim of refermentation! I read through my notes and discovered I had only added half the sorbate that I usually use with country fruit wine.

What was I thinking? I don't know!

So, I repeated the sulphite/sorbate, then backsweetened with a little sugar. If it keeps refermenting on me, I'm going to call it Tropical Fruit Port!!! After another month of clearing, it still remains slightly cloudy. I really don't know about this one, Sammy, but I am yet to give up on a batch. Just like I tell everyone else, I'm going to leave it sit where it is until it's clear. It's been a problematic recipe. If it doesn't turn out to be _great_, I probably won't try this one again.


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## Sammyk (May 11, 2012)

Blackberry Jam After adding some inverted sugar and letting it sit on the counter most of the day, it was not too bad. I will just let it age and see what happens

The Peach mixture still stinks and tastes bad. I guess I will wait it out. It was $40.00 for all that frozen fruit for 2.5 gallons NOT 2 5-gallons from my first post. I just noticed the mistake in the volume. 

Not something I will try again unless it MUCH gets better with age. And it would have to get a WHOLE lot better before I would even consider making it again. And dang, it smelled so wonderful while it was fermenting.

Dave mine is the same nice color, very pretty to look at!


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## Julie (May 11, 2012)

Sammy, peach takes a good year before it comes into it's own. Let it age, I'm sure it will turn out.


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## Sammyk (May 11, 2012)

Peach wine - I pulled a gallon out of storage today, it is now 6 months old. This was a Vinters Harvest 96 oz that I did 3 gallons.

We are having out of state company next week and I thought well, maybe. It was still as rough tasting as it was when all the fining was done. Put a clean airlock on it and put it back in storage. Added a pinch of kmeta to the gallon.

So, I think maybe what you are saying.... I will let the peach mango, strawberry, pineapple age and see.

One thing for sure the Peach Vinters Harvest did not smell nasty like the blend does.


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## dangerdave (May 11, 2012)

Sammyk said:


> Peach wine - I pulled a gallon out of storage today, it is now 6 months old. This was a Vinters Harvest 96 oz that I did 3 gallons.
> 
> We are having out of state company next week and I thought well, maybe. It was still as rough tasting as it was when all the fining was done. Put a clean airlock on it and put it back in storage. Added a pinch of kmeta to the gallon.
> 
> ...


 
We must be on the same page, Sammy. I made a peach-mango at the end of last year using Vintner's Harvest Peaches (plus some store-bought canned peaches) and natural mango extract for flavoring. I ended up with a five gallon batch. It was very flavorful and light on the tongue, and a crystal-clear-pale-yellow in color. The ladies drank it from mason jars, poured over frozen fruit. It's almost gone now.

I think our tropical fruit blend wines are going to take longer. Let's keep eachother posted on our progress.

Waiting...


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## Sammyk (May 12, 2012)

Dave how long did you leave the peach age? I really thought at 6 months it would taste decent.

The red raspberry and the plum were made at the same time all, Vinters Harvest and they did not taste good either because I opened one of each of those two also.

All 3 had more alcohol taste then anything else.


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## dangerdave (May 14, 2012)

We drank the Vintner's Harvest Peach/Mango right away, within three months of starting it. There was no problem with it. The tropical wine from the frozen fruit keeps recarbonating on me! I'm a little perplexed with it. I think I need to drink it up in temp a bit and try degassing again. Either way, that one is going to sit for a while, I think, unless it suddenly clears for me.


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## Sammyk (May 14, 2012)

Dave did you sweeten or flavor the peach from VH?


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## dangerdave (May 17, 2012)

Yes, Sammy. I made the batch for my daughter in the Air Force. With her input, I added 1 oz. of natural peach extract and 1 oz. of natural mango extract, and a little sugar. The wine came out very mellow, with rich fruit flavors. I have a few bottles left---only because I _hid_ them! Heidi (my daughter) thinks it's all gone. She doesn't know I saved her a big bottle for her visit during 4th of July festivities. I'm soooo sneaky!


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## Sammyk (Jun 5, 2012)

My peach/mango/strawberry/pineapple finally lost the "perm" smell and now has a nice fruit smell. This wine threw a ton of lees and had many racking. It still has a very strong alcohol smell. The carboys are now in the crawl space under the house aging.


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## johnpatrick (Oct 17, 2012)

made some wine from 4lb of ripe peaches from Lidl,s smelled good when fermenting but after first racking smelt awful.not gonna dump it yet give it a few more months? i think there must be something in peaches that makes them smell so bad ihae tasted other peach wine and it has been great.


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## joeswine (Mar 18, 2013)

*fruit wine and odors*

check out when good wines gone bad,the thread were ,defects and wine faults are at,last item posted.

fruit wines can be very tricky .


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