# So what exactly is initial fermentation supposed to smell like?



## infinitenexus (Jan 13, 2011)

My first batch of wine - 1 gallon of blackberry, using red star yeast, started fermenting nice and aggressively on day 2, but from the second the fermentation started, it stank. It smelled like a cross between a nasty fart and blackberries, that's the only way I can think of describing it. The smell decreased as it fermented, and I just racked it into a carboy and most (but not all) of the smell is gone. Does initial fermentation normall stink? There was a bit of a rotten egg smell, so I'm thinking it may be the hydrogen sulfide. I'll probably splash rack today just to be safe. But does wine normall smell in the initial stages of fermentation?


----------



## EngineJoe (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm more of a beer brewer than winemaker (only new to winemaking), but I can say that sulphurous aromas are not an unusual byproduct of fermentation. How much of you get is dependent on any number of factors: fermentation temperature, yeast strain, must/wort content, etc. I would venture that you have nothing to worry about, and the bad aroma will pass.


----------



## infinitenexus (Jan 13, 2011)

Okay, thank you. Initially the smell was pretty strong, but it faded notably after 5 days of fermenting, so my hope is that it will die out in the secondary carboy.


----------



## abefroman (Jan 13, 2011)

That was definitely sulphur, you can get a yeasty smell from it as well.


----------



## xoltri (Jan 13, 2011)

It depends. Some have smelled great at first and turned bad after, others smelled bad right away. Since I'm making wine and beer from kits I don't worry and they've all turned out fine.

One of the kit beers I made, a Winterfest ale, smelled exactly like vomit once fermentation was going. I bottled it yesterday and that smell was gone; we'll see in a couple weeks how it tastes.


----------

