# Dragons blood sulfur smell



## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

First batch of dragons blood, followed recipe except used double the fruit and k1-v1116 instead of ec-1118. Spring water, plus added a pack of frozen strawberries.
Day1: sg 1.080 temp: 73f
Day2: sg 1.068 temp: 74f
Day3: sg 1.045 temp: 75f
Day4: sg 1.018 temp: 75f

I wrote in earlier about a smell as i only do kit wines, the first day the smell was huge, and the fermentation was rampant, like no kit wine ive ever seen except a few high end red with skins, big bubbles, on the verge of looking like it was boiling. Since then fermentation has looked as expected, and definitly sg being lowered everyday but i think the smell i have been smelling is h2s, sulfur smell. I see lots of threads saying to try copper wire ect. The smell has definitly calmed down since i originally posted and now is finally starting to smell like a fermenting wine. The question i have because i have never had any h2s experience is 
1. Why am i getting h2s smell?
2: is it harmful being off gased into my house?
3: is it gonna destroy my first batch of dragons blood?
4: is it too late to take action since the smell is almost gone?


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## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

Im really dissappointed, were very careful with our sanitization and our ingredients, my wife is a compounding pharmacist and brings wine making to a whole new level with sanitization and following recipes, right down to tempatures, taking records and weve never yet had a wine go south.


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## meadmaker1 (May 28, 2017)

Yeast nutrients is my bet. 
The smell will go away as fermentation slows. Ferm O would be my go to later in fermentation if you want to add some.
But dont throw it out, not yet. 
I wouldnt put cooper to it yet. Degas and Give it a couple weeks.


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## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

meadmaker1 said:


> Yeast nutrients is my bet.
> The smell will go away as fermentation slows. Ferm O would be my go to later in fermentation if you want to add some.
> But dont throw it out, not yet.
> I wouldnt put cooper to it yet. Degas and Give it a couple weeks.



Should i add nutrient or energizer right now? If so how much? I already added what the recipe called for at the beginning

And so, i have lots of clean refrigeration grade copper, so i just stir it with copper? That gets rid of h2s?


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## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

So i decided to pitch ec-1118 and 1/4 tsp of yeast nutrient and within 10 minutes the fermentation booted up hard and the smell went away and the familiar fermentation smell im use to came out, immediatly no more sulfur smell. This is a huge set back for me because this was my first attempt pitching k1-v1116, my nose isnt experienced enough to know if i was smelling sulfur (h2s) or if it was just a different smell from using a different yeast. Anyways... back to ec-1118 for me again for a while


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## Ajmassa (May 28, 2017)

How sure are you that it is h2s that you are smelling? 
I'm also finishing up my 4th day since pitching yeast on a DB doubled fruit batch. And it is my 1st DB as well. 
I've smelled wine primaries from fresh juice since forever and started a handful of kits this year. But no fruit wines until this DB. And this primary definitely has a different odor than what I'm used to. On juice batches the first couple days smell like heaven on earth, much like the DB with all the fruit coming out. 
But as my ferments go on they take on that sharp or acidic overtone blanketing the aroma.(still a great smell). This DB smell is progressing in that same timeline, but with different aromas. 
What I'm smelling may very well be mistaken for h2s maybe. But it doesn't smell like anythings wrong to me. I am just chalking it up to the "everything's going as planned" smell. It doesn't smell like I'd want to drink it unlike red juice post ferment. But I'm deducing that is because this wine requires backsweetening. And since it won't taste legit and balanced until it is sweetened, the smell should correlate as well. 
I'm at 1.015 and 75° and looks like I'll be racking tomorrow. Staying the course. When racking you could also check a small sample and stir with copper to see if it makes a difference. Though I'm thinking it's just an unfamiliar smell that you are not used to yet. Hopefully at least.
I used EC-1118. Since it was my first DB I didn't wanna play games and wanted to just push through instead of using another needy yeast always crying out for help. Figured with all that fruit (10.5 lbs on 5 gal batch) I won't be losing any profile.


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## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> How sure are you that it is h2s that you are smelling?
> I'm also finishing up my 4th day since pitching yeast on a DB doubled fruit batch. And it is my 1st DB as well.
> I've smelled wine primaries from fresh juice since forever and started a handful of kits this year. But no fruit wines until this DB. And this primary definitely has a different odor than what I'm used to. On juice batches the first couple days smell like heaven on earth, much like the DB with all the fruit coming out.
> But as my ferments go on they take on that sharp or acidic overtone blanketing the aroma.(still a great smell). This DB smell is progressing in that same timeline, but with different aromas.
> ...



Ya to be honest im not exactly sure what im smelling as ive only done kits up to this point. But i will say i just pitched ec1118 hour ago and the fermentation kicked back up and the smell is the familiar smell im use to. I really wanna get off using the ec-1118 on everything but this will set me back for a while, i guess i need more experience first. As much bad rep ec-1118 has its never done me wrong. I really didnt think the yeast was under stress as ive been tracking sg and temps everyday and seems like everythings on track. Im about to start my first rhubarb wine so i guess ill pitch 1118 with that and see if a familair smell exists.


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## Ajmassa (May 28, 2017)

1118 is great since it always works and needs no TLC. I don't think of it as "beginners yeast" but more like "when in doubt yeast". And The 1116 you used seemed like it was staying the course, but that smell spooked ya. It may have worked out fine if you fed it along the way. Regardless, 3/4 of this batch was fermented with it and who knows, maybe it will turn out even better now. 
Check out this cheap additive pack from MoreWine. Should have everything you'd need to make just about any yeast strain work for ya. I just used it with RC-212 twice and had zero issues. 
https://morewinemaking.com/products/additive-pack-brehm-frozen-fruit-reds.html


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## Zintrigue (May 28, 2017)

I've had problems with the sulfur smell in wines. To my knowledge, here were my culprits:

-My house is too hot. In the 80's. Yeast get hot and sweaty, make gross smells
-An infection of a foreign yeast stressed my yeast out and slowed fermentation while creating sulfur smell
-Too little yeast for the batch. They still go crazy but make the smell - now I pitch two packets to be safe
-Not enough nutrients for the yeast, which makes them slow and smelly

My solutions so far:
-Introduce oxygen to the must by stirring vigorously
-Tie a copper scrubby on the end of my spoon while stirring - found in the sponge section at the grocery store.

These are just my observations and what I've found works in those situations. I'm sure a much more experienced person will offer better advice. Good luck

-Zintrigue


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## Smok1 (May 28, 2017)

Zintrigue said:


> I've had problems with the sulfur smell in wines. To my knowledge, here were my culprits:
> 
> -My house is too hot. In the 80's. Yeast get hot and sweaty, make gross smells
> -An infection of a foreign yeast stressed my yeast out and slowed fermentation while creating sulfur smell
> ...



In the wines youve had h2s issues with and corrected did they turn out ok?

My temps are well controlled so i dont think thats an issue.
Foreign yeast, maybe, i used frozen berries triple berry blend, i guess its possible a wild yeast may exist.
Too little yeast maybe my downfall.


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## meadmaker1 (May 28, 2017)

In other posts ive seen that 1118 doesnt have high needs as far as nutrients. 
So if you used d47 instead then step feeding should help. 
It did for me. 
As far as adding now I probably wouldnt after 2/3 sugar break or if smell is diminishing on its own.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

I doubt it was too little yeast. You don't need much. Probably not foreign yeast from frozen triple berry blend either. And if your temps are good then it was just the strain. Why did u decide to go with 1116?
Also there may have been no issues at all and that smell wasn't anything to worry about. In my experiences, as long as temps are good most yeasts seems to be pretty damn resilient in the proper environment.


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> I doubt it was too little yeast. You don't need much. Probably not foreign yeast from frozen triple berry blend either. And if your temps are good then it was just the strain. Why did u decide to go with 1116?
> Also there may have been no issues at all and that smell wasn't anything to worry about. In my experiences, as long as temps are good most yeasts seems to be pretty damn resilient in the proper environment.


 
I used k1-v1116 for 2 reasons, first is i wanted to try and pitch a different yeast than ec-1118 for a change, every single kit ive ever done comes with ec-1118 and everything ive been reading says theres better yeasts to comlipent certain wines, i just wanted to pitch it on a cheap batch of db instead of a $150 kit for testing purposes, second it says on lalvins website that k1-v1116 is recommended for fruit wines. ill try swapping yeast strains again once i gain some more experience and regain some confindence haha, until then ill stick to the ec1118 as it seems i cant screw that up.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

No need to wait. Or to be hesitant to swap yeasts. I learn more from experience and troubleshooting problems more than anything else. You could Order one of those brehm additive/nutrient packs for $5 and change it up on your rhubarb wine. I'm sure you'll get some experienced suggestions on here if you asked for yeast strain suggestions for rhubarb wine. Shoot first, ask questions later I say!
When do you plan to rack and clear your DB? And how much will you sweeten? I had the same SG to start. Going dry with it?


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> No need to wait. Or to be hesitant to swap yeasts. I learn more from experience and troubleshooting problems more than anything else. You could Order one of those brehm additive/nutrient packs for $5 and change it up on your rhubarb wine. I'm sure you'll get some experienced suggestions on here if you asked for yeast strain suggestions for rhubarb wine. Shoot first, ask questions later I say!
> When do you plan to rack and clear your DB? And how much will you sweeten? I had the same SG to start. Going dry with it?



Hopefully by tues/wed ill rack if its somewhere in the .995 neighborhood or lower, im definitly backsweetening but not sure with what or how much yet, i still have a bunch of 1/2 full f-packs from summer mist wine kits in the fridge, i might use one of those, i have a blackberry f-pack might be good, i have peach, apple, and raspberry fpacks in the fridge as well or i might try and make my own fpack, i seen a thread on here on homemade fpacks with real natural flavors. Im also thinking im gonna use KC for clearing instead of the sparkloid the recipe calls for.


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## pip (May 29, 2017)

I think you may be over thinking it. I don't read too much into the changing smells of a db batch although i've only ever used ec-1118 so maybe there's a difference. Anyway, your ferment sounds like its gone well. Don't rush it or worry too much, it sounds like a super fast ferment so no sweat, take you time, relax. 

Just food for thought, i never back sweeten my db or fruit wines. I dont mind dry wine, but i find the fruit flavor comes through even after a month in glass and creates a psychological sweetness (which probably sounds ridiculous but its true for me). Anyhow, if its your first batch maybe consider splitting it in two? One back sweetened and one not? I think its easy to overdo the sweet, especially on dragons blood style wine.


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## Johnd (May 29, 2017)

Given the proper environment, yeast will, without fail, convert sugar to alcohol. Experimenting with different yeasts is a breeze, if you embrace your role. Remember the 7 p's?

Temps- study the yeast you want to use and be prepared to deliver the temps it wants, if you can't, don't use it. 

pH- understand the pH range of your yeast before you assemble your must, whether it's a kit, fruit, grape, whatever, and test the pH to make sure you are in range. If you're making a kit to the specified volume without adding all kinds of extras, this is a no brainer, as the kit maker has already gotten this right for you. If you don't have a pH meter and are making wine from things other than kits, you're taking a risk, pH is important!

Nutrients- read about the nutritional requirements of your yeast and be prepared to deliver them. Again, kits are prepared with nutrients and should not need more unless you select a particularly hungry, needy yeast. 
For fruits and grapes, this gets a little more challenging. Sometimes, if you're buying your grapes from a place that runs the tests, you can get the YAN of your must, and availability for fruits is even more scarce. Most don't have the capability to run these tests. If your pH and temps are proper, the recommended dosages of nutrients will keep you out of the stinkies, but sniff regularly and be prepared to act. 
Personally, I keep Fermaid K and O on hand, along with DAP. If I smell H2S, a little DAP knocks it out, and I know that before I added it, the yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) was way low, if not zero, and stay on top of it the rest of the ferment. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly "Save the planetlike" I use the Fermaid O, but I'm mostly a K man for my normal regimen, delivered at end of lag, and 50% sugar depletion, it works for me, YMMV.......


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

pip said:


> I think you may be over thinking it. I don't read too much into the changing smells of a db batch although i've only ever used ec-1118 so maybe there's a difference. Anyway, your ferment sounds like its gone well. Don't rush it or worry too much, it sounds like a super fast ferment so no sweat, take you time, relax.
> 
> Just food for thought, i never back sweeten my db or fruit wines. I dont mind dry wine, but i find the fruit flavor comes through even after a month in glass and creates a psychological sweetness (which probably sounds ridiculous but its true for me). Anyhow, if its your first batch maybe consider splitting it in two? One back sweetened and one not? I think its easy to overdo the sweet, especially on dragons blood style wine.



Thats a good point, we do not like overly sweet wines either which is why we still have a fridge drawer full of f-packs. Ill spilt the batch, keep half dry and back sweeten the other half lightly.


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Johnd said:


> Given the proper environment, yeast will, without fail, convert sugar to alcohol. Experimenting with different yeasts is a breeze, if you embrace your role. Remember the 7 p's?
> 
> Temps- study the yeast you want to use and be prepared to deliver the temps it wants, if you can't, don't use it.
> 
> ...



Thank you for your post, it was informative but what are the 7 p's lol, i got 
Ph
Nutrients
Temps 
Haha


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## Zintrigue (May 29, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> In the wines youve had h2s issues with and corrected did they turn out ok?
> 
> My temps are well controlled so i dont think thats an issue.
> Foreign yeast, maybe, i used frozen berries triple berry blend, i guess its possible a wild yeast may exist.
> Too little yeast maybe my downfall.



Every time I had sulfur smells, I just stirred vigorously with the copper scrubby and the smell was gone by the time I was done. The wines turned out great. Granted, I'm still new to this, and I've only had it happen maybe three times. So I'm still learning, too.

The one that got the infection, however, did not turn out alright. That one was obvious, as it had an almost greasy sheen across the top. The smell was repulsive. Should have ended fermentation the first time I saw it. Live and learn.

-Zintrigue


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> Thank you for your post, it was informative but what are the 7 p's lol, i got
> 
> Ph
> 
> ...




Glad I'm not the only who had no idea what that meant. Maybe it was a typo. Remember the 7 p's = remember the 70's. And then assume The 70s was when home winemakers started experimenting with yeast strains and figured out ph thresholds and temps and nutrients. It was the Age of Enlightenment for yeast. 
Otherwise we only got 1 out of 7 p's from the wiseman. 
Also careful with not sweetening some DB. Different strokes for different folks. But that's a new one to hear. Psychological sweetness?! Haha. Use the force! I like it. And creative. "If you think it, it will sweeten". I planned on bringing it to 1.008 ish and then taste from there. Or I could use the force. 
And @zintrigue, the copper on the spoon is a good idea, but can that also hurt the wine in any way? And did you ever find out what caused that oil spill film?


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## meadmaker1 (May 29, 2017)

"Anyway, your ferment sounds like its gone well. Don't rush it or worry too much, 

, i never back sweeten my db or fruit wines. I dont mind dry wine, but i find the fruit flavor comes through even after a month in glass and creates a psychological sweetness (which probably sounds ridiculous but its true for me)."
Theres a qute from pip here 

Ive noticed that wine that manages to last a while seems sweeter as time goes by, I back sweeten often, and prefer sweeter wine, but wish id added less on a couple. 
It also seems no matter how many batches I have going or have finnished, I can t cant learn the effects of aging with out actually waiting for it to age. 
And with that said im not certain if the wine is changing or if its me. Learning how to taste, what to taste for and what to drink when.
Ive started bottling some dry before back sweetening now, to compare.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

Well if more fruit comes through in about a month after sweetening, I would deduce the same thing happens if left dry too. Do you know what the SG was when you sweetened that ended up being too much ? 
That's been my big bugaboo, not wanting to accidentally oversweeten. But I'd be very hesitant to leave it dry given the endless DB threads I've read.


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## meadmaker1 (May 29, 2017)

Shot for 1.010 with apple but got 1.014. 1.010 would have been plenty
Cranberry was bottled without testing. Had good sweetness before I blended a gallon with lees from jaom. The blend was amazing but the hole that was filled took away the need for sweetness. Forgot to test last time I opened a bottle. But I expect its similar
The lesson I got here was, more car boys for bulk aging are in order. Saving some back to dilute with.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

Thanks. That's some great info. This seems to be a guessing game, not knowing how much more sweetness will come forward later. 
I've never done fruit wine or had to backsweeten until this batch. 
The consensus seems to be make a few batches until you find your own "sweet spot" and recipe to your liking.


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## Johnd (May 29, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> Thank you for your post, it was informative but what are the 7 p's lol, i got
> Ph
> Nutrients
> Temps
> Haha



7 P's: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Johnd said:


> 7 P's: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance



Haha i love it


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## Stevelaz (May 29, 2017)

I gave a friend a bottle of my DB from a second 3 gallon batch i made with double fruit. It was bottled about a month ago. He told me he did not like it at all, that it was too fruity sweet and harsh. I then opened a bottle and i have to agree. I really do not like it at all either. I really cant put my finger on it right now, but to me it was harsh but not too sweet. I think i back sweetened to about 1.006 but i have to review my notes to make sure. 

My first batch I made with the original recipe i think was better and i got a lot of good reviews of it. I still have a few bottles of that one, so i will have to crack one open and compare them. Has anyone else had that problem when they added more fruit to the batch?


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Stevelaz said:


> I gave a friend a bottle of my DB from a second 3 gallon batch i made with double fruit. It was bottled about a month ago. He told me he did not like it at all, that it was too fruity sweet and harsh. I then opened a bottle and i have to agree. I really do not like it at all either. I really cant put my finger on it right now, but to me it was harsh but not too sweet. I think i back sweetened to about 1.006 but i have to review my notes to make sure.
> 
> My first batch I made with the original recipe i think was better and i got a lot of good reviews of it. I still have a few bottles of that one, so i will have to crack one open and compare them. Has anyone else had that problem when they added more fruit to the batch?



...still sitting here waiting for you to crack that bottle open and tell us which ones better 

Im hoping mines not harsh, i only added sugar to 1.080sg, so it should only end up 9% abv or so im thinking, im thinking making a strawberry simple syrup to backsweeten half and leave the other half dry.


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

I was under the impression from reading some oher forums that doubling the fruit would make it less harsh as youd have more of the natural fruit sugars and less of the white sugar you have to add to get the sg up.


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## Stevelaz (May 29, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> ...still sitting here waiting for you to crack that bottle open and tell us which ones better ��
> 
> Im hoping mines not harsh, i only added sugar to 1.080sg, so it should only end up 9% abv or so im thinking, im thinking making a strawberry simple syrup to backsweeten half and leave the other half dry.



Wow! You really sweetened yours!


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## sg1strgt (May 29, 2017)

So I have a question for all, I just finished bottling a 5 gal batch of DB. Color is beautiful, smells awesome, to me tastes perfect, like the label says, Triple berries. My wife however says there is a medicinal or metallic taste which I can't pick up. Any ideas or are her taste buds a bit off?


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Stevelaz said:


> Wow! You really sweetened yours!



Haha, 1.080 in primary before yeast, i didnt sweeten to 1.080, that would be like drinking koolaid


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

sg1strgt said:


> So I have a question for all, I just finished bottling a 5 gal batch of DB. Color is beautiful, smells awesome, to me tastes perfect, like the label says, Triple berries. My wife however says there is a medicinal or metallic taste which I can't pick up. Any ideas or are her taste buds a bit off?



Of course it taste good to you, you made it haha, my wine always taste great to me. Not sure about the metallic taste but as for the medicinal taste my doctor always tells me a glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away, so it is medicinal as far as im concerned, and being the health nut i am i always double up on what my doctor recommends, he recomends one... i go over and beyond for my health and have two, or a few.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

Ok @Smok1, what's it gonna be. This thread is filled with all different ideas on the sweetening front. 
I'm down to 1.002. And in a happy accident I ended up with about 5.75 gal instead of 5 gal So I'll be able to play around with the overage. I'll probably yield another 2.5 liters. I like to use old chianti bottles (with the wicker around them) when I can and this will work out well with a 1.5L bottle and 1L bottle likely. 
I can experiment the sweetening with those. Did you add any lemon juice to your primary ? I used only 32 oz. and at this point I have absolutely no clue how much or how little I plan to sweeten. 
Originally planned on 1.008. May go higher on one of the overage bottles and leave dry on the other. But now this thread has me second guessing everything.


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Ok @Smok1, what's it gonna be. This thread is filled with all different ideas on the sweetening front.
> I'm down to 1.002. And in a happy accident I ended up with about 5.75 gal instead of 5 gal So I'll be able to play around with the overage. I'll probably yield another 2.5 liters. I like to use old chianti bottles (with the wicker around them) when I can and this will work out well with a 1.5L bottle and 1L bottle likely.
> I can experiment the sweetening with those. Did you add any lemon juice to your primary ? I used only 32 oz. and at this point I have absolutely no clue how much or how little I plan to sweeten.
> Originally planned on 1.008. May go higher on one of the overage bottles and leave dry on the other. But now this thread has me second guessing everything.



A chianti bottle, interesting, i have one of those as well, i might just clean it up. I also only used 32oz of lemon juice, looks like our recipes are pretty bang on except for the different yeast i started out with, wish we could swap a bottle after to tatse the difference. I ended up with about 6 gallons, i think im gonna stabalize and clear the whole batch first and wait it out a couple weeks in a 6 gallon carboy, then im gonna tranfser 1/2 into a 3 gallon carboy dry and let it sit in my wine dundgeon for a month or so, the other half i have a 4 gallon carboy ill transfer it into and use a raspberry f-pack i have left over from one of those mist kits. Im hoping to get my sg down below .995 before taking it out of the primary, ill check it today as soon as im off work. Ill probly sweeten it to 1.000 or slightly above and then put it in the wine dungeon for a few weeks and give it a taste.


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

So just checked the sg, im at 1.000 right now, i removed the fruit bag, stirred it up real good and now ill leave for a couple days to finish up the fermentation without stirring to hopefully settle out the lees before racking. And the smell i was smelling is completely gone now, just smells like wine now. Its possible i just paniced due to only ever being familiar with the smell of fermenting concentrated grapes from kits up to this point.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

I think we will both be able to go below .995 with the EC-1118 pitched. I'm about to do the same thing with my fruit as well, which is not much of a fruit bag after a week of primary and daily squeezing. 
Did u use any lemon juice?


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> I think we will both be able to go below .995 with the EC-1118 pitched. I'm about to do the same thing with my fruit as well, which is not much of a fruit bag after a week of primary and daily squeezing.
> Did u use any lemon juice?



Yep 32oz, same as you. The only other thing i didnt add from the recipe was the tannin, i bought it, thought about it, and decided not to use it. I dont know alot about the science behind using tannin and ive never hesitated to use it in my red kits if they came with it but i do know the word tannin comes from oak tree and somthing about oaking my berry wine didnt feel right to me And yeah my fruitbag went from "how the hell am i gonna fit all this fruit in this bag" to about the size of a softball

Oh one more thing, ive decided not to add sorbate yet either as i dont want sorbate in my dry half. So ill rack, clear, let sit a few weeks, then split it into 2 smaller carboys, let the dry age a bit in the carboy. And ill add sorbate at that time to the other half and backsweeten the other half.


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## Zintrigue (May 29, 2017)

sg1strgt said:


> So I have a question for all, I just finished bottling a 5 gal batch of DB. Color is beautiful, smells awesome, to me tastes perfect, like the label says, Triple berries. My wife however says there is a medicinal or metallic taste which I can't pick up. Any ideas or are her taste buds a bit off?



I've noticed this as well, she's not crazy (and apparently I'm not either). 

I had someone suggest using less lemon juice during primary, but it's not the acid level I'm tasting, it's something else. And, interestingly, I found that adding a squirt of lime juice to a glass of dragon blood smooths the medicinal taste away. So perhaps that's indicative that more acid is needed?


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## Smok1 (May 29, 2017)

Interesting, i have an acid test kits, can i test and adjust acids when im nearing the end of the primary or am i too late?

I didnt even think about testing acid levels because this recipes so well used on this site.


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## Ajmassa (May 29, 2017)

Or if that lime squirt works on a glass, then the equivalent should work on the whole thing. Thanks for the tip zintrigue. I know you've done a few of these at this point. And the lime juice balancing out the medicinal taste (caused by the lemon?) somehow just seems to make sense. 
This ones gonna be all about adjusting by taste for me.


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## sg1strgt (May 30, 2017)

Zintrigue, I only used 1 32oz bottle of lemon juice. I will try the lime and see what she thinks. thanks


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## Smok1 (May 30, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Or if that lime squirt works on a glass, then the equivalent should work on the whole thing. Thanks for the tip zintrigue. I know you've done a few of these at this point. And the lime juice balancing out the medicinal taste (caused by the lemon?) somehow just seems to make sense.
> This ones gonna be all about adjusting by taste for me.



So mine finished just shy of .990, im happy with that, has a nice smell now and deep color, hope it keeps its color after clearing.


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## Ajmassa (May 31, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> So mine finished just shy of .990, im happy with that, has a nice smell now and deep color, hope it keeps its color after clearing.



Rock and Roll!

I was also right about .990 and racked last night. 
Though I ran into a few surprises. During my transfer, even though I went dry, the yeast was still active rising and dropping, and the lees was not at all compact. Long story short, after fighting all the junk, I just racked it ALL over. Figuring I'd let it settle and rack again in a day or so. 
Even in the carboy I was still seeing all the activity and yeast doing its thing. This morning it had stopped and settled which was comforting. I suppose I rushed the transfer. But even at .990 It was still surprisingly active the rest of the night.


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## pip (May 31, 2017)

The activity is probably c02. You might consider some serious degassing if you want to bottle in the next month or two. It'll also help it to clear. Did you add bentonite?


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## Ajmassa (May 31, 2017)

With the lees/sediment/yeast rising and dropping I just assumed it was more than just CO2. And No bentonite. 
I re-racked tonight since it had compacted nicely. Still some fine lees. Left me with some headspace which I'm fine with. In carboy and in 1.5 L bottle. 
And currently sitting. Will have to degas and add the chems this weekend because of free time. And I'll be using dual fine (chitosan & keilosol) to clear.


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## Smok1 (Jun 1, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> With the lees/sediment/yeast rising and dropping I just assumed it was more than just CO2. And No bentonite.
> I re-racked tonight since it had compacted nicely. Still some fine lees. Left me with some headspace which I'm fine with. In carboy and in 1.5 L bottle.
> And currently sitting. Will have to degas and add the chems this weekend because of free time. And I'll be using dual fine (chitosan & keilosol) to clear.



I vaccuum racked mine off the lees, vaccum degased and then degased again with the drill and whip, added the KC dual clear as well, looks and smells great, ill be seperating it in a week into 2 3 gallon carboys, sweetening one half, put the other half away in the dungeon to bulk age for a bit


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## Zintrigue (Jun 1, 2017)

I have a 6 gallon batch going as well, SG should drop below 1 tomorrow so I can remove the fruit pack. Am I the only one who stops to sniff my buckets every time I hit the kitchen?


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## Smok1 (Jun 1, 2017)

Zintrigue said:


> I have a 6 gallon batch going as well, SG should drop below 1 tomorrow so I can remove the fruit pack. Am I the only one who stops to sniff my buckets every time I hit the kitchen?



Haha nope, this threads named after smelling our buckets everytime we hit the kitchen, i have a LE16 grenache cabernet w/skins and a rhubarb/strawberry wine in the primarys in the kitchen as we speak.


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## Ajmassa (Jun 1, 2017)

Zintrigue said:


> I have a 6 gallon batch going as well, SG should drop below 1 tomorrow so I can remove the fruit pack. Am I the only one who stops to sniff my buckets every time I hit the kitchen?




Haha. You are not alone. Tho DB is def a new type of smell to me and not what I'm used to. But I still love the smell of any primary 
I decided to do this batch upstairs so I wouldn't be a ghost to the family on nights I worked on it. Ulterior motive was to get them to help too. Alas, no help. And They didn't love the smell like I do. I also commandeered my daughters bathroom and stained the rugs so that didn't help matters. They just don't get it.


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## Smok1 (Jun 2, 2017)

Zintrigue said:


> I've noticed this as well, she's not crazy (and apparently I'm not either).
> 
> I had someone suggest using less lemon juice during primary, but it's not the acid level I'm tasting, it's something else. And, interestingly, I found that adding a squirt of lime juice to a glass of dragon blood smooths the medicinal taste away. So perhaps that's indicative that more acid is needed?



I pulled a small sample from my carboy today and id have to agree with the hot/medicinal taste, i didnt have lime juice but i added a few drops of lemon juice and it completely went away. Thank you for the tip.


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## Ajmassa (Jun 2, 2017)

Smok1 said:


> I pulled a small sample from my carboy today and id have to agree with the hot/medicinal taste, i didnt have lime juice but i added a few drops of lemon juice and it completely went away. Thank you for the tip.




Hmmmm. So when we end up with a medicinal taste we know that a small addition of lime juice is a remedy. And now know lemon juice works as well. 
So is it feasible to think that adding a dose of citric acid after primary might be a useful tweak in the recipe? Or is the fix coming from the natural sugars and it's just being sweetened a tad more? Are you able to do that same bench test with a touch of sugar also? Im curious to what part of the juices are actually making it happen. 
I didn't plan to adjust for taste until after cleared and sweetened. As it sits now it doesn't smell like anything I'd consider drinking yet and I could see someone deeming it "medicinal". But I can't make any adjustments based on taste since i don't know what I'm working with yet.


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## Zintrigue (Jun 2, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Haha. You are not alone. Tho DB is def a new type of smell to me and not what I'm used to. But I still love the smell of any primary
> I decided to do this batch upstairs so I wouldn't be a ghost to the family on nights I worked on it. Ulterior motive was to get them to help too. Alas, no help. And They didn't love the smell like I do. I also commandeered my daughters bathroom and stained the rugs so that didn't help matters. They just don't get it.



What's with family not understanding our needs? Haha


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## Ajmassa (Jun 9, 2017)

Yo @Smok1 , how'd you make out with that DB sweetening? Did you end up leaving half dry and sweetening the other half? I've been clearing for a week and might sweeten tomorrow after our game (2nd round of girls 10u south jersey softball league!---no big deal)
I'm curious what you think of each.


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## Smok1 (Jun 10, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Yo @Smok1 , how'd you make out with that DB sweetening? Did you end up leaving half dry and sweetening the other half? I've been clearing for a week and might sweeten tomorrow after our game (2nd round of girls 10u south jersey softball league!---no big deal)
> I'm curious what you think of each.



Haha nice, we just finished 2nd place in boys u10 soccer tournement last weekend, i filtered and then bottled 12 bottles dry and then transfered the remaining to a 19 liter carboy and added 1 cup of lime juice and 1/2cup of simple syrup


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## Ajmassa (Jun 10, 2017)

2nd place! Good for him. 
Did you use a whole house filter? Mine seems pretty clear and I dont think it'll need a filter. I was Wondering about the SG and how you thought it tasted in comparison to the one at .990.


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