bad smell

[x_diver]

I started a blackberry wine from homewinery.com. Always had good luck with their stuff and everyone has been raving about their blackberry so it was next on my list.

Started with SG of 1.075. I am doing primary in a bucket. All was going well - and then I started getting the rotten egg smell starting at about SG 1.025. I added more year nutrient and splashed my must around to aerate twice daily. SG dropped to 1.0 after a few days and some of the smell is gone. But when a splash the wine around, you can still smell it.

I want to put this into secondary to keep it from spoiling now that primary is done but I'm not sure what to do. I have an AIO pump and was considering racking it back and forth a bunch of times between carboys with the theory that eliminating the CO2 will make the smell go away but this is an educated guess at best. Any other thoughts? Should I put this into secondary and wait it out?

 

[dralarms]

Yes, put it in secondary, make sure it's topped off. Had the same thing, actually used copper sulfate but mine was really bad. Learned real quick not to use rc212 on their juices.

 

[garymc]

I cut off a piece of half inch copper pipe like your water pipes in your house about 2 feet long, cleaned it good, and used it to stir mine and poured it into a bucket, stirred more and vacuum pumped it into a carboy. I don't know if the copper or the air or both did the job. But it worked like a champ.

 

[Turock]

Well, even tho a copper pipe works, it shouldn't be used because it puts an unhealthy dose of copper into the wine. This is why they came up with the product called Reduless because it only has a nominal level of copper to get the job done of eliminating the H2S.

You cannot "wait out" a H2S problem---it has to be dealt with right away or else the wine will not only have the smell of H2S, but will begin to take it on taste-wise. And then you are starting to form mercaptans which are very difficult to deal with. Order some Reduless from www.morewine.com and dose the wine as soon as you get it.

H2s is produced in high amounts when yeast becomes stressed. When you notice this happening in your ferment, and if you're under the 50% dry level of the must, you should get some DAP in the ferment right away. But a better way to AVOID this is to always split your nutrient dose into 2 batches. The first dose goes in at the beginning of the ferment, and the second dose by the 50% dry mark if using regular yeast nutrient. For Fermaid K, the second dose should be introduced at 1/3 sugar depletion.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Turock,
I couldn't agree more, I'd stay away from the copper pipe unless it is the last possible choice that you have.

 

[x_diver]

I did split my nutrient dose into two batches. I even added more nutrient after the smell would not go away.

What is "DAP"?

 

[x_diver]

Sorry, DAP is yeast nutrient. Will do. Just ordered some reduces as well.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Diammonium Phosphate (DAP). A source of nitrogen for yeast.

Some Yeast Nutrients come with it, some don't. I always get the nutrient that contains DAP.

Make sure you also give your must some good stirs 2-3 times a day.

During primary fermentation the yeast need some O2 to work.

 

[Turock]

DAP is diammonium phosphate, an inorganic source of nitrogen. Yeast needs nitrogen for good survival. Plain old yeast nutrient is mostly DAP and the problem is that compared to the more complex nutrients like Fermaid K, it doesn't provide other needed nutrients and vitamins that are much better at preventing H2S issues in musts. Fermaid K does contain DAP, but many other micronutrients for best yeast survival and reproduction. The alpha amino acids in Fermaid K are utilized much better than from ammonium salts like DAP. DAP is of use in low YAN situations but not sure of that with blackberry.

We make blackberry every year and never had a H2S issue. What kind of nutrient are you using?

 

[Turock]

Definitely--always stir your musts. Don't just let them lay there.

 

[x_diver]

I am going to switch to Fermaid K. Thanks for the information.

As for stirring must twice a day, that is one rule that I learned early on from these forums. I forgot to stir one morning before work so I had my neighbor go to my house in a snowstorm to stir my wine!

I will let you know how this all turns out. Thanks again.

 

[Turock]

Regardless of the cause of the H2S, you need to treat this as soon as possible because of the reasons I outlined in my first post. Get the Reduless--don't wait.

 

[x_diver]

Waiting for it to arrive and will treat the moment it does.

 

[Turock]

Great!! Just wanted to be sure you weren't going to wait it out.

 

[x_diver]

While waiting for reduless to arrive, I continue to stir my must twice a day. The smell seems to have subsided. I think I'm going to hold off on applying the reduless - for now.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Good plan!

 

[geek]

I was looking in the "Articles" section and didn't see an article around information of bad smells during alcoholic fermentation and things to do/know when the yeast shows signs of stress.

This is a good topic discussed in this thread, and myself recently going through this wine odor issue I think it may be a great article for a tutorial in the "Articles" section.

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