Juice Bucket H2S Issue?

[dmguptill]

I have a cab juice bucket from Chile I'm doing. Got it on Thursday, it didn't start fermenting even though it was supposedly inoculated. I realized temps were a bit cold. So I brought it upstairs where it's 70F, still didn't ferment.

So yesterday I rehydrated some rc212 and added it, and it took off within a few hours. Now, today I'm getting a bit of a sulfur, egg smell. It's not overwhelming, but it's there. I added some fermaid-k and the smell subsided for a couple hours, and now it's back again. The fermentation has really taken off even more as well.

Thoughts?

 

[cmason1957]

I almost always add fermaid to my buckets, particularly from Chile and Rc212 always seems to me to be more prone to off odors than some other yeasts.

 

[Johnd]

You’ll need to be rigorous with your Fermaid K, as Craig said, RC 212 is known for its propensity to produce H2S. Sounds like dose 1 worked well, dose 2 should go in near 1/3 or 1/2 sugar depletion. Have some Fermaid O on hand in case you get a little H2S below 1.020, it’s much better down there.

 

[dmguptill]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. The smell is much reduced now this morning compared to last night. Here's what I did:

A couple hours after the first dose of fermaid k, the smell came back and it was much worse. I checked sg and it was down to 1.060 from 1.090. I figured I had added enough nutrient to make the yeast happy enough to reproduce a bunch (fermentation rate went way up), but then they used it all up and were stressing out even more. So I added a quick shot of "yeast nutrient" from the lhbs, which I think is primarily DAP. Then I went to bed.

This morning, based on your feedback, I added another half dose of fermaid k. Things seem to be going much better now. Smells much more like fermentation and not so sulfury. SG at 1.040 as well.

I domt have any fermaid O, what should I do if I smell the h2s again add the sg gets lower?

 

[stickman]

If you are getting H2S early in the fermentation, my opinion would be to double the standard dose of Fermaid for the second addition. If possible, it's best to get the nutrients in that window before 1.040 or about 10 brix.

 

[Johnd]

I domt have any fermaid O, what should I do if I smell the h2s again add the sg gets lower?

Cooling and slowing the ferment may help, but you should try to get some O and have it on hand just in case, I don't know what to tell you to use as an alternate, but definitely don't add more DAP. Maybe if you can sieve out the white particles from the Fermaid K (which I'm pretty sure are DAP) you could try a little of that. You just don't want to be adding Nitrogen to the must at late stages of the game , it causes problems down the road.

 

[dmguptill]

Cooling and slowing the ferment may help, but you should try to get some O and have it on hand just in case, I don't know what to tell you to use as an alternate, but definitely don't add more DAP. Maybe if you can sieve out the white particles from the Fermaid K (which I'm pretty sure are DAP) you could try a little of that. You just don't want to be adding Nitrogen to the must at late stages of the game , it causes problems down the road.

Interesting. I thought adding DAP was preferred later, since the yeast need the easy source of nitrogen as alcohol content increases.

 

[dmguptill]

I haven't added anymore nutrient because I'm now down to 1.016. This is the fastest fermentation I've ever had.

However, the smell seems to have subsided somewhat. Honestly it's really hard to tell if I'm smelling sulfur or just the pungent smell of fermentation.

 

[CDrew]

It's interesting, and I have always thought, that even with normal ferments, there is a brief mid period when I think I can detect H2S. I think that's OK as long as it dissipates. The problem is if it doesn't, then you have a real problem. Or next time, you could use one of the yeasts like Avante that don't produce H2S even when stressed. And mid fermentation always has funky smells that give you pause and make you wonder.

I would keep with a "normal" nutrient regimen and go for it. It's difficult to add and subtract mid ferment, because once it's established, fermentation is going to happen bad smells and all. It sounds like you are there now. Good luck, and keep posting what happens so we can all learn from it.

 

[dmguptill]

It's interesting, and I have always thought, that even with normal ferments, there is a brief mid period when I think I can detect H2S. I think that's OK as long as it dissipates. The problem is if it doesn't, then you have a real problem. Or next time, you could use one of the yeasts like Avante that don't produce H2S even when stressed. And mid fermentation always has funky smells that give you pause and make you wonder.

I would keep with a "normal" nutrient regimen and go for it. It's difficult to add and subtract mid ferment, because once it's established, fermentation is going to happen bad smells and all. It sounds like you are there now. Good luck, and keep posting what happens so we can all learn from it.

Yeah. It also seems every time I stir it the smell dissipates. I can smell the tiniest whiff through the airlock, but when the lid is off it just smells like fermentation. I think there is just a really small amount being released at this point, and hopefully vacuum racking when fermentation is complete will take care of any residual smell.

FWIW I did just add a small amount of additional fermaid k, which has a bunch of complex nitrogen sources. Seems to have helped a bit. Hopefully it will allow the yeast to power through to the end.

 

[mainshipfred]

Once fermentation is complete and you still get a whiff of H2S I would recommend a good splash racking or 2 before resorting to a copper treatment.

 

[dmguptill]

Smelled pretty good this morning. Hopefully won't need to resort to anything out of the ordinary at this point to remove any sulfur smell. I put a Mosti All Grape pack in this bucket, so I'd like to let it sit on the skins as long as possible.