My first wine not from kit

[heatfire]

My first wine thats not from a kit

So many questions
but I'll start with the facts.
English is not my first language so it will be kinda painful to read.

I'm making a wine from strawberry juice and dried elderflowers sweetened with honey and 2 kinds of sugar, dextrose and plain sugar.
checked PH with strips, between 3.8 and 3.6.
SG 1.095
using K1-V1116 yeast.
and i used yeast nutrients before adding the yeast

I'm fermenting in the most temperature stable area in the apartment a small room with no window and only 1 air inlet from the main ventilation.
keeps steady at 71-72f day and night. However air stands very still, gasses heavier then air seems to almost stay in place.

Here comes the part with the question.. finally

I get a kinda bad smell from the fermentation, i think, smells kinda like rotten but not quite, but.. when i took SG messurement i smelled at it and couldnt detect any bad smell in the 100ml messurement.. thing.

Could the bad smell just be from the bad ventilation? this yeast is giving off alot of gases, the lid is put on loose but the airlock is bubbling every 5 secs despite this. with my last kit the airlock was still in about the same time frame.

speed of fermentation is 1.095 to 1.085 in 24 hours.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Fermentation IS rotting fruit, just in a controlled manner. It will quit stinking soon.

 

[seth8530]

Actually, I will disagree about fermentation being a rotting process... but that is besides the point.

How much of each fruit did you use and how much water.? You said you used nutrient, but what kind and how much? Would you describe the smell as being lIke rotten eggs?

 

[HB_in_Subic]

You also need to aerate the must daily. When it gets closer to 1.02 in gravity a gentle stirring to release the CO2 in solution (degassing).

When the gravity gets to 1.06ish, add some more nutrient and energizer, and again at 1.03ish.

Did you use any pectic enzyme for the strawberries? Did you use any Potassium Metabisulfite (Campden tablets) and wine tannin 24 hours before pitching the yeast?

 

[heatfire]

i've aerated the must twice, didnt use any tannin but campden powder and pectic enzyme yes.
Have never smelled rotten eggs but it might be towards that yes..
its very light on fruit juice and used the dry elderflowers to get more taste.
about 1.8gallon of juice to be correct.

i cheaped out on the nutrient cos my wife saw me shopping.
used WLN1000 from white labs.. but that one is more for brewing beers.. sometimes i amaze myself.
I have read every guide, tutorial i can find but still mess up my fermentation.
hopefully i can save something from this mess.

 

[seth8530]

Generally, you don't want to work air in one you get closer to the end of fermentation. . Ie near 1.020.

Additionally, DAP based nutrient does not really do anything in the latter stages of the ferment other than make food for spoilage microbes. However, a product like Fermaid O can be utilized up to the 1/2 or even 2/3 sugar break.

So you used 1.8 gallons of juice, but what is your total volume? If it is too large ie, little fruit and lots of water it could be a sign that it is nutrient deprived.

That being said, I would not count the wine out just yet. Some fermentations smell better than others. ( I love them all).

 

[montanaWineGuy]

My elderberry smelled like puke during fermentation. After racking, getting rid of the foul surface it got better fast.

 

[BernardSmith]

I doubt that the yeast will produce enough hydrogen sulfide (the gas that smells like rotten eggs) for you to be able to smell in 24 hours but dried elderflowers have an unusual smell and it might be that that you are smelling

 

[heatfire]

I doubt that the yeast will produce enough hydrogen sulfide (the gas that smells like rotten eggs) for you to be able to smell in 24 hours but dried elderflowers have an unusual smell and it might be that that you are smelling

100% right.. today i strained up some elderflower lemonade i made for my wife.. have an aroma very close to what i smell from the wine.

Didn't know that about DAP nutrients. next time i make some wine ill read up more about nutrients and buy better stuff.
But the way its fermenting right now it seems its doing alright, SG is 1.070 now.

edit: i used 22lbs of strawberries, ended up a tad over 6 gallons.

 

[Greydog]

Did you use sulfite in your air lock?

 

[heatfire]

Did you use sulfite in your air lock?

I choosed not to use sulfites in my air lock.
Should I?

 

[seth8530]

You are VERY light on the fruit, it looks like most of your sugars are coming from mostly non fruit based sugars. Seeing, this you should report how much nutrient that you used and when you used it. I think it is very possible that this fermentation could become nutrient constrained.

You might also want to look into some way of adding some extra fruit to the wine. Perhaps even frozen concentrate could do in a pinch assuming it does not have preservatives.

 

[heatfire]

so far i have added half of the typical 1tsp for each gallon.
SG is down to 1.055 now. should i just add the rest in?

 

[seth8530]

Yeah, I would definitely not go light on the nutrient. Before too long you will enter the phase where the nutrient is pretty much useless to the yeast, so go ahead and add it in.

 

[heatfire]

thx for all the help.
SG is down to 1.035 now and no bad smells at all.

 

[seth8530]

Great, I would not stir anymore unless you need to get the fruit submerged at this point. I am still concerned the wine might end up a bit light... But, never know until you get there.

 

[heatfire]

if going by smell means anything its going to turn out kinda ok. Smells like strawberries. and hopefully the elderflowers will help some.
and the 2.6 pounds of honey.

Anyway I'm thinking about if transferring to secondary is such a good idea if this wine might be light on nutrients. but at the current rate it might not be an issue since it might go dry before I have the time to transfer it.
Should I or should I not transfer to secondary a wine that's possible low on nutrients?

 

[seth8530]

I generally wait until I get close to SG 1 before I rack over to secondary. But, if it slows down significantly I would go ahead and transfer it to avoid oxidation.

 

[heatfire]

Just want to follow up on this thread.
The wine turned out OK. no real off tastes.
Taste is in level with a cheap dry white wine. nothing to taste really but atleast it works mixing drinks with it