Stuck fermentation odor & more

[PricklyPear]

Hi,
I am in the process of making a melon wine and messed up things a little bit...
To make things short - I almost killed the yeasts and now there is a good fermentation but in addition a bad odor of stuck fermentation.

Is there a way to get rid of this odor, or should I just discard this batch of wine and start over again?


Another question - I tried to make a watermelon wine but the watermelon got spoiled even though the fermentation was ok. Is there a way to prevent it from being spoiled (I would like to try again)? The temp is 22c and I kept it in a refrigerator until the yeasts starter was ready.

Thanks!

 

[Wine Maker]

I have never made mellon or water mellon wine. However, from what I have read in other forums, water mellon wine is very difficult to make. First, there is not enough natural sugar in water mellon thereby requiring a large amount of sugar to be added at fermentation. Therefore, the wine has very little fruit flavor but a lot of alcohol flavor. Secondly, the water mellon spoils very quickly, often before fermentation is completed. Jack Keller recently had post in another forum in which he said he did have success with it. I would think the same holds true for any type of mellon.

Visit his website at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

Now, as for the odor you are experiencing with the mellon wine, can you describe the smell? Does it smell like sulfur or rotten eggs. If so, you have a hydrogen sulfite (Ho2) problem. If this is the case, you may be able to correct it by what is called splash racking. Splash racking is where you vigourously rack the wine back and forth between carboys trying to incorporate a lot of air into the wine to push the sulfur odor out. Smell the wine after each splash to judge if the ordor has disipated.

 

[PricklyPear]

Thanks

I think I will throw the melon wine away after all because it smells too bad .

Regarding the watermelon, according to my measurements it contains a fair amount of sugar comparing to other non-grape fruits (a little over 10 Brix). Don't forget that a watermelon contains also a lot of water so you don't have to dilute it like other fruits.
According to the link you added there are 2 ways to reduce the risk of spoilage - cooling the must until adding yeasts (which I have done) and using fast/vigorous kind of yeasts. I guess I will have to get better yeasts before trying again...

 

[cpfan]

guess I will have to get better yeasts before trying again...

What yeast did you use? How long between making up the must and pitching the yeast? Did you add campden or metabisulphite to the must? Did you follow a recipe or just do your own thing?

There is no such thing as 'stuck fermentation odour'. What were you smelling?

We can't help you unless you help yourself. So far you have given us very little info to work with.

Steve

 

[PricklyPear]

Some more details

Hi Steve,
Well being a "beginner" I have no idea what is the exact strand of my yeasts. Jack keller recommended in his website to use fast yeasts like Montrachet and I think this is worth trying (and having better yeasts includes knowing their kind )

I have no actual recipe for watermelon/melom wine. I was just following a few other recipes that I have, taken some measurements (TA, SG, PH) and used an online calculator to figure out how much sugar & acids I need to add (in total) in order to have a certain residual sugar amount (I wanted a sweet wine).

I try to avoid adding metabisulphite before fermentation (to reduce the quantity of chemicals I add to my wine). Up until now I haven't had any spoilage of wine - maybe this was only luck.

As for the bad odor of "stuck" fermentation - I read a few books about wine making and they all mentioned a smell of sulfur or rotten eggs. I believe this is close to what I smelled earlier. Since fermentation almost came to a stop I assumed the smell meant one thing - stuck fermentation.

Thanks

 

[cpfan]

Question: did you use a wine yeast? or just let whatever wild yeasts are hanging around do their thing?

To determine stuck fermentation, we need to know sg (starting and current), temperature, and yeast.

Sulphite is very important to the preservation of your wine.

Steve

 

[PricklyPear]

Question: did you use a wine yeast? or just let whatever wild yeasts are hanging around do their thing?

To determine stuck fermentation, we need to know sg (starting and current), temperature, and yeast.

Sulphite is very important to the preservation of your wine.

Steve

Sorry for disappearing. I posted a reply a few days ago and just noticed that it was never actually published...

Anyway - I am using wine yeasts, just don't know what kind of yeasts exactly.
The fermentation is not stuck, it almost stopped but adding some sugar "revived" the yeasts. I will just give it some more days, and if it still smells I will discard it (it is not a big batch).

I think I might be doing something wrong in the overall process, I will post another thread about it soon.

 

[cpfan]

Anyway - I am using wine yeasts, just don't know what kind of yeasts exactly.

All of the wine yeasts that I have seen come in nice little well-labelled packets. EG Lalvin EC-1118 is a yeast from the Champagne region of France and has well known properties.

Steve

 

[PricklyPear]

All of the wine yeasts that I have seen come in nice little well-labelled packets. EG Lalvin EC-1118 is a yeast from the Champagne region of France and has well known properties.

Steve

Thanks.
I saw the EC-1118 in a number of websites. It appears in my shopping list...

 

[Wine Maker]

Are you adding any yeast nutrients? Yeast nutrients go a long way in helping to prevent HO2 (sulfer) odors that can result from a sluggish or stalled fermentation. I recommend Go Ferm and Fermaid additions. Go Ferm is added when you rehydrate the yeast. Fermaid is added when the sugar depletion during fermentation is about 1/3 through.

 

[PricklyPear]

Are you adding any yeast nutrients? Yeast nutrients go a long way in helping to prevent HO2 (sulfer) odors that can result from a sluggish or stalled fermentation. I recommend Go Ferm and Fermaid additions. Go Ferm is added when you rehydrate the yeast. Fermaid is added when the sugar depletion during fermentation is about 1/3 through.

I used only DAP.
Thanks for the tip.

 

[cpfan]

DAP is a yeast nutrient. Go Ferm and Fermaid are brand names, and are not readily available in Canada under their brand name. Not sure about the US.

Steve

 

[Wine Maker]

Steve, DAP (Diammonium Phophate) is a nutrient source as you stated. It can be used alone or with other nutrients. From what I have read, if using DAP with another nutrient it is best to use a nutrient without DAP as too much DAP is not a good thing. Fermaid does contain DAP.