What in the world is this?

[DrStrangeLove]

I racked my wine yesterday (2 x 3 Gallon) and found this bizarre looking formation at the bottom of the each one. I don't even know what to call it so searching for answers is difficult

Anyhow I recently treated the wine for sulfide smell problem with Reduless. This was definitely NOT in there before. They are hard like rocks but brittle enough to break apart and under sunlight or a strong light they do appear sparkly.. you can probably see that in the photo. Anyone know what this is?

 

[crushday]

When you added the Reduless, did you mix it according to the instructions? It's the color of the Reduless powder and maybe you added it to the must without reconstituting and it clumped together and sank to the bottom?

 

[DrStrangeLove]

When you added the Reduless, did you mix it according to the instructions? It's the color of the Reduless powder and maybe you added it to the must without reconstituting and it clumped together and sank to the bottom?

Oh yeah i mixed it in quite vigorously. That would suck if it just clumped up and sank to the bottom. I dissolved it first in some water and poured it in while stirring. This isn't must -- I'm past that stage. So here's what happened. I went through the first stage of fermentation, there was no problem, no smell, actually smelled great and tasted pretty good too. This problem with the H2S smell started after i put the fermented juice into the carboys and airlocked it. Something happened between then and the first time I popped it open about 3 weeks later. Smelled awful (rotten egg).. hence the Reduless. So that was when i added the Reduless which I am currently contending with now. It seems to be working but not as much as I would like. The smell is still there and I think I'm going to have to dose it again. But these rock-like formations appears in the 3 days or so i let the reduless do its work. Also, I would stir the wine 2-3 times a day as per instuctions. The total mass of these rocks dwarfs the amount of reduless I put into the wine by orders of magnitude anyway. It can't be just that. At least that's my reasoning...

 

[crushday]

Hmmm... Like you, I'm for sure stumped. As you know, Reduless is made from copper infused, inactive yeast cells and other proprietary compounds as part of Lallemand's manufacture process. Assuming a red wine, your mystery clumps are not made up from lees (gross or fine) for those would be pigmented as part of the fermentations. In other words, if a combination of lees, it would be purple. However, is it a white wine?

If a red wine, given the color, I'm relatively certain the Reduless is part of the answer. However, the volume of the mystery clump accentuates the mystery. Perhaps bentonite is a compound in Reduless, which expands. But, that would pick up pigment and not explain rigidity of the mystery clump.

Anyone else?

 

[Mosiemoe]

I’m a newbie to wine making. I have only made one batch of undrinkable stuff from a kit of Malbec. It also smelled like rotten eggs. My thoughts... the yeast did not have enough nutrients to survive, so the majority of the yeast is sitting in your wine dead.

I’m just guessing, but maybe what your “rocks” are, is a combination of residual dead yeast as well as the inactive yeast and other byproducts in the reduless??? Just an amateur’s thought.

 

[DrStrangeLove]

I’m a newbie to wine making. I have only made one batch of undrinkable stuff from a kit of Malbec. It also smelled like rotten eggs. My thoughts... the yeast did not have enough nutrients to survive, so the majority of the yeast is sitting in your wine dead.

I’m just guessing, but maybe what your “rocks” are, is a combination of residual dead yeast as well as the inactive yeast and other byproducts in the reduless??? Just an amateur’s thought.

Well.. After primary, after mixing the rest of juice from the mash after putting it through the press, it smelled and tasted just fine. Sometime between the first bottling up into the carboy and three weeks later it developed this problem. I do think it came from a lack of nutrient but I don't think the majority of the yeast died in the process simply by the level of alcohol present now which is comparable to a typical wine. The smell has subsided noticeably. I'm going to treat it once more with Reduless and then pray.

 

[4score]

Well.. After primary, after mixing the rest of juice from the mash after putting it through the press, it smelled and tasted just fine. Sometime between the first bottling up into the carboy and three weeks later it developed this problem. I do think it came from a lack of nutrient but I don't think the majority of the yeast died in the process simply by the level of alcohol present now which is comparable to a typical wine. The smell has subsided noticeably. I'm going to treat it once more with Reduless and then pray.

I would give it an energetic splash-racking. I've had marginal results with Redulees. Splash racking was actually more effective. Real hard-core H2S required copper sulfate (carefully bench trialed and applied).

We eventually started using Avante yeast - it is engineered NOT to produce H2S.

Good luck!

 

[DrStrangeLove]

I just went downstairs and opened up the carboy to give it a whiff.. Pleasantly surprised, the smell is nearly gone. I used 1/4 teaspoon dissolved in clean RO water in each 3 gallon carboy the first time around. The results were strange as the picture above shows but it appears to be working as expected. I just gave it another dose with a good stir. I think after this round this problem will be gone.

Thanks to everyone for the help here! Much appreciated!! Lots of lessons learned. Next time around I won't be winging so much of this process. I had no idea about nutrients for the yeast or anything of that nature-- anyhow, thanks again. I'll keep posting on the progress..hopefully we saved my wine!

 

[Mosiemoe]

I hope it works out and look forward to your post of the final result. Thank you for posting about this problem. I’m learning from your experience. You have inspired me to keep working and wining.

 

[DrStrangeLove]

I hope it works out and look forward to your post of the final result. Thank you for posting about this problem. I’m learning from your experience. You have inspired me to keep working and wining.

I have another post with more information on this whole experience titled: "First time winemaking - typical rotten egg problem" -- Just documenting this whole thing.

But yeah I'll keep updating on the results. I'm much more hopeful now than I was before. One other thing I did the several days ago which seemed to speed up the recovery (but I can't be sure about that because there's no control) -- I put my carboys outside overnight in the cold..

 

[gsf77]

I have another post with more information on this whole experience titled: "First time winemaking - typical rotten egg problem" -- Just documenting this whole thing.

But yeah I'll keep updating on the results. I'm much more hopeful now than I was before. One other thing I did the several days ago which seemed to speed up the recovery (but I can't be sure about that because there's no control) -- I put my carboys outside overnight in the cold..

How cool was cool? Interested in hearing the replys of the veteran wine makers. I can see it clearing better but would that speed up things toward bottling?

 

[Cellar Vader]

Also, I would stir the wine 2-3 times a day as per instuctions.

@DrStrangeLove This part of your post got me to wondering if I should be stirring my carboy each day for the prescribed 72 hours, but in re-reading Lallemands instructions it doesn’t specify. So mine is resting on day 2 right now. My WE OVZ developed a slight odor at the end of fermentation. For you veterans out there: could it be that since the OPs fine lees were continued to be suspended, could there have been a positive/negative ion situation going on that caused the clumps? This is very curious to me.