"Yeasty" Aftertaste

[nickweg]

Hello!

I just bottled my first batch of strawberry wine. I'm happy with the color, smell and initial taste of the wine. However, the aftertaste is less than desirable. It tastes "yeasty" if that makes since. I was hoping for a crisp, clean aftertaste. I'm getting ready to go pick strawberries this week and make another batch. Is there anything different I can do this go around to make sure my wine doesn't taste like yeast?

Maybe I left it on the lees too long? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[sour_grapes]

Well, perhaps it may help if you post your procedure/recipe.

 

[nickweg]

Paul,

I made a 5 gallon batch the first go around. I hand crushed 18 pounds of strawberries inside of a mesh bag that was placed in the primary fermenter. I then added water and sugar. I added the so2 and waited 24 hours. I then added pectin and pitched the yeast. After about 5 days the SG was just below 1.00 so I moved the wine to start the secondary fermentation. I feel like during this step there was a ton of pulp in the wine and the lees were 3-4 inches tall in the carboy pretty quickly. I let the wine sit until the SG remained the same for 3 days and then racked. This sat for 3 weeks and I racked again. I racked again 2 months later and 1 more time 2 months after that. The wine was clear at this point so I back sweetened a little bit, added stabilizer and bottled.

I followed the directions I used very closely. I'm not really sure what to do about the aftertaste. I sterilized all my equipment every time it touched the wine. Any help or ideas would be appreciated!!

I think for starters this round I won't use any water and only use juice. I'm not sure if that will help or not though.

 

[JohnT]

It looks like you have a good procedure here. The only advice I would give is to bulk age you wine for perhaps 4 or 5 more months. Some of that yeast aftertaste may "age out".

You do not mention what type/strain of yeast you are using. Changing your yeast could also help.

 

[Turock]

Did you use nutrient?

Another issue is bottling too soon. Strawberry should be bulk aged for 1 year. A wine that is 4 months old is still "green" and it will taste like it.

 

[nickweg]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll post what kind of yeast I used tonight. I'm at work and don't know what it is right off hand.

I did not use nutrient. Just out of curiosity, why should I use nutrient this go around? Fermentation never stalled that I could tell. Is there another reason to use nutrient? If you couldn't tell I'm as green as my wine right now

 

[blackspanish777]

I am curious if this will age out of some of the wine I have going right now as well. My dragon blood and skeeter pee have a slight yeasty tone to them as well.

 

[JohnT]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll post what kind of yeast I used tonight. I'm at work and don't know what it is right off hand.

I did not use nutrient. Just out of curiosity, why should I use nutrient this go around? Fermentation never stalled that I could tell. Is there another reason to use nutrient? If you couldn't tell I'm as green as my wine right now

Just for starters, you reduce the chance of both a stalled fermentation and H2S issues (rotten egg and other off odors). The presence of nutrients makes for a less stressed yeast and that will also prevent a variety of issues.

 

[BernardSmith]

I also wonder if the yeasty taste is simply because of the age of the wine. I agree with Turock and JohnT. You say that you racked several times but it is very likely that there is still a great deal of yeast in the wine you bottled. How clear is the wine? It should be as clear as glass before you bottle. One trick you might try is to put a bottle in your refrigerator. Let it stand in there a week or so and then look to see how much (if any) sediment has precipitated and fallen to the bottom. You are looking for sediment not crystals. If the cold temperature forces yeast out of suspension and drop to the bottom of the bottle then you bottled your wine a wee bit early.

 

[Turock]

The most important component of nutrient is nitrogen. The yeast uses this nitrogen as food in order to reproduce and without it can become stressed producing a sluggish or stuck ferment and/or H2S. When yeast is healthy they have fewer problems and produce a wine with better profiles. Nutrient also improves clearing because of higher levels of natural enzymes, and the nitrogen increases the yeast's tolerance to alcohol.

The bare minimum level of fermentable nitrogen needed for fermentation is 140 mg/liter. So the only reason you were successful with the fermentation was just luck because you were using a must that probably had a good initial YAN (yeast assimiliable nitrogen) that may have been quite high. Doing a ferment without nutrient is very risky because most yeast will run out of any nitrogen naturally occuring in the fruit before it can complete the ferment. And some fruit and grapes are very low on YAN and the only way to get them to ferment is with a very good nutrient program using nutrients with organic nitrogen as oppossed to all inorganic nitrogen such as DAP. Meads are also troublesome without a good protocol because they are VERY low in YAN. ALWAYS,ALWAYS,ALWAYS use nutrient!!!!!!!!!

Next thing you need to know is that you MUST step-feed nutrient. Don't toss the whole dose in at the beginning of the ferment!!! If you are using a DAP nutrient, which is regular yeast nutrient, you figure how much you need for how many gallons of wine you are making. Normal dose is 1 tsp per gallon. Then you divide the dose in half. The first dose goes in when the yeast takes off and has become active. The second dose at 50% sugar depletion.

I'll be willing to bet that the lack of nutrient is why your wine has a yeasty taste.

 

[NorCal]

Turlock, very informative, thank you! It is one thing to post what to do, it really helps explains why it us done, so thank you! How about yeast "energizer". Any benefit using that as well to avoid yeast problems later?

 

[berrycrush]

It happened to mine. Don't worry, the yeast flavor eventually disappears a year after bottling.

 

[Turock]

NorCal--The biggest use of energizer that I've ever read is when you are fermenting vegetables. To be honest with you, we don't use it. We just use a good nutrient program with our ferments and never have issues.

This is the reason I stay on this site--to explain WHY you're doing WHAT you're doing. I was trained in the medical profession--writing case studies where you couldn't make blanket statements without explaining WHY a certain situation was happening. So I've always written this way from that time on. I really try to explain things well so that all of you can become more knowledgable about what you are doing and why you are doing it.

 

[nickweg]

Turock and JohnT,

Thanks for all the great information. Especially the info on yeast nutrient. I will def be using some going forward. I used Montrachet yeast that came with a starter kit I bought awhile back. Is there a different yeast I should be using? Any suggestions would be great!

The wine is super clear in my opinion (doesn't carry much weight ) I have had a few bottles in the fridge for a few weeks now and not sediment has dropped out. I wonder if I just need to let it age and see if that helps out.

From what I have learned so far I'm going to do the following different this go around:

1. Use yeast nutrient as per Turock's suggestion
2. Rack the wine a little more frequently and let it bulk age for quite a bit longer before bottling
3. Use a lot more fruit in the must and try not to add much if any water to it
4. I'm also going to try to keep as much pulp out of the carboy as possible with I move the wine from primary to secondary fermentation

Anything else anyone can think of?

Thanks again for all the help everyone! I have learned a great deal and hope to keep improving over time.

 

[Turock]

Well, Montrachet is a very good yeast for fruit--it's our favorite culture for many ferments. HOWEVER---it is one of those cultures that MUST have a good nutrient program because it produces a boatload of H2S when stressed. This is another point that is important for new winemakers to know--research your cultures. Be sure you know what they need for a successful ferment. There are many cultures that need some special considerations. And some you would not use if you're going to be doing an MLF.

Bulk aging of wine is very important. There are many changes that take place at that time. Don't be in a hurry to bottle. Let your strawberry sit in a carboy undisturbed, except for necessary rackings. Once you only have a fine dusting of lees in the bottom, don't rack anymore. Do not rack on a schedule--rack when needed only. Every time you open the airlock and play around with the wine, the more O2 gets into the wine.

SO2 dosing at proper levels so that you have enough free SO2. It is wise to test for free SO2. Only the free SO2 protects the wine--not the bound SO2.

Bag your fruit--you'll see how much cleaner the wine is when you siphon it out of the vat. Most fruit wines should have no water additions. Try to use something around 10# of fruit per gallon.

PH control is needed on most fruit. Buy a good PH meter. Always have acid blend and calcium carbonate on hand for PH adjustment. PH is also needed to know how much to sulfite a wine for free SO2.

As always, it's best to ask for help before you start a ferment if you feel you need it.

 

[user 31015]

My acid blend has a note on the instructions "not to be used to adjust the pH in wine." It's main suggested purpose seems to be as a post-cleaning rinse????

 

[nickweg]

Thanks again for all the great info. I just picked the strawberries today. I plan on freezing them before crushing them. Do recommend freezing with or without stems? Does it matter?

 

[Xandra]

NorCal--The biggest use of energizer that I've ever read is when you are fermenting vegetables. To be honest with you, we don't use it. We just use a good nutrient program with our ferments and never have issues.

This is the reason I stay on this site--to explain WHY you're doing WHAT you're doing. I was trained in the medical profession--writing case studies where you couldn't make blanket statements without explaining WHY a certain situation was happening. So I've always written this way from that time on. I really try to explain things well so that all of you can become more knowledgable about what you are doing and why you are doing it.

And Kudos to you, because the why's and how's of things promote our understandings of the what's and when's of things. Thank you very much for your consistent explanations, you've no idea of the value you add to our learning!!

 

[JohnT]

My acid blend has a note on the instructions "not to be used to adjust the pH in wine." It's main suggested purpose seems to be as a post-cleaning rinse????

This is probably citric acid which I know some use to clean barrels. At any rate, I would heed the warning. I normally use tartaric acid (naturally occurring in grapes) to adjust my PH.

 

[JohnT]

Well, Montrachet is a very good yeast for fruit--it's our favorite culture for many ferments. HOWEVER---it is one of those cultures that MUST have a good nutrient program because it produces a boatload of H2S when stressed. This is another point that is important for new winemakers to know--research your cultures. Be sure you know what they need for a successful ferment. There are many cultures that need some special considerations. And some you would not use if you're going to be doing an MLF.

+ 1 on what Turock said...

I do not use Montrachet simply because it produces a boat load of H2S when stressed, and this yeast is easily stressed.

What yeast should you use? well that all depends on what you are making. Yeast does more than simply ferment sugar. A wide variety of flavor profiles stem from the strain of yeast you use.

Here is a good link that may help you...

http://www.lalvinyeast.com/strains.asp