Chardonnay help

I have a Chardonnay that I have been aging for almost a year. It was in a demijohn and 3 gallon Carboys. I have since racked into 5 and 6 gallon carboys.

I used d47 yeast
Enforerm Malo

Ph is 3.16
Acid .61

The wine has the taste of plastic. I am using food grade containers and haven't had the problem before. The only idea I can think of is the wine was in contact with the Bung? If hate the bump out 18 gallons. Any suggestions?

Is it a newer bung? Silicone? Rubber?

Newer within the last couple of years. It's rubber

havlikn said:

I have a Chardonnay that I have been aging for almost a year. It was in a demijohn and 3 gallon Carboys. I have since racked into 5 and 6 gallon carboys.

I used d47 yeast
Enforerm Malo

Ph is 3.16
Acid .61

The wine has the taste of plastic. I am using food grade containers and haven't had the problem before. The only idea I can think of is the wine was in contact with the Bung? If hate the bump out 18 gallons. Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Plastic? Could you describe the taste in more detail?

Also, do you have more specifics on how the chardonnay was made? Yeast Nutrients that you used and the amount? Did you use sorbate? Any other additives and the amounts used would be helpful.

I doubt that this is a container issue.

I used dap 33 g at sg 1090
25 g at 1056

I have not added sorbate.

The wine tastes rubbery. It's not overly rubbery but is noticeable

havlikn said:

I used dap 33 g at sg 1090
25 g at 1056

I have not added sorbate.

The wine tastes rubbery. It's not overly rubbery but is noticeable

Click to expand...

What kind of racking hose do you use for your transfers?

Standard clear hose. Same I've used on other batches. May it just be that it needs more time?

havlikn said:

Standard clear hose. Same I've used on other batches. May it just be that it needs more time?

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Just wanted to make sure it was a food grade hose, I think we're all just trying to eliminate variables.

Thanks. I'm at wits end. It's the same process I've always done. That's why I'm thinking more time? Or do you think my additions were off?

havlikn said:

Thanks. I'm at wits end. It's the same process I've always done. That's why I'm thinking more time? Or do you think my additions were off?

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Looks like you used 58g of DAP, but I don't know what exact product that was or the recommended dose. FermaidK is 1g / gallon, which would have been 18 g divided into two 9 g doses, so that appears pretty heavy if it were Fermaid K. Do you know the dosage recs for your product?

I'd be very surprised if it came from the hardware. More likely something biological. Does it smell plastic also? What happens if you let say 200ml sit and breath overnight or so? For me, unless I need the storage I always try to give more time. If it goes away with breathing you can bottle with that instruction or try racking. Air isn't good for a white but if that saves it from dumping......

If the wine has been aging for a year, when did you first notice the off taste? The first thing that comes to mind is a sulfur off odor, common with Chardonnay, which may or may not be related to the use of DAP alone. A bench trial using Reduless, copper sulfate, or ascorbic acid followed by copper sulfate, can be used to determine if the issue is related to sulfur. There are kits with instructions that describe how to conduct the trial.

http://www.gusmerenterprises.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Sulfide-Detection-Kit-Instructions1.pdf

You say you used food grade containers. What do you mean? If any plastic was used, you must make certain it's safe for wine - not just food. The distinction is that alcohol and/or
acid in wine can soften some plastics.

It doesn't necessarily smell off, just the taste. I think I will try racking or degassing with my wand to release anything that is trapped. The fermentation was done in gray brute containers.

I believe that the recommended dose is between .5 and .75 grams per gallon (DAP).

Is it possible that you added too much??

at 58 grams, you added enough nutrient for between 77 and 108 gallons. If you made just a single standard 54 liter Demijohn, that would be 13.9 gallons.

Could be that too much nutrient is your culprit. I have encountered this problem before where nutrient overdose caused a "medicine / plastic" taste/smell.

Sounds like that could be my problem. Did you remedy it?

This happened when I has actually two wines that had major faults.

One wine had a "stuck" fermentation. Actually, the brix was too high and I miscalculated the amount of dilution I needed. The other wine, I had factored the nutrients for a 500 liter tank on a 300 liter batch. I ended up combining the two.

Blending reduced the ABV and allowed fermentation to kick back off again. The wine did ferment dry. Blending also seems to have diluted the nutrient while the fermentation worked to reduce(consume) some of the nutient.

In the end, I did end up with a wine that was very drinkable.