Is It Ruined? Please Help

[mr_mustafabeast]

Ok, so I have some issues with my wine and im not sure what is causing them. i'll give as much detail as I can. First: It really stinks, my wife says it smells like sulfur/rotten eggs, really strong. Second: It's really Cloudy.

1. I used 21lbs. of strwberries and about 9 lbs of sugar to make my SG about 1.110/ 15%ABV Potential

2. I was using an open fermentation process in a metal (alluminum I think) Bucket.

3.I mashed the strwberries, added sugar, added Campden tablets let sit for 24 hrs.

4. The next day I added the yeast nutrient and yeast (Lalvin 71B-1122) I think, and let it take off and it was doing fine, I was pushing down the cap twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

5. On about the 5th day my wife said it stunk so badly that i needed to move it out of the house. So I strained off the fruit and moved it into the secondary where it sits now. It is still bubbling away and still smells bad, I dont know what to do and I hope it's not ruined as I have about $50 in the supplies.

6. It was fermenting in my garage for the first 3 days (about 80 degrees F) but I didn't think that would really matter, maybe I was wrong.

i can't really think of anymore details but if I left something out Please let me know. I REALLY want to save this batch.

Thanks in advance for all the help guys.

 

[saramc]

Have you dosed it with yeast nutrient?

As far as using an aluminum primary, personally I would not do that simply because I shudder to think about the potential aluminum levels in your wine & I was ALWAYS ALWAYS taught to never use aluminum with any fermentation process due to reactivity. I found this link, it may help you in regard to aluminum: http://www.winepress.us/forums/inde...ohol-and-aluminum-metal-reaction/page__st__15

 

[Rocky]

As Sara said, I would avoid aluminum at all costs. Use either a SS pot or a porcelain pot if you do not have a food grade plastic fermenter. What type of container is the wine in at present? At this point, because it is fermenting actively, I would splash rack it a few times back and forth between a couple of carboys. That should dissapate a lot of the H2S that you are detecting.

 

[mr_mustafabeast]

Awsome..... I just looked at the bucket that I fermnted it in. Aluminum... And its REALLY REALLY clean where the wine level was, which tells me that the acids in the wine reacted with the bucket and now it's probly ruined. Is there any possible way to save this???

 

[Rocky]

MM, it is likely that the wine reacted with whatever deposits were on the aluminum and not the aluminum itself. Did you try to splash rack the wine? If so, is the H2S smell going away? Don't dump the wine at this point or until you have exhausted all alternatives. I would first try to get the wine aroma and taste on track and worry about the rest later.

 

[saramc]

Attempt on finishing the wine and you could always take a sample for an aluminum analysis (they may even make a dipstick test that you can buy online) before consuming.