Yesterday took a reading for my pinot noir rose and the sg was 1.000 and smelled great. Today I do another reading and huge smell of hydrogen sulfide (Rotten eggs). I'm at the end of fermentation (one more day or two) so should I add some yeast nutrient or get it off the dead yeast? This smell happened over night so not sure what caused it. Any takers?
Bad News Hydrogen Sulfide
- Thread starter rebusify
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
myself which could be very wrong, I'd rack off the gross lees airlock it and let it degas over time, patience is your best ingredient,
Dawg
Dawg
Splash and vacuum rack. You can likely still save this. More yeast is not needed.
So here is another plug for non-H2S producing yeast. Use Avante or Muse and it takes H2S off the table. It's almost hard not to use for a home winemaker.
So here is another plug for non-H2S producing yeast. Use Avante or Muse and it takes H2S off the table. It's almost hard not to use for a home winemaker.
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2011
- Messages
- 6,097
- Reaction score
- 10,790
One thing I read somewhere that the non-H2S producing yeasts seem to mute the nose of the wines. I can't say I know it for a fact, but maybe women's who has used them
Last edited:
rack off of dead lees now!!
user 36973
owner, winemaker
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2017
- Messages
- 706
- Reaction score
- 534
It is not the lees that are making the H2S. The yeast is stressed from lack of nutrients.
The prevention to this was to add DAP about 2 days ago. It's risky to add nutrients now because they may not get fully used and will only feed bacteria and cause spoilage.
I suggest you rack the wine as a way of introducing a limited amount of oxygen into the wine so the yeast can finish the fermentation. This gets it off the lees but again the lees are not the problem.
The "no H2S" yeasts just produce less H2S than other yeast strains. They do not make up for the winemaker allowing stressful conditions like insufficient nutrients or improperly high fermentation temperature.
The prevention to this was to add DAP about 2 days ago. It's risky to add nutrients now because they may not get fully used and will only feed bacteria and cause spoilage.
I suggest you rack the wine as a way of introducing a limited amount of oxygen into the wine so the yeast can finish the fermentation. This gets it off the lees but again the lees are not the problem.
The "no H2S" yeasts just produce less H2S than other yeast strains. They do not make up for the winemaker allowing stressful conditions like insufficient nutrients or improperly high fermentation temperature.
Prairie Vino
Junior
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2019
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 3
jgmillr1, so if the correct action was to add nutrients a couple of days ago, what are the signs that your yeast is under stress before producing H2S?
PrairieVino
PrairieVino
user 36973
owner, winemaker
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2017
- Messages
- 706
- Reaction score
- 534
It is possible to measure the YAN of the must and add sufficient nutrients to make up for deficiencies. However, this requires either an expensive spectrophotometer, lab analysis or using hazardous formaldehyde. So most people will proactively add half at the 1/3 point and the other half at the 2/3 point.
Different varietals and growing conditions will produce different levels of YAN at crush.
The nutrient needs also depend on the yeast strains. Rc212 is hungry while others not so much. Some yeast will just stop fermenting and stick. Others will produce H2S as they get stressed.
If you still note the H2S aroma later, you can treat it with copper sulfate. Follow the directions to not overdose it!
Different varietals and growing conditions will produce different levels of YAN at crush.
The nutrient needs also depend on the yeast strains. Rc212 is hungry while others not so much. Some yeast will just stop fermenting and stick. Others will produce H2S as they get stressed.
If you still note the H2S aroma later, you can treat it with copper sulfate. Follow the directions to not overdose it!
Last edited:
