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doc294

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I bottled my first batch. It's a suncal white zin. It looks more like a chardonnay than a white zin (more white than rose) but it is rather sweet. Only problem and I'm open to ANY solutions. I added sorbate and simple sugar solution to sweeten and I still have a HINT of rubber flavor. I know it is from the bung I have and I don't know what to do. Otherwise, most people can't taste it but I can so it's definitely tolerable. (My family took care of two bottles already and I bottled it lastnight.) Just wondering if there is a brand of bung I can use or what????
 
Get a silicone multi-fit bung for your carboys. It fits 3, 5, 6, and 6.5 gallon carboys.
 
I bought a universal bung for my carboy. I assumed it is compatable. What type do you have that caused some undesirable flavors?
 
I bottled my first batch. It's a suncal white zin. It looks more like a chardonnay than a white zin (more white than rose) but it is rather sweet. Only problem and I'm open to ANY solutions. I added sorbate and simple sugar solution to sweeten and I still have a HINT of rubber flavor. I know it is from the bung I have and I don't know what to do. Otherwise, most people can't taste it but I can so it's definitely tolerable. (My family took care of two bottles already and I bottled it lastnight.) Just wondering if there is a brand of bung I can use or what????

Congrats on your 1st batch !
I hope you have started the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. You see you just "LOST" 2 of the bottles. You WILL lose alot more as word spreads!
 
Was this a kit that came from a can? I made a pinot grigio a while back and it had a similar after taste. It came from a can of juice. I only made it cause someone gave it to me. I don't even remember the brand but Sun Cal sounds familiar for some reason. Also. you didn't ferment it or age it with the wine all the way to the stopper touching it did you?
 
It was a concentrate from a cam but I'm rather positive that it is from the bung. I will have to get the silicone multi fit bung. I wonder if they make silicone for 1 gal bottles.
 
Yeah, I have silicon bungs for one gallon batches. Unless the wine was up to the bung touching it though during fermentation I doubt that was your problem though. Even if it did I highly doubt it was your problem. I have pushed rubber stoppers down into the wine before and they stayed in there till fermentation was done and didn't get an off taste from them. rs as well. act

What might be happening here is an off flavor from sulfur from either a spoilage organism, yeast (normally only in an oaked wine) or exposure to light. While it could be from your bung, I have personally never had an off flavor from a rubber stopper. I have detect sulfur odors from canned ext
 
Yeah, I have silicon bungs for one gallon batches. Unless the wine was up to the bung touching it though during fermentation I doubt that was your problem though. Even if it did I highly doubt it was your problem. I have pushed rubber stoppers down into the wine before and they stayed in there till fermentation was done and didn't get an off taste from them. rs as well. act

What might be happening here is an off flavor from sulfur from either a spoilage organism, yeast (normally only in an oaked wine) or exposure to light. While it could be from your bung, I have personally never had an off flavor from a rubber stopper. I have detect sulfur odors from canned ext

It literally tasted like I had a rubber band in my mouth. It was in my basement so it couldn't have been light. I used a Red Star Yeast in my must...and I had practically sterile technique. Even the tubing I used was sterile (I got it from work...hospital).

I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out. I didn't realize how strong the odor from the bung was until I started looking for the source of the flavor (no odor coming from wine). Well, we'll see with my next batch(s). hee hee.
 
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Was this Montrachet yeast and did you add nutrient to this wine. Montrachet has a problem with low nutrient musts and usually will cause an off taste and smell in wines with low nutrients.
 
Was this Montrachet teast and did you add nutrient to this wine. Montrachet has a problem with low nutrient musts and usually will cause an off taste and smell in wines with low nutrients.

Yes, it was a Montrachet yeast...but I added nutrient to the wine. I measured pretty tightly as this was my first batch. Is it possible it ate up the nutrient and I could have added a 1/4 tsp more? I'm planning on starting up my next batch soon. i have probably 4 or 5 lbs of local blackraspberries and some strawberries and like 4 or 5 qt of blue berries. we'll have to see.
 
Stop right there. You didn't do anything wrong. I had the exact same problem. You probably have a bad bung. I bought one from the local winery and it ruined my whole batch. I ordered the exact same one from on-line and it was fine. Stick it to the end of your tongue and if it tastes like rubber bands pitch it! Get a good one and do the same test and you won't taste anything.
 
hi fellow buckeye...I think you're right. The bung tastes like rubberbands...it's GONE now.
 
I have never heard of this before. :?I am going right up and check all my bungs ha ha. :)I will deffinately check in the future though. I thought you had the level so high it was touching the bung. You got the taste without direct contact?? I have 2 old ones given to me from a friend who used to make wine. havent used them yet so will do the taste check lol.:s
Thanks, Steve:b
 
I did my primary in a 1 gallon jug. It was my first real attempt using an airlock. It bubbled up into the airlock a bit. So, I did have contact. The bung smelled like rubberbands. I remembered my hands tasting like rubber after taking the band off of the newspaper. So, I touched my tongue to it. Yuck! When I got my new one, I tried the same thing and no flavor. I have one bottle left (pitched the rest). I figure I'll try it after a few years and see if the rubber went away.
 
Mine never really "spent any time" up at the airlock or bung but it bubbled up there a couple times with stirring.

The other problem that I KNOW that I have is the wine already has an off taste because it was a canned concentrate. So it has that tinny/steel can taste/smell to it. It's still not bad for my 1st batch ever.

I concluded that it was the bung (in addition to the steel taste) because I have a #6 for my 1 gallon bottle and I smelled/tasted it versus my #7 and WOW!!! My #7 tasted like the old rubber bands they use to wrap the newspaper with....and that bung had NEVER been used before. :? it had me stumped for a while.
 

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