Dump or keep Raspberry wine smelling of petrol

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

leolaquitzon

Junior
Joined
Jul 24, 2022
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Location
New York
Dump or keep . Had some really warm weather and this Raspberry wine fermented dry in primary in four days as I wasn't keeping tabs on it. Starting SG was quite low at 62. Smells of petrol. Racked it off the lees and tried getting a bit of air into it. Acidity is pH 3.43. Don't know whether to persevere or bail. Thanks
 
First of all welcome to Wine Making Talk.

“petroleum” ,,, from what you said you had a fast/ warm ferment. The likely outcome is that yeast were stressed and produced H2S. I would describe this as sewer smell not petroleum, ,, with time H2S further reacts producing mercaptans which can not be pulled out, ,,, in the vinters club mercaptans are described as fried chicken or sometimes skunk.
if you like technical the AWRI has a you tube on the chemistry called “Stinky Sulfur”

Do you have a neighbor who cooks who can taste and give more descriptors of the flavor?

For sulfur compounds, ,,,,( ignore this if the neighbor doesn’t say sewer/ stinky sulfur)
1) air/ splash rack to pull the sulfur out of a young wine
next 2) a little bit older wine treat with ascorbic acid followed by Reduless (copper containing yeast) and in two days rack off the yeast
finally on a six month old 3) if you are dealing with mercaptans/ bitter flavor notes meaty aromatics and no fruity aroma look for some college kids, ,,, I had a white wine at the vinters club and the UW members thought it would be wonderful with chocolate. ,,,, That said, we have food industry tricks called masking flavors. A guess on my part is cocoa nibs would complement mercaptans in a raspberry.

In the future: A hot ferment can be put in a water tank/ kiddie pool with ice to chill or have wet towels on the surface with a fan blowing. High levels of organic yeast nitrogen help (Fermaid O > K). Finally a Renaisance sells yeast which have genetic modifications so they can’t do that pathway.
 
Do you mean your starting SG was 1.062? If so, the approx ABV of 7% is not optimal for preservation. Usually 9-10% is needed. Acetobacter are happy at 6%.

How does it taste?

Also, time does amazing and wonderful things to wine. Usually.
 
Let me treat your description seriously. It smells of petrol? Did you forage these berries? Near a roadside? Could they have been contaminated with petrol? If the wine really smells of petrol and not hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs or sewer gas) this is one case where I would dump the wine. If Rice_Guy is right (and he is far more right than not) and the smell is sulfur-like, as he suggests, there are relatively easy ways to remove the H2S.
 
I am firmly in the NOT DUMP camp. Its just too early to know if there is a fault. The alc level is certainly a potential risk as BigDaveK said, but not a deal breaker (definitely want to be very careful with this wine if the alcohol is that low). I've only dumped 1 wine in 13 years, and that was absolutely infected by flies. Some that were "iffy" in the beginning have been mediocre and others have become our favorites after a year or 3.
 
This winemaker magazine fits under a petroleum smell/ high temp ferment. They discuss fusel alcohols ( high molecular weight ) , , , My approach still is that taste dominates the direction to go, some of this leads to your skill/ are you a super taster who correctly named the type of the molecule present.
https://winemakermag.com/article/th...-65492901&mc_cid=94da51e9de&mc_eid=c8905fbf82
Dump or keep . Had some really warm weather and this Raspberry wine fermented dry in primary in four days as I wasn't keeping tabs on it. Starting SG was quite low at 62. Smells of petrol.
 
Aged Riesling smells a bit like petrol ,but tastes good. With luck your Raspberry may do the same. You've got nothing to lose by aging it. Put it to the back of the cupboard and forget about it for a while, if there's enough ABV it may turn out fine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top