I am new and have gotten into a situation

[jetstar394]

Hello, my name is Mike. My wife and I moved into a new to us home and there is a plum tree that was "cute" now 50lbs of plums that made it inside have been mashed up by myself and are being used for wine. I hope. I have roughly 9 gallons going in 3 three gallon batches. One is a week ahead of the other two.

I had a recipe I found online and live very close to a more wine store. I went there bought some yeast wine nutriants and SO2. And like a good know it all I just dumped the SO2, 2 grams, and yeast(that needed hydration) into the mash. After a week I added 3 lbs of sugar and the yeast nutrients into the mix after I removed the mash. Then I put it into a 3 gallon carboy with a plastic s shaped airlock. Needless to say I was cleaning juice off my ceiling today. I have what's left in the original bucket and I cut a hole in the lid and put the air lock on it. The stuff is in my house and stays around 70-78 degrees. I would mix the the mash twice a day and only ever got small amounts of bubbles until the sugar and yeast additives.

My other issues/ questions

1. The mess that is now back in the bucket with the added airlock. It smells like rotten eggs. Is the gas safe? I have a 7 month old in the house.

2. Is that smell normal or should I be doing something?

3. I paid attention with my second two batches and rehydrated the yeast according to the package. How do I make sure I don't have the same mistakes/mess/smell?

Thank you for reading all that.

 

[Julie]

Welcome to WMT.

First off, you need to go get a hydrometer, take the lid off the primary and just lay it on and stir daily. If you are having a rotten egg smell I would probably splash rack that into another primary and see if that doesn't help the smell.

 

[sly22guy]

how large is your bucket? you should use a large enough bucket so that you have at least 5-6" of space from the top. No need for airlock for the first week or so. it will be throwing off enough gas that it wont be necessary. Like Julie said a hydrometer would be a wise investment.

 

[sour_grapes]

1. The mess that is now back in the bucket with the added airlock. It smells like rotten eggs. Is the gas safe? I have a 7 month old in the house.

2. Is that smell normal or should I be doing something?

3. I paid attention with my second two batches and rehydrated the yeast according to the package. How do I make sure I don't have the same mistakes/mess/smell?

Yeast produce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) when they do not have enough nutrients. You said you bought nutrients; however, it is not easy to know how much you should use. I would try adding some more.

As for safety, it is unlikely you are in danger, although H2S is, in fact, hazardous. The limit for exposure is 10 ppm, but the threshold for detection is "well below 1 ppm." You may find this link informative:

http://www.safetydirectory.com/hazardous_substances/hydrogen_sulfide/fact_sheet.htm

And, like Julie said, get yourself a hydrometer.

 

[Turock]

Yes, your practices are are somewhat off the rail. You should adjust your brix pre-ferment to get the potential alcohol you desire, take a PH reading of the must and adjust if necessary. The must receives the SO2 on the first day for biological control, then after you make your brix and PH adjustments, then pitch the yeast. When the yeast takes off, pitch 1/2 of the nutrient dose. The second half goes in at 50% sugar depletion. Yeast needs the nitrogen in nutrient for amino acid generation and when it can't find enough oxygen based amino acids, it goes after the sulfer based ones and generates H2S as a by product.

So now that you have a wine with H2S on it, you have to use a product called Reduless to get rid of it. Morewine sells it--follow the directions. You MUST deal with H2S as soon as you see it happening or else it will start generating mercaptans. Mercaptans will make the wine taste soapy.

 

[garymc]

I fixed a blackberry wine with that smell. I splash racked it back into the bucket and stirred it in the bucket with an 18" long piece of half inch copper pipe like your incoming water lines in your house are made of. I steel wooled and then cleaned the copper first.

 

[seth8530]

You should be careful about using copper. One is better off using a product like reduless to get the copper into the wine than a copper pipe. Hard to know how much copper is getting put into the wine that way......

 

[jetstar394]

Thank you for the replies. I wasn't able to do much just yet but to stir the mix. The rotten egg smell has gone. There is still some smell but it is not as bad as before. The mix has also lost about 3 inches of foam. It looks more like grape juice and when I stir it it foams up like a good beer. Is it better or should I go get some of the reduless? I moved to bucket into my garage where it gets warmer in the daytime than my house where I had it previously.

 

[Julie]

no you don't need the redulness, I was thinking when you first posted that you just need to stir the must. You have to get a hydrometer!!! No excuses!!! keep stirring daily and take a hydrometer reading, if your reading is down to 1.010 or lower, then you need to snap the lid down and add an airlock.

 

[sour_grapes]

The mix has also lost about 3 inches of foam. It looks more like grape juice and when I stir it it foams up like a good beer. Is it better or should I go get some of the reduless?

Yes, this is the normal progression. Sounds like you are on track. I don't think you need Reduless unless it becomes stinky again.

 

[Turock]

Even if you smell it to a small degree, you should treat with Reduless. Untreated H2S will always progress to the formation of mercaptans. Never use a piece of copper--you can get toxic amounts of copper into the wine. Reduless has only a nominal amount of copper to get the job done.

 

[jetstar394]

So follow up questions. The first batch is in the carboy and it appears the heavier items are settling to the bottom. It smells a lot more like alcohol and tastes like wine although bitter. I was out of town for a couple of days and I had my wife stir the other two batches I am making. I opened them this morning and they also smell odd. Not like rotten eggs but strong. Also they had formed a hard shell on the top of the mash. I haven't finished adding the sugar I need to or the last pack of yeast nutrient. I mixed the shell back down into the liquid. Is this OK? Should I add the rest of my sugar now? Thank you

 

[GeoS]

I would simply degas the wine using a whip and a power drill. This will drive off all of the H2S. I have done this successfully in the past.

Do not put copper metal in your wine. If the pH is low the high acidity will dissolve the copper into the wine which is not a good thing.

 

[GeoS]

Here's my basic process. Its not perfect and there are other ways but this has worked for me.

Wine Process

1) Mix ingredients per recipe, add sugar and check / record Specific Gravity (~1.080).
Add potassium metabisulfite 1\2 tsp for 6 gal, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme per instructions.
Check pH (research this as there are different pH for different wines, I shoot for 3.2) and let set for 24 to 48 hours.

2) Pitch yeast. Make a yeast starter using 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp must, 1 tps sugar. Let set for 20 to 30 min then and add to must.

3) Rack to carboy at SG=1.010 or lower. Fill up into the neck of the carboy and add airlock.

4) Ferment to dry, ~0.995. You cannot stop fermentation so check for 2 consistent readings over 2 to 3 days.

5) Rack to a clean carboy to get the wine off of the yeast and add oak as desired.

6) Patience young grasshopper! Let the wine sit for several months to a year. You can rack to a clean carboy periodically to get the wine off of the sediment.

7) Degas by using a whip and a power drill to drive off all CO2. You will need to remove some of the wine from the carboy. I place a towel around the bottom of the carboy or put it in a large tub. You I'll get foam, lots of it. This takes about 1/2 hour.
Add potassium metabisulfite or campton tablets per directions, add removed wine back into carboy top up to the neck of the carboy and add air lock if your going to age further.

8) after your patience has run out and your getting thirsty, clarify if needed, two weeks for sparkaloid

9) Sweeten to taste, add potassium sorbate. Potassium sorbate is to prevent future fermentation. Only add if you back sweeten.

11) Bottle and enjoy. If you bottle directly after adding the metabisulfite, see step 8, let set in bottles for a minimum of 1 week before drinking. Wait 1 week after adding sorbate before drinking as well.

(Initial SG - final SG) / final SG x 132.9 = %ABV

Where 1.05 is the number of grams of ethanol produced for every gram of CO2 produced, and 0.79 is the density of ethanol

1.05/0.79 * (initial SG - final SG)/Final SG * 100 = %ABV