Infection?

[JPVagabond]

Yesterday I started a gallon of elderberry wine (kit).

This afternoon it smelled pretty good, fermentation was quite vigorous and I was hopeful. But not 4 hours later and it's kicking out a bit of tang. Quite sour. But not awful.

Does this sound normal? I've only made "true" wine once before (another kit), mostly dealing with ciders, perrys and meads (kitless). So it's not something I'm that famiar with. I've not smelled it with wine before, not meads. But I have with cider. But quite a tart batch.

It looks fine. It's got a sizeable krausen currently, and had bubbled over. I sanitised the airlock before replacing, as I did with all my equipment before starting.

Essentially what I'm asking is... at only two days in would an infection be so evident as to create this aroma. And to a lesser extent would an infection at this early (or any) stage be likely to give aromatic but no visual sign of a problem.

Or does the smell change this quickly and is this just it's natural progression.

Thanks all

 

[Johnd]

Yesterday I started a gallon of elderberry wine (kit).

This afternoon it smelled pretty good, fermentation was quite vigorous and I was hopeful. But not 4 hours later and it's kicking out a bit of tang. Quite sour. But not awful.

Does this sound normal? I've only made "true" wine once before (another kit), mostly dealing with ciders, perrys and meads (kitless). So it's not something I'm that famiar with. I've not smelled it with wine before, not meads. But I have with cider. But quite a tart batch.

It looks fine. It's got a sizeable krausen currently, and had bubbled over. I sanitised the airlock before replacing, as I did with all my equipment before starting.

Essentially what I'm asking is... at only two days in would an infection be so evident as to create this aroma. And to a lesser extent would an infection at this early (or any) stage be likely to give aromatic but no visual sign of a problem.

Or does the smell change this quickly and is this just it's natural progression.

Thanks all

I've never fermented elderberries, but have done other fruits and tons of grapes. Fermenting fruit, in my experience, is never a wonderful smelling / tasting liquid all of the time. It can be downright funky tasting and smelling at different times. Once your fermentation is underway in a vessel protected from dust, debris, and flying critters, your wine is pretty safe with it's little CO2 production gig going on.

 

[cmason1957]

I've done elderberries a few times and it almost always has a bit of a odor to it. And you often get the dreaded green goo. The way to get rid of the green goo is using vegetable oil, then soap and water. I doubt it is infected quite this quickly.

 

[mikewatkins727]

Once made garlic wine for cooking purposes; house smelled like a garbage dump. Was asked NOT to make it again. Other wines smelly but not that bad.