Newbie to Home Winemaking- Rotten Egg Smell?

[CAP91]

Hey Folks,

Just started my first batch of strawberry wine a little over 3 weeks ago.
Goal was to do a 5- gallon batch that would be quite tasty to drink, but we all know that the first time you do something ain't gonna come out pleasant.
Enjoying the process, I come home from work everyday like a little kid with his first pet friend. I check the brix and the pH everyday. The temp has been fluctuating immensely this fall so been placing it all over my house.

Just moved into a new space, so getting to know the ins and outs of the space.

Been keeping a log of the change and noticed this rotten egg smell these past few days.
Is this normal or should I be heavily concerned about this?

Wine-In & Smilin,

Christian

 

[tradowsk]

Welcome to the hobby!

Do you get a strong rotten egg smell or just a funky smell that kinda reminds you of rotten egg? I ask because there is a "fermentation funk" that you get that is normal. But a stronger distinctly rotten egg smell is indicative of stressed yeast and something that should be addressed asap. If it is indeed rotten egg, make sure your temperate is within the yeasts preferred range, add some nutrient (FermaidO), and give it a good sloshing to try and get the sulphur out of there.

Is your must just strawberries and water? What is your OG and current SG? Any idea of the current temperature of the must?

 

[sjjan]

Would you advise in such cases to do the sloshing while the strawberry wine is still fermenting? Or would you wait until the fermenting is over? I smelled a distressed fermentation at a wine farm nearby (the wine farmer called me so I could smell it). He added some more nutrients and the smell went away. The nutrients (Nutrivit) were added in the beginning part of the fermentation process.

 

[jimballs]

Following

 

[cmason1957]

What to do to fix the problem depends on where you are in the fermentation process. I would be surprised that at three weeks in you are still fermenting, you could be, if you temperature is low. Do you have a hydrometer and know how to read it?? That is the way to tell what is going on. More than likely, you have completed fermentation and the wine has been sitting on the lees (stuff at the bottom, dead yeast cells) and picked up off odors from that. But with the limited information you have given us, that is just a guess.

 

[sjjan]

What to do to fix the problem depends on where you are in the fermentation process. I would be surprised that at three weeks in you are still fermenting, you could be, if you temperature is low. Do you have a hydrometer and know how to read it?? That is the way to tell what is going on. More than likely, you have completed fermentation and the wine has been sitting on the lees (stuff at the bottom, dead yeast cells) and picked up off odors from that. But with the limited information you have given us, that is just a guess.

With wine sitting on the lees at the bottom of the tank and a floating lid to seal off the tank, how long would you let it sit there before moving the wine to another tank and/or adding sulphite and Lysozym to it? Some suggest to wait for the mannoproteins to do their work. Any other suggestions? How far above the surface of the wine would you “hang” the floating lid? (a) right on top of the wine or (b) about an inch above it to offer the remaining CO2 a way out (throught the waterlock in the floating lid).? Any tips appreciated. I assume it is the same for strawberry wine as for other wine. If you prefer, I can place this question on another thread.

 

[cmason1957]

With wine sitting on the lees at the bottom of the tank and a floating lid to seal off the tank, how long would you let it sit there before moving the wine to another tank and/or adding sulphite and Lysozym to it? Some suggest to wait for the mannoproteins to do their work. Any other suggestions?

My general process and timeline is ferment for about 7 days, when SG is at or below 1.010 rack to carboy (or contained vessel). Let finish fermentation under airlock, about 3-5 days after fermentation completes as evidenced by sg not changing, rack off lees. rack every 3-6 months, whether it needs it or not, keeping an eye on SO2 levels. So the answer to this first part is 3-5 days.

How far above the surface of the wine would you “hang” the floating lid? (a) right on top of the wine or (b) about an inch above it to offer the remaining CO2 a way out (throught the waterlock in the floating lid).? Any tips appreciated. I assume it is the same for strawberry wine as for other wine. If you prefer, I can place this question on another thread.

I don't have anything with a floating lid, but I have helped out at a local winery quite a bit and am familiar enough with them to answer this, at least what they do. The floating lid floats on the liquid as in as little gap there as possible. What we do is partially inflate the gasket, set it on the wine, pressurize it up. The idea being to minimize the amount of wine that air (oxygen) can interact with.

Based on these questions, I am assuming that your wine has completed fermentation and now smells bad. The fix for wine at this stage is copper, you are probably to far along to add more nutrients and help. There are two recommended ways to add copper and a third that has been done in the past. The two recommended ways are a product called Reduless and Bench trials of CuSo4 (Copper Sulfate). Reduless is an add the proper amount, follow the directions and hopefully it will fix it. CuSo4 is a do bench trials to determine the minimum amount you can use to remove the smell. There are directions to follow for either method.

The third old time way is to rack your wine through copper or introduce copper to your wine, The problem with this method is you may (probably will) introduce a much higher amount of copper into your wine than is necessary and may cause copper toxicity issues.

Good Luck and this is an issue that should be addressed as soon as possible. It can turn into other issues that are much harder to deal with.

 

[sjjan]

d

Based on these questions, I am assuming that your wine has completed fermentation and now smells bad.

The rosé finished fermentation but smells fine. I was asking the questions as I was uncertain how long to wait before racking the wine and if it would help waiting longer to let the gross lees do any extra magic to the wine. I added nutrients along the way of fermentation in stages up to the half way measure (SG wise) to dryness. The hydrometer now is about -20 SG so below 1000. Thank you so much for your insight as I am just starting out. Don’t let the fact that I am using stainless steel Speidel tanks distract.

 

[CAP91]

Welcome to the hobby!

Do you get a strong rotten egg smell or just a funky smell that kinda reminds you of rotten egg? I ask because there is a "fermentation funk" that you get that is normal. But a stronger distinctly rotten egg smell is indicative of stressed yeast and something that should be addressed asap. If it is indeed rotten egg, make sure your temperate is within the yeasts preferred range, add some nutrient (FermaidO), and give it a good sloshing to try and get the sulphur out of there.

Is your must just strawberries and water? What is your OG and current SG? Any idea of the current temperature of the must?

Thank you so kindly for your response.

 

[CAP91]

What to do to fix the problem depends on where you are in the fermentation process. I would be surprised that at three weeks in you are still fermenting, you could be, if you temperature is low. Do you have a hydrometer and know how to read it?? That is the way to tell what is going on. More than likely, you have completed fermentation and the wine has been sitting on the lees (stuff at the bottom, dead yeast cells) and picked up off odors from that. But with the limited information you have given us, that is just a guess.

Its been sometime now, ive racked it 3 times so no more lees. I added Fermaid -O to cease reduction. At the moment letting it sit because bottlomg is the next project. From a 5gl to 4 to 4.5 gallon after racking and minor loss of juice.

 

[CAP91]

My general process and timeline is ferment for about 7 days, when SG is at or below 1.010 rack to carboy (or contained vessel). Let finish fermentation under airlock, about 3-5 days after fermentation completes as evidenced by sg not changing, rack off lees. rack every 3-6 months, whether it needs it or not, keeping an eye on SO2 levels. So the answer to this first part is 3-5 days.



I don't have anything with a floating lid, but I have helped out at a local winery quite a bit and am familiar enough with them to answer this, at least what they do. The floating lid floats on the liquid as in as little gap there as possible. What we do is partially inflate the gasket, set it on the wine, pressurize it up. The idea being to minimize the amount of wine that air (oxygen) can interact with.

Based on these questions, I am assuming that your wine has completed fermentation and now smells bad. The fix for wine at this stage is copper, you are probably to far along to add more nutrients and help. There are two recommended ways to add copper and a third that has been done in the past. The two recommended ways are a product called Reduless and Bench trials of CuSo4 (Copper Sulfate). Reduless is an add the proper amount, follow the directions and hopefully it will fix it. CuSo4 is a do bench trials to determine the minimum amount you can use to remove the smell. There are directions to follow for either method.

The third old time way is to rack your wine through copper or introduce copper to your wine, The problem with this method is you may (probably will) introduce a much higher amount of copper into your wine than is necessary and may cause copper toxicity issues.

Good Luck and this is an issue that should be addressed as soon as possible. It can turn into other issues that are much harder to deal with.

Thank you for your response. Im doing as natural as possible. Racked it from carboy to fermenting bucket at a high level to have the oxygen do its magic. Added sulphate after racking to protect the top level of the wine.

As for SG, i dont read it as point system, i read it through brix and sugar content. so it started at 23°brix and fermented it down until 2° brix.