Petit Verdot in secondary smells?

[bpowell88]

Hey guys and gals,

Quick question... my Petit Verdot in the primary put off the worst smell I have encountered yet... My whole house smelled for several days.. not a big deal, figured it was part of the fermentation...

In the secondary now for almost 10 days and still bubbling a little bit, not much. It still retains that smell, anything to worry about it? Or maybe I should rack it off the lees and add the clarifier and degas as the instructions say?

Thanks!

 

[ibglowin]

It might help if you told us if this was a kit, juice pail, fresh grapes.

Yes, the smell could be something to worry about for sure. What does it smell like would help very much........

 

[bpowell88]

It's the WE petit Verdot kit.... It smells like the primary smelled... Kinda like sulphur I guess.. It does taste good though

 

[bpowell88]

It's the same smell that the primary was giving off just much less now

 

[Rocky]

Sounds like H2S. Give the wine a thorough but gentle stirring and see if that helps.

 

[ibglowin]

A good splash rack might also help volatilize the H2S as well.

 

[saramc]

Depending on how seasoned a fermenter you are... are you sure it is not just normal fermentation? My family thinks every ferment smells like rotten eggs, they HATE the smells of fermenting wine/mead, while I could bathe in it!!

Is it rotten eggs you are smelling? Did you deviate from the kit in any way, use a different yeast, not use a component, etc? Did you choose to ferment with airlock intact or in bucket with lid just covering/not snapped on?

I would be hesitant to rack it off the lees unless you are at that point in the kit instructions that it says to do so. If unsure I would contact WE about that to ensure there will not be an issue with the wine if you choose to rack off the lees. Most times, (lets say the lees need to remain), splash racking x3 about 15 minutes apart will typically help, or you can splash rack over a piece of clean & sanitized copper (tubing, flashing, old pre-zinc pennies, kitchen scrubby, etc).
Always handy to have your copper in your winemaking kit. Not to mention, depending on where your S.G. is in comparison to the O.G., you may be safe to add yeast nutrient or energizer.

 

[tonyt]

How did the juice smell when you opened the box? Is it the kit with skins? If not how old is the kit?

 

[bpowell88]

Thanks, it could be fermentation smell anyway. At 10 days in the secondary it instructs me to add the clarifier and degas. Im going to hold off for another 10 days while I'm out of town... I did splash rack once today and added 3 campden tablets as I hadn't done that yet. It's a big wine I think so it may take a lot of time (totally fine) I was just surprised with the smell compared to my cheaper kits... This kit was one with grape skins and I didn't deviate at all. From my knowledge the kit was not old... Not sure though and the grape juice smelled fantastic coming out. I did taste some today and it does taste quite good so maybe the smell is nothing to worry about and is normal...

 

[tonyt]

The kits with skins are new so it must be rather fresh. We love The strong fermenting smell.

 

[Rocky]

I think the smell of wine fermenting is more of a yeast smell than a sulfur smell. I recently had 42 gallons in primary and when I open the cellar door, I get that great (we love it!) whiff of fermenting wine. It is not unpleasant to us. Now H2S and other sulfur smells are unpleasant.

 

[bpowell88]

Update: After I splash racked and added 3 campden tablets the smell is definately less and I would say actually smells like good wine... Thanks! Hopefully this has fixed it, now I'll just leave it alone for awhile.