Slight sulphur smell in my new Plum Wine batch

[cdevrard]

And I want to nip this in the bud quick! I have read a bunch on this site about these probs and tried to adopt a plan to stop it as I have wrecked two previous batches already. Grrrr.

Okay here is where I am:
Recipe:
-19lbs plums after washing pitting and chopping
-3 gals spring water
-Sugar to 1.100 SG about 9 lbs
-2 tsp acid blend
-4 tsp nutrient (only added half at beginning)
-5 crushed campden
-5 drops per gal of pectic enzyme
-Lalvin K1-V1116 (used to make starter with plum must)

I put it all together minus yeast for 24 hrs. Made a yeast starter at the same time. Wow, did that starter work! The must was going within hours and roiling by the next morning. The must temperature has been between 73-75 degrees.

I just went to stir it (currently on the second day) and there is the dreaded Sulphur smell. I immediately added the remaining energizer (DAP). Actually a bit more than the other half I added another 4tsp. (hope that doesn't hurt anything! I was freaking out!!!: po grrr. ) and gave it a good stir to try and get some oxygen in there.

Is there anything else I should be doing at this point? Any ideas how long it will take to notice if the DAP is working?

Thanks everyone. I ruined two batches (one apple, one peach) and now I think I am hyper-sensitive to the sulphur monster. I don't want to ruin this batch it is soooo doggone pretty

CE

 

[cdevrard]

Well here I am 10 hours later and I think the DAP and stirring is working. The smell seems to have abated some. Could it have worked that fast?! Or am I just imagining things?

Thanks for any input.

CE

 

[jensmith]

Good call. Yes it can work that fast.


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[Julie]

Sorry but I am having my doubts that what you were smelling was sulphur. I just can't see it coming on that fast. You did everything correct. Your must will go thru a lot of different smells as it ferments.

 

[cdevrard]

Thank you Jen. Julie I hope you are correct, but I have a nose for sulphur (everything really) I am a black powder shooter. Black powder shooter's know sulphur! My wife thinks I am part blood hound when we go walking I'll smell horses before we ever see them or tell her that there is a person smoking a cigarette "up around that bend." She looks at me like I'm crazy and then, there they are.

Anyhow, mostly just wonderful C02, fruity, zesty, carbonation smell this morning, but a slight, and I mean super slight sulphur smell in the background. Did a very vigorous splash rack this morning to get some oxygen in there. Guess I'll just keep an eye on it.

Thanks again for any thoughts.

CE

 

[jensmith]

I have better luck with adding all the nutriants at the start. The half now and half later does not work so well with me. I also make fruit wines, mostly with little to no grape type additions. Wine yeast is bred to live in grape must. So I plan on using a little more nutriants the less grape like my must is. This method works for me, the accepted best method of split feeding nutriants does not work so well at my house.
Yeast are living things, and living things tend to do as they please. That is what is so good about this forum. We can all share what works for us and new people can try the methods that make sense to them.

Also a question. Do you have your must in an open bucket or airlocked? I prefure the open bucket method. (Covered with a cloth). It alowes easy multi day stirring, alowes air in and most importantly gases to escape.


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[cdevrard]

Jen, again that is helpful. Thank you.

I am using buckets right now (2 of them as I didn't have a single bucket big enough for all the must/fruit) I just put a pillow case across the top and use one of the rubber sealing rings pried out of a donor bucket lid to keep the pillow case in place. Is sure does make things easier to stir, etc. I've been stirring 3x per day, and as I mentioned in my last post I did a very vigorous splash rack this morning.

To this point I have always added my nutrients at the beginning. But I had those two batches go south (one apple and one peach) before I got on this site and read about using nutrients in succession.

I am following recipes out of the "Winemakers Recipe Handbook" proportionally adjusted for the volume I am making. I try to keep everything clean and I use "One Step" no rinse cleaner on all my equipment. Maybe I should try something else too?

Anyhow this is the first time I ever tried splitting the nutrients and I couldn't believe how fast I smelled sulphur, or how fast it abated after adding the remaining nutrient. Would it be possible that I'll need to add even more nutrient in a few days? If so how can I know that before it becomes a problem? Lots of question

I sure hope this batch works out well. It is such a lovely cheerful color and my last few batches have been kind of blah. Not bad, not great.

Anyhow, thanks again

CE

I have better luck with adding all the nutriants at the start. The half now and half later does not work so well with me. I also make fruit wines, mostly with little to no grape type additions. Wine yeast is bred to live in grape must. So I plan on using a little more nutriants the less grape like my must is. This method works for me, the accepted best method of split feeding nutriants does not work so well at my house.
Yeast are living things, and living things tend to do as they please. That is what is so good about this forum. We can all share what works for us and new people can try the methods that make sense to them.

Also a question. Do you have your must in an open bucket or airlocked? I prefure the open bucket method. (Covered with a cloth). It alowes easy multi day stirring, alowes air in and most importantly gases to escape.


Sent from my iPod touch using Wine Making

 

[cdevrard]

Well, the must made it to SG 1.000 today. Wow that was fast. It is the prettiest pink I've ever seen. Kind of a ruby red grapefruit color. No sulphur smell so here is to hopin'! Racked it off to secondary and air locked it. Yay! Hope it tastes as good as it looks one day.

 

[jensmith]

Nice. Glad it is going well! Some ferments go fast. You should be fine now. If it does not drop below 1.000 and you want it dry, sometimes a pinch of nutrians can help. But as a rule you should not need any more nutriant. All it needs now is to finish its last few gulps of suger and to clear. It should drop a ton of lees this next two weeks. At that point it is done feementing and you can rack it off the lees into one full carboy.
Then comes the hard part of wine making. Waiting!!!


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