Smelly Mead

[jet]

Thats a decent residual sugar to have for a mead, Id have no problem with where its at right now myself!

The stuck fermentation would seem to indicate that the god-awful stench was caused by stressed yeast.

Call that the straw that broke the camel's back. It's history.



Thanks again everyone for your help!

 

[fatbloke]

The stuck fermentation would seem to indicate that the god-awful stench was caused by stressed yeast.

Call that the straw that broke the camel's back. It's history.



Thanks again everyone for your help!

Well it's too late now, though I'm thinking that to check for H2S, isn't that were you stir it with a length of clean (shiny) copper pipe ? and if there is H2S in it, then it reacts with the copper and some of the sulphide attaches to the copper and it goes green/black very quickly.......

I can't recall your original recipe, but when it comes to nitrogen requirements etc, I was asking about that over at Gotmead some weeks back.

One of the best answers about that can be found here it's author, WayneB is very knowledgeable on stuff like that, so it might be worth having at working out the requirements of your next batch his way first.....

Or of course, just google for the JAO/Joes Ancient Orange recipe and give that a go. If you haven't already tried it, it's nice and straight forward, if you stick to Joes exact recipe, it's hard to go wrong (and you also have the luxury of being able to use cheap "store bought" honey).

dunno if any of that is any help...

regards

fatbloke

 

[Wade E]

Tell me you didnt dump it again!

 

[robie]

... though I'm thinking that to check for H2S, isn't that were you stir it with a length of clean (shiny) copper pipe ? and if there is H2S in it, then it reacts with the copper and some of the sulphide attaches to the copper and it goes green/black very quickly.......
fatbloke

If you want to determine if it is H2S, fill a glass or cup about half full of the suspected wine; take a whiff of the wine to register the smell; place two shiny pennies in the glass; stir (well) the smelly wine around for about 30 seconds.
Take another whiff. If it is H2S, the smell should be much less.

Repeat this several times and the H2S smell should go away completely. This tells you you had H2S.

 

[jet]

Tell me you didnt dump it again!

I'm afraid so. I wasted months on the last batch, and I have no reason to believe this one would turn out any different. I could not find any solution, and I know from last time that it won't clear up on its own. I was also concerned about contaminating my equipment.