tart smell after 1 day of ferment

[kevbryant]

it's a 1 gallon ferment of peaches using montrachet. recipe called for acid blend (and 1/2c orange juice).

it smells tart. not vinegary not lactic-y. like orange juice pretty much. am i making vinegar already or is this normal or did i use too much acid? what's up?

 

[Julie]

You might have used too much acid but you can work with that. You are probably fine, mine peach wine had a real nasty smell when fermenting and it turned out find.

 

[kevbryant]

i'm probably being a little overly worrisome. i don't expect perfection my first time out the gate (did i mention this is my first time, i've done quite a bit of prelim. research though., sterilized everything, campden, etc.)

actually aside from smelling tart it smells good. it's definitely not a vinegar smell, but what do i know.

 

[Boatboy24]

Peach ferments can get a little funky.

 

[Noontime]

There's a whole spectrum of bad smells that a healthy fermentation can fill a room with; especially with non-grape wines. Some will smell great, and like Boatboy24 said others will have some funk to them.

There's really only a few smells you need to be concerned with like rotten eggs, rubber, nail polish remover, etc.

Like EVERYONE else who has started making wine, there's probably going to be a few moments of worry until you get a few batches done (smells, clumps, tastes). Have fun!

 

[JohnT]

OJ contains citric acid which can be rather harsh. This might explain the tart smell.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Rhino Farts!

You get used to it eventually...

 

[kevbryant]

sooo then since i get a faint sulfur smell today, knowing what you know about my recipe, do you suggest adding yeast nutrient at this point? or just stirring, or ignoring it?

 

[wineforfun]

Ok, here come the normal questions.
How much nutrient have you already added?
What was the SG to begin with? and what it is now?
Is it fermenting in an open bucket or airlocked carboy?

I have had some bad experiences with Montrachet. I know it likes to be fed well.

 

[kevbryant]

after reading many a post about smells, particularly sulfur, you'd have thought i'd have provided a more detailed description. in my newbie wisdom, my hydrometer and nutrient will not be here until tomorrow. the bucket is covered with a towel and then plastic wrap, held on with a rubber band. so any troubleshooting at this point may be futile. and given my study of several forum threads here and other places, my choices for why it has the odor run the gamut: not enough nutrient, montrachet produces lots of sulfur, not enough air, not sanitary enough, or literally nothing at all.

even the solutions are debated. a splashy racking is good vs. oxygenation is bad. add some nutrient vs don't add nutrient. etc.

i'm inclined to just give it some vigorous stirring for a while and toss a measure of nutrient in when it arrives and stop worrying about it, trying again with a bit more preparation.

 

[wineforfun]

How much sugar did you add, did you just go off a recipe and not get an SG?

So you have added no nutrient to it thus far?

Also, I would take the plastic wrap off of it and just go with the towel. It needs the air right now.

 

[kevbryant]

i did go off a recipe without an original sg yeah. it's a one gallon with 3.5 lb fresh peaches and about 2lb of sugar. next batch will definitely be more precise and will check sg as advised.

no nutrient thus far. and cannot add if advised until tomorrow evening.

i've gathered to just go with the towel for now I appreciate your advice on that, i just hope it isn't worse when i get home from work tonight.

 

[wineforfun]

All you can do is hope for the best. Make sure and stir it a couple times daily and get some nutrient in it as soon as you can. Make sure and put at least 1 tsp. in it to start with.
Also, get an SG reading as soon as you can so you know exactly what it is/isn't doing.

 

[kevbryant]

thanks for the help. if this is nothing more than a learning experience that's just fine by me. eventually i hope to do things as ideally as possible. gotta break a few eggs so to speak! thanks again.

 

[kevbryant]

well #$@$#@. just discovered that since my bucket is colored i might be making poison. ah well live and learn. guess it's time to dump this out. or at least practice the rest of the process before dumping it.

 

[Floandgary]

When using plastics, they should be of food grade caliber. If not there could be some leaching of who knows what. Fermentation requires some oxygen, so as DJ said, I'd can the plastic wrap. When your product is in the secondary stage, you want to be careful about oxygen exposure. There oxidation can lead to less than desirable results. Onward,,,good luck!

 

[kevbryant]

well that's where it got tricky. manufacturer says all their products are food grade except those marketed as eco blend (encore plastics). butt he bucket is blue (it's a walmart branded bucket) and it's hdpe2 which i know doesn't necessarily mean anything. i suppose that i have what was a food grade bucket dyed blue, but have no promise as to whether the dye could be toxic or could leech. considering it's my first batch ever, i think i'll let it finish and use this as a learning experiment and maybe taste it lightly.

on another note after a good stirring it seems like i've let whatever sulfury smell out. honestly i think it's the oj at this point, or some other semi-normal odor. the good news is that the fermentation is going along swimmingly.

so i'll play around with this batch until I rack it off and go through the motions, knowing i might never drink it. it'll be good practice. then i'll pick up a bucket actually labelled food grade (and white) and start a new, proper batch using what i've learned.

this is a friendly, helpful forum. i fully expected to be flamed for my noob mistakes. pleasant surprise.

 

[Schattenmann]

well #$@$#@. just discovered that since my bucket is colored i might be making poison. ah well live and learn. guess it's time to dump this out. or at least practice the rest of the process before dumping it.

I wouldn't be too worried about it; I mean what's the big deal so maybe you have kids with 13 fingers or 47 teeth.

 

[Noontime]

stop worrying about it

You gave yourself the best advice.

You sound like you have a great disposition for wine making... enjoy what you have and learn as you go. The more wines you make the more you'll realize there's not a whole to "worry" about. Enjoy!