VINTNERS HARVEST BLACKBERRY WAS STINKY

[NorthernWinos]

Awhile back I made a Vintners Harvest Blackberry Wine...made a 5 gallon batch, added 2-500mil WinExpert Red Grape Concentrate...as well as all the usual additives....It fermented as usual...then I racked it to the carboy in a timely manner.

Upon the first racking from carboy to carboy I thought it had an odor...couldn't figure it out...sniffed...and sniffed again...

Thought it was a rubber smell from new carboy bungs..

Then thought it was Hydrogen Sulfur smell from using Lalvin RC-212..[heard that might cause an unpleasant odor.]

The odor was very light, I could only smell it upon first removing the bung...which I did often for a few days...I was in disbelief that the wine had this smell.

I tasted the wine and it was fine...set a glass out for a few minutes and the odor was gone...

Now I think I am going crazy...there is no smell..it tastes fine and smells like wine...

So...it is nearing time that I could bottle it..it has been stable for 2 months, very clear, tastes and smells good....

Will that odor come back once it's bottled???

Anyone else ever had this happen????..Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Wade E]

Not me YET NW, fingers crossed! I bet Masta has the answer though!


Edited by: wade

 

[smurfe]

Maybe it was a little CO2 smell. I did a VH Raspberry a while back. I racked and had a bit left over so I racked it to a 750 ml bottle. I opened it a week ago to check it out and it had a "hops" smell. It smelled just like beer. Didn't have any bad taste but the aroma was off. The wine in the carboy don't have this odor though.


Smurfe

 

[OGrav]

So far, my wines have smelled just as good or better than they taste after it's been in the bottle for awhile. Could very well be your bungs. I dip mine in a little sulfite, then roll them over a paper towelbefore they go in, so they carry a SO2 smell also. Could be residual CO2. The rubber bungs have a definite smell, but I haven't detected it in the wine at all. Is the Vintners Blackberry the only variable?

 

[Wade E]

O Grav, what do you mean by variable(Flavor) thereas a whole bunch of flavors. George sells them under Fruit bases!

 

[jobe05]

NW: I too get this smell as you described. I just always assumed it was the bung and never paid that much attention to it, and it has never effected any of my wines. I never really paid that much attention as to "when" I smell it since it's not in every batch that I do. Maybe something to take note of.

 

[NorthernWinos]

This was the only wine I have ever noticed this smell...I had gotten a bunch of new rubber stoppers and did rinse in water, then dipped the one I used in sulfite, but just for a short time, then wiped it off so it would stay stuck in the carboy....it was a rubber smell plus 'something' else.

Also, Looking at my records it said I had added roasted oak chips...I had roasted them in a dry pan on the stove, then rinsed them in Sulfite solution and rinsed under water...maybe there was too much Sulfite left on the chips...?

I am glad the smell did go away...for awhile every few days I go and pull out the stopper and airlock and give it a sniff....am sure this isn't doing the wine any good either.

Was just curious if others have had odors from this Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212 yeast, this was one of the first batches that I had used it on...had read bad press on that one, but wanted to try it anyway....

Maybe just a combination of the yeast, new rubber bung and sulfited oak overwhelmed my nose...Going to draw a little out tomorrow and sniff and taste it again...

Thanks for your replies and input....

 

[Dean]

I've gotten it a few times. It is just a light amount of H2S, or Hydrogen Sulphide. Basically, this is the main ingredient in mercaptans. That's the smelly stuff they put in natural gas so you notice it if there is a leak. When certain strains of yeast get stressed, they can make H2S. Almost always, it can be outgassed and fixed with splash racking. In extreme skunky cases, copper will fix it. I've stirred the wine with a copper pipe that I polished up and that helped greatly.

Since this only affected your batch a little bit, you've probably already got rid of it by racking. If not, you can do a rough splash rack to get rid of the rest.

 

[Wade E]

Great info Dean!