Wine off-gassing smells like chemicals

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
1659476827379.png

So it's been sat in primary for a bit (see above). It currently has an odd orangey color to it, instead of the reddish color it used to have. Does this mean it's oxidized?

I tasted it and it's very, very dry and harsh tasting. Just bitter alcohol. I'm considering chucking a half cup of sugar in there to try and bring the gravity up a little...


One good thing it has going for it though is that if you can get past the harshness it does have a good strawberry flavor(no eggy taste or nail polish)

Might rack it to another fermenter too..
 
Strawberry wine leans more towards orangey than red. Not as much color there as you'd think - or hope. In other words, it's not necessarily oxidized. Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is often used for oxidized wines. Never had to do it so I don't know the dosing.

Quite a bit of headspace. That might be something to address.

By your original post this wine is only 2 months old. It's a baby. If you wait another 3-4 months it should be crystal clear and beautiful and the flavors will change and improve.

I'm glad the nail polish is gone.
 
Strawberry wine leans more towards orangey than red. Not as much color there as you'd think - or hope. In other words, it's not necessarily oxidized
Interesting, thanks. I don't really care about the color, was just worried about it.

Quite a bit of headspace. That might be something to address.
Yeah, maybe.... Might top it up
By your original post this wine is only 2 months old. It's a baby. If you wait another 3-4 months it should be crystal clear and beautiful and the flavors will change and improve.

Interesting. So I can look forward to trying it around xmas?
I'm glad the nail polish is gone.
Me too
 
Dominant oxidation issue, ,, The chemistry is that ethyl alcohol combines with oxygen to create acetaldehyde. For the average customer this is readily detected at low levels as a pleasing apple note. As the level increases it produces an OK apricot sharp note and at higher levels a burn in the back of the throat when swallowing.
Oxidation will spoil the flavor, ,, ie head space and lots of racking.
So it's been sat in primary for a bit (see above). It currently has an odd orangey color to it, instead of the reddish color it used to have. Does this mean it's oxidized
I tasted it and it's very, very dry and harsh tasting. Just bitter alcohol. I'm considering chucking a half cup of sugar in there to try and bring the gravity up a little...
color; the pigment is strawberries is a large enough particle that it falls out in the lees. Last year I put a percent aronia in to produce a stable red color. ,, There is a natural food advertisement out from raspberry producers, this again is a stable pigment. On a two month old wine you could squeeze the juice out of a pint of raspberry and copy grocery store color levels.
A two month old wine will ferment any added sugar and generate more CO2 which has a sharp, bitter flavor. The flavor is better if you degas which happens naturally with time. To safely add sugar to a two or even six month old wine sorbate is added or folks in the cider industry pasteurize the beverage.

Patience!
 
Im no expert but ive made 2 batches of strawberry (still fermenting) and both smelled worse than anything else while fermenting. Kind of a meat smell. One batch was made with actual local grown strawberries and the other is from bacardi daiquiri mixers. Both had a very similar and unpleasant smell at first.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top