yeast smell

[jerry]

A friend who has been making wine for about twenty years from grapes called me and asked for help. He never used juice before, he's an old timer and always used fresh grapes.
He bought 20 gallons of juice, he didn't know the juice had the yeast already in it. He poured it into the vat, then added four packs of yeast. He is now in the first racking stage and the yeast smell is very strong. I thought, maybe just run it through the filter.Would that beok at this point {first racking} ?Any other suggestions?

 

[Tomy]

Hi Jerry, I wouldn't run it through the filter because there is some yeast alive and well doing its work. Their will probally be double the amount of lees when racking but in this instance that is to be expected with double the amount of yeast in the must. At this point your friend knows how to procede as he has been doing it for 20 years. Tomy

 

[smurfe]

They smell is probably from CO2 gasses emitting that should decrease as the wine ages. That can smell yeasty in my opinion. I don't really think you can have a yeast overdose. Some strainsof yeast produce different odors than others as well.Was the juice fresh or concentrated? You don't want to filter the wine until it is finished. Just make the wine and give it time. Racking should help eliminate the odors.

 

[PeterZ]

Jerry, the effect of excess yeast is just to speed up fermentation. Your friend can proceed as normal, but should check sg frequently because things will probably progress faster than he is used to.

 

[smurfe]

I ought to have edited my post. There really wasn't too much yeast used. One packet per 5 gallons of juice is normal. You want a healthy and high cell count to decrease the lag time for fermentation to start. For example when I make a beer,I add twice the amount of yeast recommended to decrease the time fermentation starts to help decrease infection chances. I think you are just smelling the CO2/sulfur odors of fermentation that is intensified by the mass amount of the fermentation. Also, as Peter states, higher yeast cell count will speed fermentation. Keep a closer eye on the SG. Edited by: smurfe

 

[jerry]

Thanks for all the help guys. Smurfe, it was fresh juice, which had the yeast in it already. THIS IS A GREAT WEB SITE.

 

[gc605]

he'll have a ton of lees, but no adverse effects