My wife and I are in the middel of our first batch of wine. We are a few days from bottling according from the instruction's timeline and are experiensing a yeast/sour smell. We thought we would steal a sip from theCarboyto see what itwas like now and noticedthe smell from our sample. The after taste is a little sour too. Is this normal?Is there somthing we should/can do at this point to make sure it all turns out right? Will this go away on it own? Any help wouldbe great.
yeasty/sour smell
- Thread starter mr_dicken
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It is way to early to be critical of any wine but it would help to know what kit this is that you are talking about and what steps and time frame this wine has gone through such as did you follow all time frames with primary and so on.
The kit is a Mosti Reisling. We followed the instructions but the primary went faster then the instructions said. Probably due to high temp from what I understand. We are currently at day 7after first racking and adding in the gell packs and day 15overall. I am sure it isearly to know what we have or will have, just wanting to know if this is a normal flavor and smell at this point.
You still have all the yeast in there then and that would account for the smell. At this point I am sure there is nothing wrong with this and everything is fine and you will over time get used to all the different smells of various wines fermenting as whites will smell different from reds and fruits even different from both of those. Make sure you degas your wine welll before adding fining agents so that it will clear well.
Racking it off these lees will almost surely delete that smell unless there truly is something wrong with it which I highly dought. This is a common occurrence for new wine makers to smell things that we have grown accustom to.
Edited by: wade
Edited by: wade
It might take a little while to release itself and degassing would surely help get it out also. What tool do you plan on using to degas your wine? Do you have a drill mounted stirrer for this as I recommend getting 1 as bottling wine with CO@ existing in it is #2 of new wine makers foes and this tool really helps alot. I do that plus use a brake bleeder vacuum.
Edited by: wade
Edited by: wade
AlFulchino
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side note....the most common thing i see when new winemakers come to my vineyard to share their wine with me to get my comments is that their wines are loaded w gas.......after decanting...or simply leaving the top off and putting it aside for a few days the wine invariabley smells and tastes better....at that point we can discuss any other issues w them such as acid etc.......I find that what is true w them (new winemakers) is what has also been true of me.....a battle goes on in the wnemakers mindbetween *touching* the new wine as it is being developed and *leaving it alone* for fear of messing things up
this all gets cured as you fail and succeed....it is really just like learning to ride a bike......fear not if you mess it up....the wine will tell you what you have done wrong.....and so what if you fail...as long as you learn......a favorite movie of mine is A Good Year w Russel Crowe....in it Albert Finney in the opening scene tells his young nephew who has just cheated at chess that he likes wine because it always tells the truth....it is a very understated yet meaningful scene.......I think the best thing a wine can do for us beside give us great taste...great medicine and a great past time is that it does really speak to us....it is forgiving in that most wine making errors can be corrected...but it doesnt mince words with us....any mistake we make when processing it will appear...and that is a good thing...and of course if we get lazy we can always paint over it w ******OAK*****
and that would be analogous to passing a student from one grade to the next just to keep him moving in the system...but the child never learned what he was supposed to!
Edited by: Al Fulchino
this all gets cured as you fail and succeed....it is really just like learning to ride a bike......fear not if you mess it up....the wine will tell you what you have done wrong.....and so what if you fail...as long as you learn......a favorite movie of mine is A Good Year w Russel Crowe....in it Albert Finney in the opening scene tells his young nephew who has just cheated at chess that he likes wine because it always tells the truth....it is a very understated yet meaningful scene.......I think the best thing a wine can do for us beside give us great taste...great medicine and a great past time is that it does really speak to us....it is forgiving in that most wine making errors can be corrected...but it doesnt mince words with us....any mistake we make when processing it will appear...and that is a good thing...and of course if we get lazy we can always paint over it w ******OAK*****
and that would be analogous to passing a student from one grade to the next just to keep him moving in the system...but the child never learned what he was supposed to! Edited by: Al Fulchino
AlFulchino
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sorry~!
by the way i called a certain company in your home state today about sourcing 3000 pounds...prices really vary between what locale/vineyard they come from....i also called everett and got no answer..i suspect they leave early until next week when grapes just start to come in
do you buy grapes in CT?Edited by: Al Fulchino
by the way i called a certain company in your home state today about sourcing 3000 pounds...prices really vary between what locale/vineyard they come from....i also called everett and got no answer..i suspect they leave early until next week when grapes just start to come in
do you buy grapes in CT?Edited by: Al Fulchino
I agree that is deep!
I do have a drill mounted stirrer but did I am not sure I did a good job degassing. I didn't notice any more CO2 releasing after I degassed, but I didn't pull a vacumm one it to make sure. I will rack again and do both at that point.
By the way I prefer a scene from "Thank You for Smoking," The dad is discussing with his son the difference between an argument and a negotiation. As I am in negotiations for a living it is important to kow the difference. I prefer to argue.
I will post the my progress after I rack and degass later this week.
I do have a drill mounted stirrer but did I am not sure I did a good job degassing. I didn't notice any more CO2 releasing after I degassed, but I didn't pull a vacumm one it to make sure. I will rack again and do both at that point.
By the way I prefer a scene from "Thank You for Smoking," The dad is discussing with his son the difference between an argument and a negotiation. As I am in negotiations for a living it is important to kow the difference. I prefer to argue.
I will post the my progress after I rack and degass later this week.
No reason to be sorry Al, that was great. I have not made wine from grapes yet as I just dont have enough room for the equipment to crush nor the money to buy them either. The LHBS near me does not rent equipment either so until i can afford to purchase this equipment and also find a place to store it Im SOL!
