Egginess Revisited

[ScoPa]

I had help last week from somebody elses's thread. Re eggy smell.

I have the 2 gallons of previously mentioned rasp and white grape on the go. I added a whole sachet of yeast (whoops) it went off like "lalldee" very vigorous. I got the egginess in teh bucket after 2 days.

So I added 2 tsp of nutrient as per advice and the smell diminished. However I racked into 2 djs as I was going away at the weekend - the drop in SG was significant 1060 to 1030ish (not got notes with me).

When we got back on Sunday teh sediment was about half an inch and obviously gassy, so we racked last night to clean djs. The egginess is back

I've added another tsp per dj and topped up to neck with more white grape juice (SG was down at 999 ish).

Questions:
Is there a risk the bouquet will stay tainted by eggy smell?
The djs stunk even after I'd washed, scrubbed and sanitised them. Are they ruined?
Will patience pay dividends or should I do something else?

To note - it is strong boiled eggs I can smell NOT rotten eggs.

Thanks,
Pam

[billy]

This link helped me before

Hell I am no expert but this helped me before... I had really rotten eggs once in some blackberry I made and this link.....

http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm

sorted it. I "racked and splashed" my wine even when it was fermenting to aerate it and after about 3 times it went...

have a read and good luck (try stirring with a bit of clean copper pipe) apparently helps as you will see from the link.

[NorthernWiner]

To note - it is strong boiled eggs I can smell NOT rotten eggs.

Pam,

This doesn't sound like a hydrogen sulfide problem to me. H2S is most definitely rotten smelling. What you're sniffing could very well be just the normal yeasty funk associated with fresh fermentation.

I would not recommend adding any additional nutrient at this point. If you add it too late in the ferment, it may not all be consumed by the yeast, in which case you'll have residual nutrient in the finished wine.

[ScoPa]

An even noddier question then is that bad? Does the nutrient impart a flavour or any other detrimental impact?

I'm scared totake the bung out in case it still reeks!

It's at the point now where I'd stabilise as it should be c11 - 12%.

But I'm scared that this will "fix" the smell?

[NorthernWiner]

Nutrient can impart a flavor if it isn't entirely metabolized by the yeast.

Regarding the egginess, I will tell you this. Virtually every fermentation I've done over the last 9 years has had varying degrees of odd odors at some point. Some are worse than others, but all of these aromas are just a normal byproduct of the process. Remember that fermentation is essentially nothing more than controlled spoilage. I suspect that within a month or two, the funky odors will fade and it will start to smell and taste like wine.

[Duffbeer]

Nutrient can impart a flavor if it isn't entirely metabolized by the yeast.

Regarding the egginess, I will tell you this. Virtually every fermentation I've done over the last 9 years has had varying degrees of odd odors at some point. Some are worse than others, but all of these aromas are just a normal byproduct of the process. Remember that fermentation is essentially nothing more than controlled spoilage. I suspect that within a month or two, the funky odors will fade and it will start to smell and taste like wine.

Steve, I couldn't agree more, I tried on another post to explain the same, egginess or dog fart's as the wife calls it, is a natural product of most ferments, excessive at certain points of fermentation, then calming but still a tad smelly even after resting.
Hydrogen sulphide is a distinctive smell, that of rotten eggs, or others may describe it as that of a burnt match. It's rare that wines will suffer from this fault unless being deprived of nutrients during fermentation, the most usual would be flower, vegetable style wines.
Provided you have added a good quality nutrient and yeast at the start, then your on a roll. As I stated in another thread, it is highly unlikely that a wine kit should suffer from this, as they are totally balanced in all ways.

So in a word Scopa, don't panic, you more than likely can smell the same as the rest of us. No, it's not a pleasant smell, but, one we get used to, or learn to live with.
Also as Steve states you can do your wine more harm than good by keep adding nutrient that it doesn't need.

[Richard S]

The first batch of Lychee wine that I made last year smelled a little eggy at bottling time. Once the wine settled down (a couple of months) everything was fine, it went into comps and won 3 firsts and a best wine in show award.

[ScoPa]

Thanks for the reassurances. We thought this would be the 1st wine we made "properly"!

It tastes fine thankfully!

Ta,
Pam

[Mamgiowl]

That's the main thing - just hold your nose while you're drinking it!

[Duffbeer]

Thanks for the reassurances. We thought this would be the 1st wine we made "properly"!

It tastes fine thankfully!

Ta,
Pam

Oh and there's another point, you will taste hydrogen sulphide, it vertualy makes the wine undrinkable.

[ScoPa]

Yay! Smell has gone, camden added, stabiliser added and it tastes very promising. Also clearing well.

[NorthernWiner]

Yay!

[Her Lushness]

Well done! aren't you proud of yourself now that you've achieved a decent wine?