Help?????

[dolmac]

I am really new to this so please be patient. I was given a stone in weight of Black Hamburg grapes so I crushed them, and left them in a bucket 3 days ago I added pectolase and 1 camden tab. This morning there is a funny sort of smell almost like that of those heavy duty markers that you should not sniff. The taste is ok though. Should I just scrap it and and not be trying to run before I can walk. I am not even sure what to do next with it. It seems to be much harder than fruit and flower wines. Someone please helpconfused:

[lockwood1956]

I suspect that fermentation has started with the wild yeasts that are on the skins of the grapes, the campden tablet will have slowed them down, but i "think" thats what is happening here, I would introduce a cultured strain of yeast ASAP, preferably in the form of a yeast starter

see here for yeast starter info
http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=908

fermentations make all sorts of weird and wonderful smells, although im not sure I had one that was like a dry marker.....

it could also be many other things, but getting a healthy ferment underway will cure a great many of them.

is the SG dropping?

[lockwood1956]

Info on conducting a fermentation with red winemaking grapes

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2051

hope this helps
regards
bob

[dolmac]

I dont know alot about wine so I am going to get fermentation going straight away My other half thinks it smells like solvent, anyway I strained it off the skins (must ?) and added yeast starter. The colour is great I tasted the juice and their is no bad taste (rather nice actually). The SG is 1080 I,ll let you know how it works out Thanks for your help Lockwood

[NorthernWiner]

It could be a bit of acetaldehyde you are smelling. That may indicate the presence of spoilage. Acetaldehyde is also a precursor to ethyl acetate, which is the substance that makes nail polish remover smell the way that it does.

You should definitely add yeast.

Quickly.

[dolmac]

It could be a bit of acetaldehyde you are smelling. That may indicate the presence of spoilage. Acetaldehyde is also a precursor to ethyl acetate, which is the substance that makes nail polish remover smell the way that it does.

You should definitely add yeast.

Quickly.

That is the smell ok. Well I added yeast to it today and it is bubbling away happily and smell is gone, so I wll just watch it a while and see what happens.

[ms67]

i think the above posts have probably nailed it, but you may be interested to read on just for fun ...

one of my first thoughts on reading this was that you could have some esters. These are "fruity" smelling organic molecules that form most commonly from the reaction between an organic acid and an alcohol. You'll be familiar with some of them, pear drops and pineapple chunks being examples of nice ones. And others which are not so nice (well not to most people anyway) which you'll find used as solvents etc in such things as glues. The reaction is very slow unless it is catalysed, which is why our wines retain both acidity and alcohol (thankfully), but they are very strong flavours so a little goes a long way. Some yeasts specifically increase the ester content of wines, some produce esters, and i guess some get involved in ester production indirectly.