rotten egg smell?

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Sammy79

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Apr 28, 2017
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Hi folks,

I put on a 5 Gallon batch of The Range White wine on 5 days ago and since day 3 it has an awful rotten egg smell, my Wife is not happy! I only started brewing last year and had no problems. I believe this may be Hydrogen sulphide. To begin with the temperature may have too low at night and I was short on the amount of sugar added. I have since controlled the temperature, added the extra sugar and stirred the wort few times. No bubbling in airlock at all. Should I just tip it down the sink? I did of course sterilise everything first. Any replies much appreciated . Thanks, Sam.
 
Yeast can give off some pretty funky smells during fermentation so it could all be fine. If the yeast is stressed this can be worse but this often due to being too hot not too cold. If it's too cold then fermentation can be sluggish and may stick.

Regarding the bubbling in the airlock, I'm guessing you're using a bucket type ferementor? They're notoriously hard to get a good seal on the lid and the gas often escapes elsewhere other than the airlock.

So is there any froth on the surface of the wine indicating an active fermentation? Did you take a gravity reading when you started and can you take one now? If so has it changed and/or what is it? You can also take a small sample of the wine to taste. Does it taste okay or off?
 
Graz has covered it you need a hydrometer as a bubbling or not airlock is not the way to know what is going on, I have made many range kits and never has the sulphur smell give it time and it will be fine.

How long has it been fermenting?
 
Hi guys, thank you kindly for your replies. I took a SG reading of 10.80, to my surprise it is now 10.12 aprox. There is a small amount of foaming at one side of the bucket fermentor so maybe all is not lost yet. There is still the bad smell but not as bad so I will give it more time and see what happens. This is Day 4.
On reflection it was a cold night the first night and then the weather heated up, so maybe the contrast was stressing the yeast.
Anyway I will do an update and many thanks for your help.
Sam
 
At 1012 it has still got a long way to go the Range "Make your own" Rose wine kit i make regularly takes around 7 days to finish fermenting and has to be below .995 before you move on to the next step.
 
Not much more to add but a +1. Don't tip it away under any circumstances it will be fine!

My first "country wine" was as a kid, I tried to make Dandelion wine. I got the sulphur smell and according to the books at the time I should throw it away. That was probably, given the ingredients, (mouldy old dandelions from the edge of the estate's dual carriageway :roll:) the right result.

But for your (certainly vastly superior!) wine - sulphur smell is possibly a lack of yeast nutrient but the smell will dissipate soon enough and it won't affect the flavour of the wine.

If your wife threatens divorce, then you've a hard decision to make but 5 gallons of wine is not to be sniffed at. Especially with an eggy smell.

[Don't take too many readings, you don't want to risk infection. Leave it a bit longer than you think it'll need, take a reading and then the next day. If the two readings are the same and at roughtly your expected mark, you're done].
 
Cheers, the bad smell has gone and the Mrs is speaking to me again. A nice wee head of foam is on the top now which is encouraging. I will give it time and take another reading tomorrow night . Thanks for the advice. I read somewhere that tomato puree is a good yeast nutrient, should I add a little?
 
Sammy79 said:
Thanks for the advice. I read somewhere that tomato puree is a good yeast nutrient, should I add a little?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother now if the smell has gone i would also buy a pot of Nutrient the pots are quite big so go a long way.
 
Update: The wort fermented down to 0.994 and I have moved onto the clearing stage, thanks for that guys I nearly was putting it down the sink. By the way The Range instructions refer to back sweetening, I skipped this step after reading Chippy Ts advice. Hope to bottle over the weekend, I think I will transfer to another bucket as I want to use the little bottler. Hope to have a glass soon, cheers,
 
The don't back sweeten advice was for the rose kit (if I remember right) but better to back sweeten later than end up with something too sweet so good move.
 
Readyto bottle now, it cleared well. Had a sip, apart from the chemical taste which will be gone when in bottle a few weeks , its quite ok with hints of apple. Looking forward to it in a couple of months. Cheers for advice from all who posted as it was nearly for the sink!
 

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