Rotten Egg/Crazy Sulphur during ferment?

Started a Barbera from concentrate on New Years, and about 48 hours into fermentation when we woke up the hose has that wonderful aroma of rotten eggs. Needless to say the wife doesn't care for it. I used Wyeast wine nutrient prior to pitching and I added some additional nutrient yesterday, and the egg smell seems to have died down a bit. Now it's mostly just the room I have it in that reeks. I pitched Lalvin RC-212, not sure if anyone else has had this problem with this yeast or what? I heard some people blame Montrachet for sulphur issues, so maybe it's a yeast thing? I know my sanitiation if probably fine, but this is my first red wine so I'm a little unsure of things.
It's not really a problem (other than the smell), if I find the wine doesn't retain any of the smell after fermentation right?
My wife had some Torch Cherry Rum, I put that in the airlock and it seems to have helped. Any advise on getting rid of the smell or concerns for the wine?

It's a yeast thing. Don't worry, as long as you followed proper sanitation techniques, it will turn out fine and won't retain any of the smell after fermentation.

You have a hydrogen sulfide problem (H2S) that really should not come with a kit.
Aerate immediately and that should blow off the problem although it sounds like it is advancing.
H2S issues develop into powerful off flavours if not dealt with appropriately and swiftly.

It should have nothing to do with sanitation or yeast and more to do with ingredients.

Yeah, thats kind of what I'm thinking at this point, been reading about RC-212 and apparently it's a nitrogen hog. From what I've read on nutrient management, I might have thrown too much nutrient in at the beginning, so by 36 hours into fermentation it's eaten all the nitrogen and it's pissed that it ran out. So last night I stirred it like crazy and added more nutrient, and tonight I did the same thing. Tonight the smell has died down quite a bit, but still around. SG is around 1.045, I've read that I shouldn't add more nutrient when it gets 3/4 of the way finished or it could have off flavors, but I'm just trying to please the angry yeast. The must didn't smell near as bad as the air in the room, hopefully that's a good sign.

Yup no more nutrient (DAP). If you have a spare carboy I would recommend aerating the wine by pouring one into the other. Oxygen should take care of the problem but if it doesnt then the last resort is copper sulfate. Copper sulfate is nasty and highly toxic but will remove/bind to the H2S before it develops into mercaptans.

You can aerate heavily at this stage of the game without causing any damage. New wine is heavily fortified by CO2 in solution and is not at risk of oxidation.

So, how would using the new degassing wand I got for xmas work, and should I wait until fermentation is completed? Is there any chance of screwing up fermentation if I aerate at this point? Not that it's been that happy of a fermentation, but I just worry I'll end up with a red wine that's at 1.035 or something.

What is the temperature that you are fermenting at?

The temp has been holding around 73-75.

Hophead75 said:

So, how would using the new degassing wand I got for xmas work, and should I wait until fermentation is completed? Is there any chance of screwing up fermentation if I aerate at this point? Not that it's been that happy of a fermentation, but I just worry I'll end up with a red wine that's at 1.035 or something.

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I have not used a "degassing wand" or anything like it in any winery I have worked in -- I took a quick look at one and not sure of its purpose.

Aeration at this point is key to reduce/remove/halt H2S compounds and their development. On a large scale this would be done by pumping over the must -- on a small scale it can be done by simply scooping it up with a pitcher and dropping it back in from a height or into another vessel (then you are assured to have thoroughly aerated). If anything this should assist fermentation with the oxygen addition and agitation.

You should notice a significant change in a short time.

Took a closer look at the wand and if the premise is that it bubbles air up from the bottom probably work fine especially if you are fermenting in a carboy/demijohn which reductive nature is the source of your problem. If you are in an open container I would just do the pitcher idea.

Well, the degassing wands are actually meant for the quick turn around time in kit wines, I haven't used one yet so I'm not sure if it would really bring in oxygen the way I need to, so it sounds like pouring is probably the best method. The smell had died down alot last night and I'm wondering if when I get home if it will have faded even more, if it has I should still do the aeration right? It really depends on the aroma of the must, not necessarily the fermenting air around it? (if that makes any sense) I've been reading more about the mercaptans and other things that could be happening at this very moment.

Yup still aerate, regardless. And yes again --the fact that it is dying down is probably from the reduced off gassing of CO2 carrying the stink not so far and wide.

For your own reference maybe try drawing a sample in a wineglass off and cover, trying to keep aeration down, to use as a standard to compare with the wine after you aerate. Should be a dramatic difference.

It should be recoverable.

Well, guess we'll see. Smells alot better even before I aerated it, but poured with a pitcher from about 4 feet above the bucket, about 20 times.

FYI, I had a similar issue with a grape wine this past summer - and aeration didn't seem to be working quickly enough to rid the sulfur from the must. I decided to try running it through some (sanitized) copper tubing I had laying around. It was about 3 feet long, and it's diameter fitted perfectly inside my siphon tubing. The result was really incredible...the must coming out of the 3' of copper tube was perfect - no hint of h2s in the aroma or flavor. I wondered if this was safe, but then realized that the majority of plumbing for drinking water is copper! Don't mean to hijack your thread, but if the h2s persists then this may be a worthwhile pursuit for you.

esarkipato said:

FYI, I had a similar issue with a grape wine this past summer - and aeration didn't seem to be working quickly enough to rid the sulfur from the must. I decided to try running it through some (sanitized) copper tubing I had laying around. It was about 3 feet long, and it's diameter fitted perfectly inside my siphon tubing. The result was really incredible...the must coming out of the 3' of copper tube was perfect - no hint of h2s in the aroma or flavor. I wondered if this was safe, but then realized that the majority of plumbing for drinking water is copper! Don't mean to hijack your thread, but if the h2s persists then this may be a worthwhile pursuit for you.

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I'd actually read on some other sites about doing something like this, but I guess the concern is there is no way of knowing how much copper you're putting into the wine because too much can be toxic. I guess drinking water is fine to run through copper because it's nuetral, but since most wine is around 3.5pH or so it reacts much differently. I did get a small piece of copper tube that I'll try stirring with it if the aeration didn't seem to work.

I doubt using copper tubing would add too much copper compounds to your wine and is a good suggestion if the problem is persistent. Often I will toss a couple older copper pennies (the new ones arent copper) into a glass of wine and test it (by smell) against a standard to detect and identify H2S issues. So I could see the copper tubing being a rather safe approach but would want it to be new. Keep in mind the whole process of siphoning is going to have some aeration aspect unless you are inert gassing the vessel you are going into.

How is the wine? can you smell/taste any off flavours although it is young?

I'm going to taste it tonight problably just to see how it's coming, but it's smelling alot more like normal fermentation at this point, so I'm thinking that between the nutrient additions and the aeration, I caught it in time.
I had thrown in 1oz of Hungarian Medium toasted oak cubes and I'm curious if that would retain any of the H2S or if the wine is cleaned up then the cubes are as well? First time I have oaked in primary, I wanted the oak to be very mild. As long as everything is cleared up with H2S I'm planning on letting sit for another couple of weeks.

Good.

Barrelling reduces or eliminates H2S when it can be found in tank with the exact same wine because of the micro-oxygenation affect. This may happen to lesser degree with the chips so I dont think it would exacerbate the problem and in fact may help, a little.

It is possible that the H2S issues are a result of nutrient additions.

Well, good news I don't smell any sense of H2S, so hopefully thats the end of that issue.

BAD News... apparently my brew belt works really well in conjunction with the insulated fermentation box I built. I just checked the temp after not touching it for a few days and the wine is right around 100 degrees F. Am I totally screwed? Checked my SG and it's right at 1.000, so at least the yeast died while finishing their job. Do I need to get it off the yeast right away since the temp got so high? If it's not one thing it's another, at least it was a red wine.

wow that is hot.

You may lose some of the more volatile and fragile flavours that tend to be on the fruit profile side and probably have damaged it somewhat but it should still be okay. Try it.

Remember there is a lot of options with mediocrity

Sangria for instance

1 part wine
1 part orange juice
1 part ice

Rack it at will as the lees will harbour a lot of your H2S compounds and be a possible source of mercaptan development.