Argentum
Active Member
All, I know there are a lot of posts on sulfur odors in cider, but I haven't found an answer to these two particular questions:
For background: I started a 2-gallon batch of cider about 10 days ago. I used apple cider, apricot and peach juices (all 100% juice, no preservatives), and also dissolved 1# Belgian candi sugar in about 2 cups of the mixture. OG was about 1.07. I pitched an entire packet of Montrachet yeast into the 2 gallons. After a few days there was a noticeable sulfur smell coming from the fermenting bucket (which I think does not have an airtight seal). Within the following week the smell largely abated...until I opened the fermenter to take a gravity reading. Then I got a strong whiff of sulfur, but after that, nothing. The FG is something around 1.008, so the ABV is pretty high and that's what this smells like - winey and alcoholy. I DID still think I detected a sulfur smell when I swirled the sample, so I splash-racked the cider to a secondary and aerated a little. I figured if that cures the sulfur smell great, if it won't work and further oxidizes my stinky cider, I'm no worse off.
I put the sample I took in a separate container in my fridge and it seems to still be giving off an initial sulfur smell when I open the container, but again it becomes unnoticeable after the container is opened.
Here are my two questions: first, is the apparent abatement of the smell any reason to hope that in time, it will go away completely, either because I racked it or because it just will? For example, might this smell just be the result of the yeast "cleaning up" after itself post-fermentation? Or is this batch shot?
Second, what if I were to add more juice to the secondary, and allow it to ferment as well? I know (from these forums) that H2S is detectable in extremely small amounts, but if I can only detect the smell after it's been in a closed container for a while, might more juice make it undetectable?
Any advice would be appreciated - thanks!
For background: I started a 2-gallon batch of cider about 10 days ago. I used apple cider, apricot and peach juices (all 100% juice, no preservatives), and also dissolved 1# Belgian candi sugar in about 2 cups of the mixture. OG was about 1.07. I pitched an entire packet of Montrachet yeast into the 2 gallons. After a few days there was a noticeable sulfur smell coming from the fermenting bucket (which I think does not have an airtight seal). Within the following week the smell largely abated...until I opened the fermenter to take a gravity reading. Then I got a strong whiff of sulfur, but after that, nothing. The FG is something around 1.008, so the ABV is pretty high and that's what this smells like - winey and alcoholy. I DID still think I detected a sulfur smell when I swirled the sample, so I splash-racked the cider to a secondary and aerated a little. I figured if that cures the sulfur smell great, if it won't work and further oxidizes my stinky cider, I'm no worse off.
I put the sample I took in a separate container in my fridge and it seems to still be giving off an initial sulfur smell when I open the container, but again it becomes unnoticeable after the container is opened.
Here are my two questions: first, is the apparent abatement of the smell any reason to hope that in time, it will go away completely, either because I racked it or because it just will? For example, might this smell just be the result of the yeast "cleaning up" after itself post-fermentation? Or is this batch shot?
Second, what if I were to add more juice to the secondary, and allow it to ferment as well? I know (from these forums) that H2S is detectable in extremely small amounts, but if I can only detect the smell after it's been in a closed container for a while, might more juice make it undetectable?
Any advice would be appreciated - thanks!