First Cider - Smells Like rotten Eggs!!! HELP!

Okay I am starting my first hard cider and am having a slight problem...

I got 5 gal of apple cider (no preservatives no pasteurization) from my local cider mill and put it in a 6.5 gal carboy (no campden tabs). I started a culture of Danstar Windsor 11g dry yeast in 1 qt of the same cider and after 24 hours pitched it into the carboy. I pitched last night and when I got home from work today the whole basement smelled like rotten eggs!!!

I am guessing this is hydrogrn sulfide.

1. Is this a property of the yeast or did I do something very very wrong?
2. Will it go away?
3. Dear god when?
4. and is it safe or should I remove it from the basement?

And I present to you the 'rhino fart'. Some yeasts produce a fair amount of sulphur during the early phases of fermentation. I noticed that your cider isn't pasteurized- did you add K-meta (potassium metabisulfide) to kill any wild yeasts?

You have the famous Rhino farts! Don't worry, it's fine and they will go away in a few days. Some yeasts produce that smell but it won't hurt you or the cider. I have not tried it but yeast nutrient supposedly lessens the smell considerably.

Every Thing should be fine

I usually get some sulphur smalls during primary fermentation
Usually goes away within a week or so

Some yeast strains do have some funny smells (and apple wines and ciders often do that) but if it's extreme, it might very well be H2S. H2S doesn't come until later in the fermentation, though. What I would do now is get down there and stir it up well to aerate and maybe dissipate some of that smell. If it persists after a week, though, I would treat it.

From Jack Keller's site, I found some suggestions to get rid of H2S:
How to Treat Hydrogen-Sulphide

Hydrogen sulfide does much more than impart off-smells and flavors to wine. Hydrogen sulfide can be detected by smell in quantities as low as 2 parts per billion. It can usually be dissipated during the first 2-3 weeks after its production begins by racking and aerating the wine. After several weeks, it tends to react with other components in the wine to form less volatile mercaptans, which themselves can be further oxidized to disulfides. These latter compounds are almost impossible to remove from wine by stripping methods, and their presence in the wine makes it undrinkable. Both mercaptans and disulfides have a notable skunk-like smell.

Hydrogen sulfide is usually formed after fermentation has concluded and detected when the wine is racked. If the hydrogen sulfide has not sat in the wine too long, it can be treated with a maximum measure of 0.5 ppm of copper, the amount contained in 0.75 ml of a 1% solution of copper sulfate pentahydrate added to a gallon of wine. The hydrogen sulfide should be gone within two days and the wine can be treated normally. However, it will take about 3 rackings, 20-30 days apart, to remove all excess copper from the wine. If not removed, the copper itself can taint the wine.

The amounts of copper sulfate pentahydrate used are so small, and the risks to fatally damaging the wine by adding too much are so real, that it is impractical to treat small amounts (less than 5 gallons) of wine. The preferred treatment is still to add sulfur dioxide in the form of potassium metabisulfite solution (see Measuring Additives in Winemaking) and then rack the wine with plenty of aeration to drive off the H2S.

A proprietary compound called Sulfex can also be used to treat hydrogen sulfide formation. It comes as a 10% slurry in water and is added to wine at the rate of 0.5-5 grams per gallon. It is insoluble and settles out without leaving any traces in the wine if subsequently racked properly at least twice. I have never used it but have heard it works well.

I'd skip the steps with copper, and go right to adding k-meta (campden) and splash racking if it's persistent after fermentation finishes.

It is normal, I always get rhino farts when making cider.

I just had to laugh when I read the original post. I made a 3 gallon batch of EdWort's Apfelwein several weeks ago and within a few days the whole basement smelled like ass. At first I thought it was the dog (always, always blame the dog) but then when I sniffed the airlock (big mistake) I realized that was the apfelwein. The basement smell subsided within a week but the smell in the bucket lasted near to a whole month. At 6 weeks, I opened the fermenter, smelled inside and took a taste.... no more fart smell. The wine tasted great too.

Thanks guys! I will check it again in a few days and see if it has lessened...mean time, no video games in the basement i guess LOL!!!

(Nice mibrewer...I don't have a dog, but my first reaction was to blame my husband though!!

brewdragon said:

Thanks guys! I will check it again in a few days and see if it has lessened...mean time, no video games in the basement i guess LOL!!!

(Nice mibrewer...I don't have a dog, but my first reaction was to blame my husband though!!

Click to expand...

That's funny you should say that, I think womens' noses don't work so well.... they always let one go and then "Oh, that didn't smell!"

After a long time you get used to it. But then again it kind of rough on visitors.
The good news is its normal, enjoy the cider in a few to many months.

Ok. So I didn't know this was the case. I made 5 gallons of cider and it smells exactly as you guys describe it. Exactly what I imagine a rhino fart would smell like. Fermentation stopped. I racked it to a corny about 1/2 an hour ago. It's been fermenting close to three, maybe four weeks. Bubbling stopped yesterday. The valve on the corny is closed...should I open it? It still smelled like sulfur and didn't taste all that great to me. Anyone got any suggestions? Let it sit? Dump it? Treat it with something?

Keep in mind there are many of other microbes in the world besides yeast. MostSalmonella species and Clostridium dificile , to name a few, also produce hydrogen sulfide. Remember that unlike when you are brewing beer you do need to worry about pathogenic bacteria in ciders or wine.

Nerdrock7 said:

Keep in mind there are many of other microbes in the world besides yeast. MostSalmonella species and Clostridium dificile , to name a few, also produce hydrogen sulfide. Remember that unlike when you are brewing beer you do need to worry about pathogenic bacteria in ciders or wine.

Click to expand...

Really? I was under the impression that in cider and wine the alcohol content got so high that the bugs that could make you really sick couldn't survive. Besides, my laziness has made my cider pretty damn good. I went to go keg a beer and needed a clean keg. When I opened the corny I was surprised to not smell Rhino Farts that I decided to taste it. It was fantastic! I primed it and am waiting for the bubbly now....its only been a year but I did go to the orchard last week and got another five gallons and have fifteen gallons of Concord wine fermenting in the garage!

So....I just brewed my first Ed Wort cider batch and guess what? I have the dreaded Rhino Farts smell. Now, I can totally deal with it but I have to live with 3 females (1 wife, 2 daughters) and they aren't as amenable to the smell. I have read every thread on this and I know it will go away but damn, can't the girls throw us an occasional sulfur bone?

Just let it set a few months. It will be fantastic.

We're making our first batch of hard cider. I'm glad I came to this forum... I came home and 'BOOM', who's been farting here all day, I took out the trash scrubbed the floors and cleaned the garbage disposal when I tracked it to our the fermentor. We have the 'Rhino Farts'. I figured it was part of the process, but the girl had her concerns. It's been in for a week and it's still bubblin' and fermenting and the smell is dying down.

We bought 5 gal. of unpasteurized cider with no preservatives in the Apple Hill area of California, then added 4 sulfite tablets, pitched a Cali Pale Ale yeast, then added 2 lbs. of organic cane sugar.

Since this is our first hard cider, I have a couple of questions:

Do you prime it and bottle it like regular beer with priming sugar?
How long should it sit in 2nd ferment?
How long should it sit in the bottle?
Will the yellowish-brownish hue clarify after 2nd ferment?

Thank you-all good posts here!

The yellowish will clear in a couple weeks. You can leave your cider in the first fermenter until clear. The put in the 2nd fermenter. Before bottling I'd flavor it. I've never bottled beer before, but I bottled my cider, I took it from my secondary and into the bottles, added a little less than a teaspoon of corn sugar, pasteurized them, then capped them and let them sit for a week.

I’ve never had the rhino fart smell until my latest batch of cider. It’s been 4 weeks and it still smells. I’ve racked it to a different carboy and put the airlock back on. I have it in the garage and the temp is between 30 and 70 (crazy Texas winters...)

It doesn’t taste too bad, but I have to hold my breath to drink it. Will it go away even after this long? I’m ready to keg it and drink it! Will campden kill the smell???

Nope! But copper and aeration will if you have a bit of potassium based campden. sodium should work also but I can't say for sure. The sulfite is the active thing here. Learned this here Another sulphur smell problem this is a direct link to the nuclear option to fix this. cleared mine right up. I probably got this half wrong but the info from this guy is spot on

Glad I could help!

Potassium metabisulfite is generally preferred because potassium is flavor-neutral, unlike sodium. However they both work equally well.

thewurzel said:

Every Thing should be fine

I usually get some sulphur smalls during primary fermentation
Usually goes away within a week or so

Click to expand...

This thread is hilarious! The OP is practically choking on it, and then he gets a few responses like the one I quoted here. I mean, you must really want that cider a lot to put up with a smell like that for "a week or so" or "It’s been 4 weeks and it still smells"! If this were to happen to me, I'm certain that on Day #1 my family would unanimously vote to dump it.

The part about the pathogens is interesting though. Why are pathogens not a concern with beer but is a pososible concern with cider?

NeverDie said:

Why are pathogens not a concern with beer but is a pososible concern with cider?

Click to expand...

They aren't. The info posted by that member was false.

I had the sulfur smell with my first big batch, too; it went away during secondary fermentation. I'm laughing because when I was a beginner (I still am; it hasn't been more than six months that I've been doing this), I was throwing Montrachet yeast into everything, often with bad results. I did an experiment with different yeasts and juices. The cider with Montrachet didn't taste too good, but I didn't discard it. I just finished a five-gallon batch of fresh juice with Wyeast Sweet Mead and Cider for hubs, who likes his cider sweet and uncomplicated. While I was at it, I took a taste of the juice with Montrachet. It's fantastic! Very dry and complex. I finally found a good use for Montrachet.

RPh_Guy said:

They aren't. The info posted by that member was false.

Click to expand...

Vinegar is a worry, though.

Who was courageous enough to find out what a Dino fart smell like???

I guess, the good news is that if you smell it, everything is working good. No smell should be a problem, right?

Cidre Breton said:

No smell should be a problem, right?

Click to expand...

Trust me, hydrogen sulfide is a problem you want to avoid. Not only is the aroma unpleasant, but the flavor is quite noticable as well -- even at low levels it worsens a cider, and it can form other unpleasant sulfur compounds (mercaptans) that are difficult or impossible to remove.

It can be prevented with a healthy fermentation and it can be removed by copper and/or aeration. Also, rack off of the lees as soon as fermention completes if you get some sulfide during fermention.

Thank you for the info