2 weeks in - horrible smell

2 weeks into fermenting in my primary.

I only have a primary and bottling bucket. Should i buy a secondary and rack it off?

Right now it smells horribly of sulfur. I was going to bottle it today, but after smelling it I decided against it.

I used unpasteurized cider. I used campden tablets to sterilize it. Should i rack it off or let it hang out in the primary longer?

Silly question. If you take the sample out of the carboy and let it sit in a glass for a second, what is the smell then? YOu may just be getting the co2 "kick". THough I would usually call it closer to ammonia. More of a sting to your nose.

stackoverflow said:

2 weeks into fermenting in my primary.

I only have a primary and bottling bucket. Should i buy a secondary and rack it off?

Right now it smells horribly of sulfur. I was going to bottle it today, but after smelling it I decided against it.

I used unpasteurized cider. I used campden tablets to sterilize it. Should i rack it off or let it hang out in the primary longer?

Click to expand...

If it smells that bad, you want to try to get rid of the H2S if you can. You'll want to try "splash racking" into the bottling bucket and then back into a carboy. Untreated, H2S will ruin the cider. Here's Jack Keller's advice (from his site) on how to try to get rid of it: Rotten-Egg Smell: Hydrogen-sulfide gas manifests itself as the smell of rotten eggs. Pour the must or wine from one container to another for a few minutes to aerate it. Refit the airlock and wait a few hours. If the smell persists, repeat the procedure. If the smell persists after four such procedures, destroy the batch.

It was NOT smelling up the whole room.

*i made a typo before!

To clarify i was smelling the air-lock.

I took some out to take the gravity. It looks like it ate all the sugar because that gravity is at 1.0.

It doesnt smell horrible in a glass. Pretty bitter, not too sweet.

When i got to bottle i was going to add 3/4 cup honey. Do you think this will add any sweetness? Or is it simply food for the bubbles?

I tasted some and it wasnt horrible. Im considering bottling it up tonight or tomorrow.

Once its in the bottles wont the smell be locked in? Do you think the smell will lessen any during racking it to the bottling bucket? Like i said its not quite horrible at the moment. The air lock did smell awful tho.

Maybe it isnt a sulfur smell. Its definitely a very sharp smell.

stackoverflow said:

It was smelling up the whole room.

To clarify i was smelling the air-lock.

I took some out to take the gravity. It looks like it at all the sugar because that gravity is at 1.0.

It doesnt smell horrible in a glass. Pretty bitter, not too sweet.

When i got to bottle i was going to add 3/4 cup honey. Do you think this will add any sweetness? Or is it simply food for the bubbles?

I tasted some and it wasnt horrible. Im considering bottling it up tonight or tomorrow.

Once its in the bottles wont the smell be locked in? Do you think the smell will lessen any during racking it to the bottling bucket? Like i said its not quite horrible at the moment. The air lock did smell awful tho.

Maybe it isnt a sulfur smell. Its definitely a very sharp smell.

Click to expand...

If it's at 1.000, it's probably not done. I'd rack it (to get rid of some of the possible H2S) and let it ferment out, to avoid bottle bombs.

I almost always have some sulfur smell the first two or three weeks. By six weeks the sulfur is gone and the cider is smelling pleasantly fermented-appley.

It will probably dissipate on its own, but to make sure you could do as Yooper suggests and rack or splash-rack it, put the airlock back on, and give it a little more time. If it tastes OK now, I'm betting it will only get better.

It tastes pretty good. The smell is the only thing i didnt like.

Can i leave it in the primary for another 2 weeks? Its been in there for 2 weeks.

Sure. You can leave it for two months if you want. The rhino fart smell will go away with time.

It wont get off flavors from being left in there?

Nope. I left one for 6 months - the yeast compacted so much that there was a sort of "crack" down the centre like some sort of undersea rock feature. Tasted great.

it sounds like stack has a pretty basic kit though, which means he is probably using a plastic primary bucket? i, personally, wouldn't leave it in a plastic bucket for more than a month or so, just because it stains the hell out of the bucket, then you really need to replace the bucket. i would just pay the 30 bucks for a nice 5 gallon class carboy. rack your cider into that, maybe toss in a small handful of toasted oak chips, and forget it for a few more weeks.
don't get me wrong, i have several plastic fermentors and use them all the time, i just rack out of them quickly in order to get longer life out of the bucket. i have 4 and i use them for one year, then they get turned into maple sap collection buckets.

that smell happens from time to time, especially with apple cider (also common in lagers) as long as it isn't overpowering the room or ferment area, not much to worry about.

Will the smell go away once its in a secondary?

it should, perhaps not within an hour of racking, but soon.
funny story, the first time i ever made cider, i went and sniffed the airlock after 5 days or so. horribe rotten egg smell! after brewing lots of beer, i figured something was seriously wrong. talked to a professional vintner friend of mine and he said "well, your yeast must be stressed, aerate the hell out of it" so, in my panic, i churned the hell out of that bucket. smell went away. later learned that apples are known to thow off hydrogen sulfide, and i actually aerated after fermentation was over. most people (myself at the time) are afraid to even splash their brew for fear of oxidation, yet, there i was churning it like i was making butter. cider turned out great.
what i learned was while sanitation is important, as well as most of the other procedures described on these boards, there is more wiggle room in those procedures than is regularly discussed.
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