is this normal?

[beerninja]

So i just transferred my blackberry mead to the secondary. and it smells like rotten fruit. but it taste ok. should i be worried?

 

[mccann51]

Can you be a bit more descriptive? Is it a sulfur smell? Medicinal? Rubbery?

 

[commonsenseman]

What was your process? How long was the fruit in it? Did you push the cap down? Frozen or fresh fruit?

It's possible it was actually spoiled.

 

[beerninja]

well i brought the honey and fresh fruit up to a boil for about 15 min strained the black berries into the fermenter and let it go for about a month. i used dry champagne yest with yest nutrients.

as for more descriptive...the best i can think to describe it would be rotten fruit. as if someone had left a bowl of fruit out for about a week. thats what it smells like

 

[brewingmeister]

Odd that you say it tasted good but smelled bad. Those two are generally connected. Since you didn't actually put the fruit in the fermenter it seems unlikely there is some sort of fruit rot happening. The mead is only a month old so it is young and likely still active. Did you have a bunch of fruit sediment in there? Still cloudy?

-cheers

 

[beerninja]

yeah it still very cloudy. its really pink (dark red black berrys and yellow honey) so it looks like a cosmo...the wife loves it. and im really surprised i still get a lot of bubbles and i can see small bubbles in the Jug coming to the surface. anyway thanks for the help

 

[commonsenseman]

I'm no expert but it sounds to me like it just needs more time.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Mead is always really gassy. As the co2 off gasses the smell will improve. some meads take up to a year to get to where you really love 'em. If possible remove a small amount and de-gas it. then see if the aroma has improved

 

[BBBF]

I made a blueberry hydromel that smelled like garbage, but tasted fine. I could never explain why.

 

[beerninja]

huh...cool thanks