Rubber/vinyl taste and smell

[Stonks]

Hello everyone. First time mead brewer here may have a bit of a situation. Currently have 5 gallons of mead in my fermenting bucket. Its been 5 days since I followed the below recipe (sunday). 6kg of unpasteurized honey Distilled water to fill the bucket to 5 gallons 5 cinnamon sticks Approx. 8g of champagne lavlin ec1118 yeast. Approx. 4-5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient Approx. 3 teaspoons of yeast energizer. I used oxiclean versatile cleaner (perfume, dye, chlorine bleach free) to clean my equipment And 1step, no rinse cleaner to sanitize my equipment. I threw in all of the yeast nutrient and energizer on the first day and did not spread it out over the days. The airlock was bubbling really well for the first three days and yesterday it slowed down. I opened it up on the second and third day to degass a bit, and yesterday also. When I opened it yesterday it smelled of rubber and I tasted a bit and tasted like rubber too. I will say its only been 5 days since I started out so could this just be an aging thing and I need to be patient. I really hope its that because I cant really afford to do this all again. I took a gravity sample when I started it was 1.118 now its 1.078 so thats about what? 5% alcohol so far. Anyway just wondering about the rubber smell and if I should be worried my yeast might've died or are slowing down because the airlock has stopped bubbling.

UPDATE:

Racked it into a secondary about 2 weeks after I started this batch in the primary.

I am going to keep it in the secondary for 3 weeks or so and put it into bottles. I hope the taste continues to mellow out, the taste was better and the rubber/vinyl taste is almost no longer with us (when I tasted it while putting it into the secondary). I honestly think it had something to do with adding the cinnamon in the primary.

I will say I'm currently brewing another batch (1 gallon) of mead. I found a local honey source and it's been 4 days since it's been fermenting. I purchased star san and was adamant about cleaning this time (almost too much). I also have been stretching out the yeast nutrient/energizer regiment and degassing more than my first batch. I'm at the same point in this batch as I was in the first batch when I started to smell the vinyl smell. I am proud to say this batch smells and tastes waaaay better at this point. I hope it even gets better! haah

 

[Culinarytracker]

Is there a possibility that it is a phenolic off flavor developing? I'm not sure if that will age out, but I'd let the yeast do it's thing for a while and see how it comes out.

 

[Coookies58]

Sounds kind of like autolysis. If that is the case there is no fixing that. However, you aren’t done with fermentation yet. I’d let it run its course and then see what you have.

 

[Stonks]

So fermentation started again (it probably never stopped in the first place) the airlock is bubbling again after about 4 days of standstill.

Im going to wait another 6 days or so and then rack it into a carboy.

Thanks guys. Hopefully the smell mellows after aging

 

[IslandLizard]

Moderator's note:
I moved this thread to the Mead forum, that's where questions about Meads belong, and where the Mead experts live to give you best advice.

There may be a few possible causes for the weird smells.
Fermentation itself can throw off some strange smells. With time many will usually dissipate.

Are you controlling the ferm temps? Fermenting at higher temps are usually the main cause of off smells and flavors, and they usually do not dissipate or completely. Fusel alcohols (e.g., rubbing/cleaning alcohol flavors and aromas) are notorious byproducts from higher temp fermentations, and tenacious.

Fermentation is an exothermic process, it creates heat, so you need to actively cool the fermenter down, such as putting it in a cool area, like a basement or so, using a swamp cooler, or inside a temp controlled refrigerator or freezer (ferm chamber). That will prevent it from rampaging out of control. Once the fermentation slows down, you can raise the temps slowly, or just let her finish out at room temps as long as they're steady.
Altogether a good mead fermentation will take a few weeks, not mere days.

 

[Stonks]

Moderator's note:
I moved this thread to the Mead forum, that's where questions about Meads belong, and where the Mead experts live to give you best advice.

There may be a few possible causes for the weird smells.
Fermentation itself can throw off some strange smells. With time many will usually dissipate.

Are you controlling the ferm temps? Fermenting at higher temps are usually the main cause of off smells and flavors, and they usually do not dissipate or completely. Fusel alcohols (e.g., rubbing/cleaning alcohol flavors and aromas) are notorious byproducts from higher temp fermentations, and tenacious.

Fermentation is an exothermic process, it creates heat, so you need to actively cool the fermenter down, such as putting it in a cool area, like a basement or so, using a swamp cooler, or inside a temp controlled refrigerator or freezer (ferm chamber). That will prevent it from rampaging out of control. Once the fermentation slows down, you can raise the temps slowly, or just let her finish out at room temps as long as they're steady.
Altogether a good mead fermentation will take a few weeks, not mere days.

I can't see it being the temps, the fermenter is in the basement and its sitting at around 18-23 degrees Celsius (Canadian here). Im going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and say it was due to just the regular fermenting smells of yeast and that it was literally onoy 3 days into fermentation. I'll keep everyone updated over the next few weeks.

I'll heed your advice and keep it in the fermenting bucket a little longer than a couple weeks before I rack it into a carboy.

And thank you for moving the thread over to this side of the forum.

Best.

 

[IslandLizard]

I can't see it being the temps, the fermenter is in the basement and its sitting at around 18-23 degrees Celsius (Canadian here). Im going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and say it was due to just the regular fermenting smells of yeast and that it was literally onoy 3 days into fermentation. I'll keep everyone updated over the next few weeks.

I'll heed your advice and keep it in the fermenting bucket a little longer than a couple weeks before I rack it into a carboy.

And thank you for moving the thread over to this side of the forum.

Best.

18C is a much better temp to ferment mead at than 23C. Keeping steady temps is also important, to prevent her from stalling prematurely, as the alcohol levels rise.
Many mead makers ferment at (low) 15-16C (60F) to keep fermentation byproducts to an absolute minimum, for a cleaner tasting mead. Don't forget, honey is mostly simple sugars, yeast can convert that without much effort until the abundance of alcohol starts to poison her. That's why the fermenting the last few points can take weeks. She's also conditioning during that latter phase, all beneficial for the flavor of what you'll be drinking later.

You're also fermenting your cinnamon sticks, they can also be part of some weird smells you're experiencing.
Using real Cinnamon (thin, paper-like bark in many layers) or Cassia (1-2mm thick bark, in a single to 1.5 curled layer)?

 

[Stonks]

I purchased a no name cinnamon from the grocery store. I am going to assume it's the cheaper of the two (Cassia). I just hope my mead is drinkable at the end of the day because I made so much. I recently purchased a bunch of smaller carboys so I can mess around with a bunch of different varieties and flavours. I really like mead and hope to get better with practice at this hobby.