Infection?

Well, I'm a little stumped on this one. I started a cider the other day. I used 1.5gal of blackberry juice (pasteurized store bought - can't remember the brand), and the rest with Walmart cheapo apple juice. I did not use campden tablets. But immediately pitched a packet of Red Star Montrachet. Fermentation took off after a few hours, and was relatively slow throughout the evening. Yesterday I noticed that there were some large bubbles on top of the carboy. But just figured it was either the pulp or the yeast rising to the top. See picture below...

Today I noticed that this krausen is gone, and it's fermenting just like any other wine yeast. However, I now smell something.... My smelling isn't super good. I can't tell if it's just the smell of the blackberry juice fermenting or if it's the smell of sulphur / dirty diapers...

Anyone have any input???

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...doesn't look like infection to me. If there's a sulphur smell happening it might be because of lack of nutrients available to the yeast. A little DAP could help here.

 

Well, I did use 5 tsp of nutrient... Along with pectic enzyme. I guess I could boil some water and add some.


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Looks pretty tasty to me . . . I've got a few pounds of native blackberries in the freezer, and I am now feeling inspired to puree and mix them with some apple juice - add some yeast, and see what happens.

 

Well, maybe it's just me. Boiled about half a cup of water, added some Fermax, poured it in.... Boom! Foam over.... Got it stirred up, and degassed as best I could. Then popped the airlock back on.

The foam over tastes ok, from what I could tell... Wasn't going to slurp it out of the towel (but I did think about it)....

Maybe I am just not used to the smell of the blackberries fermenting.... One more reason to switch over to an ale yeast. I heard Montrachet was bad about producing sulphur. I guess as long as it isn't noticeable in the final product I should be ok. I'll have to taste a sample before bottling. I was planning on carbing this, so we'll see. May be a dead horse, may be a butterfly. Too soon to tell I think...


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I probably would have sucked it out of the towel (just to help remove the stain -of course) . . . I used Montrachet in an Apfelwein that I started back in June, and it had that odious 'rotten-egg' smell during the intial fermentation, but it cleared itself out eventually. I used no nutrient or other additive to my mix - just apple juice (Mott's), light brown sugar (which may have helped contribute to the odor) and Montrachet. We shared some over the holiday and it was delicious - no off flavors, or smells at all.

I am by no means an expert, but I believe that the sulphur smell is an indication of something wrong if detected at the end of fermentation more than it is at the beginning. The yeast should clean things up for you over time, though it may take several months to finish.

Good luck with your cider, and let us know how it turns out . . . as I said, you have inspired me to put some of my blackberries to task.

 

Will do. I'm still getting a slow bubble, which isn't a big deal, as I normally let my wines stay in primary for a month or longer. But after a month I'll probably bottle this, and try it at bottling and every few days to get an idea of where I stand. Honestly I haven't had much luck this season. I had an ale that got too hot during fermentation and finished with a awful taste. I had another that popped the airlock and gave me a nice new paint job in the closet. Then I had this one....still to be determined.... This just isn't my year so far...


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