Banana wine smells of sulfur, where did I go wrong?

[Jelmi]

So tonight I poured about 1,5 gallon of Banana wine down the drain because it smelled like sulfur really, really REALLY bad

Can you guys help me where I might have gone wrong?

My summarized notes are as follows (metric units):

Day 1 (28-12-2015)
Boil bananas without peels for about 1 hour. Add the "cooking juice",
0.25 gram campden, 1 lemon, 1 oragne, 3 gram tannine, 5 gram yeast nutrient, sugar (1483 grams) and citric acid (bring up to 6 g/L) into fermesntion bucket. Add yeast starter (been "starting" for about 2 days on apple juice). Total volume: 7,5 Liter.
SG is 1.080 by adding 1266 grams of sugar.

Day 2 - 8
Stir daily. Vigorous fermentation and quite some foam on top. Add remaining sugar in stages.

Day 8
SG is now 1021 and fermentation has calmed down. rack into carboy leaving sediment behind. Put under airlock.

Day 30
Airlock has slowed down, wanting to check SG to see how fermentation was going. Smelled awful, bye bye must/wine.

Where could I have gone wrong?! If you need more details just ask!

Ps also setup a pear wine last week based on juice, smelled like sulfur as well. Bye bye pear wine...

 

[madscientist451]

What yeast did you use? What temperature did you ferment at?
What was the gravity when you dumped it?
Same questions for the pear wine.....

 

[drainbamage]

What yeast? Some will give that sulfuric smell, but it is a natural byproduct of fermentation and does go away with time. Don't dump it yet!

 

[Jelmi]

Oh shoot I didn't measure the SG before dumping :smack:

As a byprodu t, it it supposed to stink up the whole kitchen? I mean it was really awful!

I've used Bioferm Killer yeast, which has given me 2 beautiful other wines (apple/cherry and elderflower).

 

[Jelmi]

One of the reasons for sulfur smell would be slow fermentation. In the banana wine as well as the pear wine I have added yeast nutrient according to the specs on the label (3 g per 5 liters), but that might be too much for my yeast. Would that be a possible explaination? Could that cause slow fermentation? My pear wine wasn't even a week old and already stank up the place.

I realised thuis because in my 2 succesfull wines (same yeast) I have uses far less or no nutrient at all, only in the yeast starter.

I'm looking forward to hearing your tips and investigating this further. Thanks in advance!

 

[drainbamage]

Sorry, I forgot to respond back last night. I haven't used that strain, but I've picked up that sulfur smell from using Montrachet on apfelwein. I left it in the fermenter for 3 months to ferment and clear, and the farty smell was still faint but present at bottling time. Another month in the bottle, and no sulfur.

I would think it to be a byproduct of stressed yeast and slow fermentation, so additional yeast nutrient would actually help matters. Maybe my rationale is wrong though?

 

[Jelmi]

Thanks for your response. Was the Montrachet bad smell really strong? I guess next time I'll ride it out a few months. The smell started developing in the carboy under airlock.

Do I have to rack it though?

I'll check again on the ratio, but that should be fine.

Thanks again!

 

[drainbamage]

It wasn't room-clearing stench or anything, but I also didn't take off the airlock and take a good breath during peak fermentation. It was more of just a whiff like a stale fart when I walked by. It was there a little bit less when I bottled (which concerned me), but when I opened the first one, the smell was gone. Of course, that recipe is simple as can be, no yeast nutrient or other additives. YMMV depending on what else is in there.

When I get home, I'll pop the airlock on my current batch (9 days in the carboy) and let you know how it smells. You know...for science.

 

[drainbamage]

I checked on the apfelwein. There's a slight whiff of sulfur but again, nothing overpowering.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Did you leave the must in the same fermenter for more than 30 days? Your notes do not mention a racking?

Get the rotten fruit out of the wine (or get the wine off the rotten fruit) as soon as fermentation slows down (1.010 or so).

 

[Jelmi]

No I was planning to rack it (on day 30), that's why I opened the carboy up and discovered the smell.

Before the carboy it was in my primary fermentation bucket for 8 days, and I have racked off the lees/rotting fruit.

 

[BlackSundog]

Sorry, I forgot to respond back last night. I haven't used that strain, but I've picked up that sulfur smell from using Montrachet on apfelwein. I left it in the fermenter for 3 months to ferment and clear, and the farty smell was still faint but present at bottling time. Another month in the bottle, and no sulfur.

I would think it to be a byproduct of stressed yeast and slow fermentation, so additional yeast nutrient would actually help matters. Maybe my rationale is wrong though?

The proverbial "Rhino Farts" talked about on this forum?

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Did you add any yeast nutrient to the must? It sounds like the yeast was stressed.

 

[Jelmi]

Thanks for your replies. In the meantime. I've started 2 new wines: strawberries (frozen) and cherries (frozen).

And of course... Both have smells of sulfur, and the strawberry wine has it worse. Almost like burned rubber.

Summarized notes on the cherry wine:

• 1.5 kg cherries
• 1 tsp peco enzymes
• 0.2 gram campden

Day 1: added peco enzymes with the 0.2 g campden.

Day 2:Add 4 liters of boiled (and cooled) water + sugar to put the SG up to 1.082. Added yeast starter and it's go time! (all this in my bucket)

Day 4: Vigorous fermantation is over, SG is down to 1.070. Added more sugar to put it up to 1.082. Removed the fruit and racked into glass carboy + airlock.

Day 9: There is very much sediment (almost 3 cm) on the bottom. Mayvbe too early to rack but I'll take the chance to get it off the sediment. Added 0.3 gr campden.

Day 10: Sulfur smell starts to appear

Day 14: SG is now at 1.050. Sulfur smell is still there and noticable in when having a sip for tasting. 0.5cm of sediment on bottom.

--

Summarized notes on the strawberry wine (which now smells of burned rubber):

• 1.25 kg starwberries (frozen)
• 2.2 gr pecto enzymes
• 0.3 gr campden

Day 1: Fruit and pecto enzymes in the primary bucket

Day 2: Add sugar to put SG up to 1.100 and add 2.6 gr yeast nutrient. Add yeast starter. Stir daily.

Day 6: SG is at 1.060

Day 7: Add 0.1 gr campden and pour through funnel and cheese cloth into glass carboy. Add airlock, it doesn't show activity for the first few hours. SG is at 1.052

Day 12: Quite strong sulfur smell starts to appear. Wine is fizzing up like soda with a small white layer of krausen on top.

Day 22: Still has burned rubber smell, still fizzing away. SG is now at 1.024. When tasting a sample the burned rubber smell is overwhelming!
About 1 cm of sediment at the bottom.

--

What to do, what to do? Should I rack both wines again to get it off the sediment (and hopefully the smell) or just ride it out for a few months and see what happens?

Both wines are fermenting in my living room around 15 - 21 degrees Celsius.

Oh and Pumpkinman, to answer your question: yes I did add nutrient to the banana and pear wine.

Thanks guys! I'm really hoping to find out what the problem is.

 

[roberto188]

BTW, I've brewed a number of wines and gotten sulfur smell, and bad. The way to fix it, is when you rack it, to simply put a thin copper tube in your racking line and when the wine goes over the copper tube, it reacts the sulfur and the smell is gone. It's like magic.