H2S smell in bottle

[doublejef]

Hi there,

Another story of rhino fart.
I have a cider, pressed one year ago, naturally fermented slow, racked a few time to take the lees away (fine and gross).
When ready to bottle, I noticed a clear sulfur smell. I made some research and it would be a result of "reduction". This is quite commun in the wine world and mostly due to long contact between wine and lees.
Before bottling I tought adding some chemical to take it away but finally chose to keep it untouched hopping it will go with the aeration of th bottling process. It didn't.

Now I'm wondering, is it any chance that it will disappear even though it's trapped into the bottle ?
I think I know the answer yes but if someone has a good story to tell, I will love it.

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

You say "SO2" in the subject line, but what does it actually smell like? (Try to use terms other than sulfur or rhino fart for more clarity.)

 

[doublejef]

I would definitly say sewer, dirty sink.

 

[VikeMan]

I would definitly say sewer, dirty sink.

That sounds to me like H2S (rather than SO2). Generally, H2S it will go away over time, due to oxygen (and/or certain trace metals) dissolved in the beer/cider.

 

[doublejef]

That sounds to me like H2S (rather than SO2). Generally, H2S it will go away over time, due to oxygen (and/or certain trace metals) dissolved in the beer/cider.

You're right sorry, I change the tittle.
By the way, I already had some H2S smell in my cider and it've always gone away but it wasn't trapped in bottled with nearly no oxygene (nearly only CO2 as it is carbonated cider).

 

[doublejef]

So anyone thinks this smell can disappear even if it is trapped in the bottle ?

 

[CKuhns]

The smell will go away given enough time. The smell is from stressed yeast producing Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). H2S is notoriously unstable and in the presence of water ultimately converts to a week acid. In very low ppm levels from fermentation not an issue.

Note most people can smell H2S at <0.5 ppm.

Here is a good article talking about options to remove the smell:
https://www.homecidermaking.com/why-does-my-cider-smell-like-sulfur/

 

[doublejef]

The smell will go away given enough time. The smell is from stressed yeast producing Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). H2S is notoriously unstable and in the presence of water ultimately converts to a week acid. In very low ppm levels from fermentation not an issue.

Note most people can smell H2S at <0.5 ppm.

Here is a good article talking about options to remove the smell:
https://www.homecidermaking.com/why-does-my-cider-smell-like-sulfur/

Thanks for your answer.

Good article indeed but some points are not in accordance with what I'm facing.

- It is not related to fermentation or at least not the first stage of fermentation because the smell has appeared more than 6 month after fermentation ended. Even if I racked the cider several times so very few lies left on the bottom, I'm suspecting reduction phenomenon.
- The article says the SO2 will go though the airlock with age bulk but here the cider is in bottle so neither in bulk or with air lock.

Not everybody is able to smell it directly when fresh poured in the glass and most of the people think it is just related to the hop (it is a hopped cider). On the other hand, all agree that the smell is not pleasant. But once it gets warmer, everybody can smell it.

I keep you in touch if something changes.

 

[CKuhns]

Hmmm, if bottled for 6 months likely not H2S. Could be from the hops but should have been noticabl3 from the start.

How long did you leave them in? I have found some hops if left for more than a week give off a kind of grassy, dirt flavor and aroma.

Kind of at a loss. Will be interested if you discover the root cause.

 

[doublejef]

Actually it is only bottle since 1,5 month or so.

Here comes the timeline story of the cider :

• - Apple pressed around october 2022, fermentation naturally start quite fast
• Classic slow fermentation for around 2 month ending totaly dry
• No H2S smell at any stage of fermentation, and I tested and smell the cider every month or so and never noticed any problem before early may, first time it appears
• End of June, time to bottle. The plan is to put half of the cider in bottle for still and dry cider and the other half will be hopped and carbonated (with priming and bottle fermentation)

Dry hopping process :

from the same fermenter and on the same day, I need to bottle one still cider and 2 different hopped cider (Mosaic and Sabro) so I process like this :

One week before bottling time, I remove 50l for each hopped cider and I put it in PET barrel with no head space and I drop around 4g/l of hop in it. 4 days at room temp and crash cold at 3°C for two days. Then I transfer this it in a bigger vessel to blend it with 50l of normal cider, add sugar and F2 yeast and bottle it.

At bottling time, both hopped cider and still cider had this H2S smell. A few days after bottling, it was gone from the still cider but still present in the hoped cider.

I made some kegs also with still and hopped cider and it is still present in both.

Remark :

Transfers in keg were made using CO2 purge to avoid all contact with O2.

The still cider has no CO2 at all and little head space full of O2 but hopped cider is CO2 carbonated so head space is nearly full of CO2 instead of O2.

 

[Miraculix]

Wow what a mystery. Only thing which seems rather obvious is that the hops seem to have something to do with it. Although it could also be that you only smell it at the hopped bottles because these are carbonated and the bubbles escaping the liquid also bring out the sulfur. So it would be technically in the uncarbed cider, just wouldn't get in the air quickly enough to smell it.

 

[doublejef]

Wow what a mystery. Only thing which seems rather obvious is that the hops seem to have something to do with it. Although it could also be that you only smell it at the hopped bottles because these are carbonated and the bubbles escaping the liquid also bring out the sulfur. So it would be technically in the uncarbed cider, just wouldn't get in the air quickly enough to smell it.

Hmm, I'm not really sure that there is a link neither with hop or bubbles.
The cider had this exact same smell (dirty sink) in the fermenter, at bottling time and again in kegs, with or without hop or bubbles.

Indeed it went away from the non hopped still cider in bottle but not in keg (but I have to say I didn't check it since days) and it was definitly in there before dry hop.