It smells.... pretty bad

[MasterJeem]

and tastes pretty bad, too.

To start, its a pumpkin cyser and the yeast i used was lalvin d-47.

this is JUST out of the primary and when i racked to the secondary i hand enough extra for one 500ml bottle and put that in the fridge. This stuff tastes kinda rotten. It also smells pretty bad and the gas that the fermenter gave off was pretty bad, as well.

One day i came home and the airlock was raging and i felt the side of the bucket and it was hot. i let the room get too hot, accidently. i know this is bad. i immediately let the bucket cool down and kept the temperature in check. it stayed in the upper 60's after that.

this is my third mead. my first two were delicious out of the primary, this one is not. am i spoiled because the first two were good and i just need a little patience? or is this thing ruined and i should dump it?

 

[fatbloke]

Rotten eggs ? Hydrogen sulphide/H2S

If so, that's normally a sign of stressed yeast, lacking nutrient/energiser.

There's various possible cures I've read about, but its worth using that as a start to search if I've got the symptom correct....

 

[MasterJeem]

yeah, something like that. so there may be a cure?

 

[Insomniac]

Splash racking, vaccuum degassing or lots of aging under airlock. I think it should disipate as long as you dont bottle it. But you might want to do some searching or wait for a reply from some one who has had the same problem.

 

[MasterJeem]

i am splash racking it as we speak. the ingredients of this mead were well over 120 bucks and i'd hate to lose it. thanks, guys.

 

[MasterJeem]

ya know what? i gave er a little taste after running it back and forth a few times and i gotta say, not bad! it completely got rid of that horrid smell and brought out a lot of the sweetness that i didnt realize was still there and now tastes like it just needs to be aged for about 6 months. thanks guys! damn, i love this board!

 

[neanderthalman51]

What is splash racking?

 

[Taise]

I'm guessing 'Splash Racking' means letting it splash and aerate when moving from one rack to another in order to degass the mead and let out the hydrogen sulfide gas that is making it smell so bad.

 

[StitchMySmile]

I thought aerating after the beginning of primary was a bad thing. Will all that extra oxygen mess things up in the long run?

 

[Yooper]

I thought aerating after the beginning of primary was a bad thing. Will all that extra oxygen mess things up in the long run?

No. You can use campden tablets to help prevent oxidation, but it's usually going to be fine. You normally don't want to splash while racking, but it cases where there is H2S or too much gas, sometimes that's the best cure.

 

[biochemedic]

I thought aerating after the beginning of primary was a bad thing. Will all that extra oxygen mess things up in the long run?

additionally, a second burst of oxygen very early on in the fermentation can actually be beneficial to the yeast when you're fermenting a fairly high gravity must/wort. I've been doing this my past few high grav batches (adding an extra burst of oxygen with the aeration stone just after fermentation gets started), and so far seems to be working well...have had some really quick ferments relative to the OG, with good attenuation. It is a little messy; even with a good degassing beforehand, it can volcano a little bit...