My mead smells like farts

[ForsbergFotos]

Ok maybe not exactly like a fart, but in the same neighborhood, maybe a little methaney. First time it has ever smelled like this, taste is a strong hot alcohol and not much else.
Started out with 7.5Lbs of honey for 3 gallons and had a bag of strawberries, blue berries, raspberries in for the first 4 days.
OG 1.117 yeast 71b-1122.
used campden tablets and pectin enzyme with the 12/24 rule before pitching yeast.
Day 11 sg was 1.040 and sample still had good fruit/honey finish
Yesterday was day 16 SG of 1.002 so I hand stir degassed and moved the bucket to my basement (50F) where I do my racking to let it settle a little first.
Tonight I went and popped the lid to double check the SG and got hit with smell, but also a lot of the suspended particles had dropped out too. I'm not sure if one has something to do with the other.

Dump it or rack to carboy and wait it out?

I have been really adamant about my sanitation too, the other wine kit and cider I have been doing at the same time have had no such similar problems

Any advice appreciated

 

[bernardsmith]

Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs. Hydrogen sulfide is caused by stress to yeast and yeast is stressed when they are forced to ferment sugars but don't have enough nutrients in the system to maintain the health of the cells. Did you add DAP or Fermaid K or O? Honey is notoriously short of nutrients and not all fruit is nutrient rich as far as yeast are concerned. They need nitrogen and they need calcium and various other organic material.
It may be too late to provide nutrients for the yeast - but you could try whipping air into the fermenter to dissipate the hydrogen sulfide. If that is ineffective you could try racking the mead through copper wool (the kind used for scrubbing dishes). The copper will bind to the sulfur giving you a tiny amount of copper sulfate and water.

The "hot alcohol" may be because your ABV is about 15%, so a) the alcohol level is high and b) you may have produced a large amount of fusels. To remove the latter you may need to allow the mead to age. To deal with the former I understand that you can balance this out with tannins.. so you might want to oak this mead for a week - ten days..

 

[ForsbergFotos]

I did find the information on hydrogen sulfide late last night and used 2 campden tablets and my drill mounted degasser to whip the hell out of it and it until the battery died, dissipated a lot of the smell. I did use the LD Carlson yeast nutrient blend as it was all I had on hand at the time, but I know it includes DAP.

I'll see about getting some copper wool too

 

[bmwr75]

Read the last two articles at this link before making the next batch and you will save yourself a lot of future headaches.

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/category/articles/

 

[ForsbergFotos]

Read the last two articles at this link before making the next batch and you will save yourself a lot of future headaches.

https://denardbrewing.com/blog/category/articles/

Good articles, thanks for sharing

Any problem with using extra nutrients?

 

[bernardsmith]

There is, I think, a risk that you will be feeding bacteria and other organisms and the nutrients themselves can, they say, add off flavors if too much is added..but I have tried not to test that claim...

 

[bmwr75]

Using extra nutrients is not a current mead making best practice. That is why I've started using the TiOSNA protocol so the amount of nutrients is calculated based on SG and yeast nitrogen requirements.

 

[ForsbergFotos]

I'll have to look into the TiOSNA more, I just did a basic staggered nutrient addition

I am happy to report that I just racked it into to a carboy and things are definitely smelling better, I got the copper padd but couldnt find a good way to rack over them without having a large potential for a big mess

 

[brewstarter]

Ive had my Mead going for nearly 4 months now, still looks like tea.

It smells a tad vinegery, but also of strong alcohol. I tried to take a Hydrometer reading and it floated in the Brew, suggesting fermentation is finished. Do I wait before its cleared before bottling? Should I throw it?

 

[BILTIT]

Hydrometers always float, you need to read the scale on the hydrometer to know where its at.

 

[ForsbergFotos]

Ive had my Mead going for nearly 4 months now, still looks like tea.

It smells a tad vinegery, but also of strong alcohol. I tried to take a Hydrometer reading and it floated in the Brew, suggesting fermentation is finished. Do I wait before its cleared before bottling? Should I throw it?

Looks like tea? Did you add tea when making? Where yeast nutrients added during fermentation? Are you sure that its finished?=, whats the Hyrdometer reading now and what was it at the start? still in Primary or racked into secondary fermentor?

 

[brewstarter]

Looks like tea? Did you add tea when making? Where yeast nutrients added during fermentation? Are you sure that its finished?=, whats the Hyrdometer reading now and what was it at the start? still in Primary or racked into secondary fermentor?

too many questions for such an amateur lol

yes, still looks like tea, has not cleared yet. I know it sounds daft but cant seem to read the reading on the Hydrometer I bought - just know by what ive been told that if it floats its finished fermentation. maybe I should try to read it again

Yeast - normal bread yeast or similar..

 

[BILTIT]

It floats prior to fermentation too so that logic is incorrect. You need a test container and racking cane so you can take a sample and put your hydrometer in it so you can read it. A hydrometer is the ONLY way to see where the fermentation is at.

 

[brewstarter]

not sure what a racking cane is, but a a test container I have. many thanks for your help

 

[ForsbergFotos]

I would suggest spending a little time on youtube watching wine making videos to get a better idea of the whole process

 

[brewstarter]

I would suggest spending a little time on youtube watching wine making videos to get a better idea of the whole process

thanks for the tip Forsberg.

I actually decided to try some Mead as a recommendation from a friend, who brews it regularly and said it was really easy. he tends to just put it all together in a demijohn and leave it for 3 months or so and it tends to work out for him. I suppose it's like a lot of things where it doesnt always work out good first time.

 

[ForsbergFotos]

Waiting is the hardest part

on a related note, my mead no longer smells like farts

 

[WarBeard1980]

Waiting is the hardest part

on a related note, my mead no longer smells like farts

The question now becomes "Do your farts smell like mead?". If the answer is "no", you need to drink more mead.

 

[MaxTheSpy]

The question now becomes "Do your farts smell like mead?". If the answer is "no", you need to drink more mead.

And the comment of the year award goes to.... WarBeard

 

[ForsbergFotos]

The question now becomes "Do your farts smell like mead?". If the answer is "no", you need to drink more mead.

If I drink enough mead for my farts to smell like mead, then my mead will technically smell like farts once again

 

[brewstarter]

If I drink enough mead for my farts to smell like mead, then my mead will technically smell like farts once again

what goes around, comes around

 

[DevilNuts]

I had the farty thing once too, after a while it just went away on its own.

Also, buddy of mine just made 40 gallons of mead that ended up (accidentally, of course) tasting exactly like cool ranch doritos.