Stinky Strawberry Wine Help!!

[brewski78]

I have started a 5 gallon batch of strawberry wine. I used 16 quarts of fresh berries, cleaned and hulled. I ran the berries through a food processor to get them mashed up good, then put them in my bucket and added boiling water to make about 5 gallons. I added enzymes to help break down the fruit better. I left this sit in the house in a sealed bucket after adding 1 campden tablet. I rememered to stirr the mixture for the first two days then forgot for the rest of the week. After the mixture sat 1 full week I opened the bucket to strain out the mixture but was greeted with a sulfery smell. I tasted the liquid it was rather sour but had a strawberry taste still. I went ahead and strained the mixture, into my fermenting bucket, added sugar, and activated co de blanc yeast, sealed the bucket and left it sit for 24 hrs after which I added 5 tbs of yeast nutrient. The must is fermenting nicely, color looks nice but is there a way I can get rid of this awful sulfer smell??? I tasted the must after adding the sugar and it tasts good just has a bad smell. This is my first batch of strawberry wine, I have made quite a lot of strawberry/rhubarb wine with no problems or foul smells using the exact same steps. I also make hard cider with no bad smells, I am no wine or beer expert I still have a lot to learn, but I was hoping to save this batch of wine!!

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Todd

 

[Yooper]

It sounds like H2S, which is bad news. For now, try stirring several times a day, with a sanitized rod or something long, and stir it well to get rid of the H2S. Add some yeast nutrient, dissolved in a little of the wine, and stir that as well. More nutrients and effective stirring might save the wine.

After stirring it steady for a day, add 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, dissolved in some boiling water in hopes of preserving the wine but not oxidizing it badly. It sounds like you didn't use enough campden at the beginning, but let's hope it's not an infection and that you can save the wine.

Edit- by the way, I don't see when/where you added the yeast? That may be very important! If you added it after letting the must sit for a week or whatever, it's a goner. You have to add yeast within 24 hours of making it up, or the fruit will rot. That could be what happened here if the must sat for days, especially without adequate campden tablets. You'd be fermenting rotten fruit, which would stink and be terrible tasting and of course not something you'd want to drink!

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Yooper, you beat me to this!
I second the fact that a week of just sitting and basically rotting wasn't that good for the fruit, the addition boiling water might have sped this up. Unfortunately, if the must tastes sour, it may be a goner.
I don't often say this, but it may be time to start over. Keep us posted.

 

[brewski78]

It sounds like I may have to toss this batch as i did let it set a week before adding the yeast to begin the fermenting. With my strawberry/rhubarb wine i let the fruit and water set a week before adding the yeast to begin the ferment. sounds like ive been doing it wrong all along.

well thank you for the help being as though its fermenting now i think i may try the stirring and adding campden tablets as it says in the first reply to see if i can save it, if not i will start a new batch friday.

thanks again for the help i really appreciate it!

 

[Yooper]

It sounds like I may have to toss this batch as i did let it set a week before adding the yeast to begin the fermenting. With my strawberry/rhubarb wine i let the fruit and water set a week before adding the yeast to begin the ferment. sounds like ive been doing it wrong all along.

well thank you for the help being as though its fermenting now i think i may try the stirring and adding campden tablets as it says in the first reply to see if i can save it, if not i will start a new batch friday.

thanks again for the help i really appreciate it!

Yes, you would never let the must sit without adding yeast right away, within 24 hours of making it up, and since you only used 1 campden tab (about 1/5 of the correct amount), without yeast in it the must would be loaded with bacteria and wild yeast. You would be very lucky to make a practice out of that and have decent wine in the end, unfortunately.

Next time, mix up the must and use enough campden right away. Then add your yeast within 24 hours, and you should be all set.

You can definitely try to save it- you'd only be out a few cents for the campden tabs, but it's not very likely.

 

[brewski78]

This strawberry must is really fermenting well! I may have gotten really lucky as it smells much better today, i am going to let it go and see what happens, but from now on i am going to definitely add the yeast after 24 hrs. i thought i needed to let the fruit set in the water a week to break down the fruit and extract as much flavor as possible. next batch starting friday i will let the fruit set 24hrs then add the yeast and sugar and strain out the left over fruit after the fermenting is done.

thanks again i will post how it turns out good or bad. its been a good learning process.

 

[Yooper]

This strawberry must is really fermenting well! I may have gotten really lucky as it smells much better today, i am going to let it go and see what happens, but from now on i am going to definitely add the yeast after 24 hrs. i thought i needed to let the fruit set in the water a week to break down the fruit and extract as much flavor as possible. next batch starting friday i will let the fruit set 24hrs then add the yeast and sugar and strain out the left over fruit after the fermenting is done.

thanks again i will post how it turns out good or bad. its been a good learning process.

I have a couple of suggestions. One is to not let the fruit sit 24 hours, UNLESS you are adding the proper amount of campden at the beginning (which is highly recommended). The only reason to let the must sit 24 hours before adding yeast is for some of the sulfite to disipate. So use the proper amount of sulfites (campden) and the proper amount of yeast at the proper time, and you will be in good shape.

Secondly, plan on removing the wine from the fruit by about day 7. Rotten fruit does not make wine- and the fruit will be broken down by then. Either bag the fruit in large sanitized mesh bags, or become very proficient in racking and separating the fruit, and then make sure to use proper sanitary techniques.

It may be a very good idea to follow a step-by-step recipe as fruit is expensive and while winemaking is pretty simple, there are some techniques in making it that are somewhat involved.

 

[brewski78]

Thank you very much for the help and advice. I was confused on the beginning stages, but I think I have a better understanding now. I plan to start another batch this weekend, I will definitely add the yeast earlier and then separate the fruit in 7 days. I thought the fermentation took longer than it does. Part of that problem was I was leaving the bucket in the basement to ferment where it is quite a lot cooler,last fall my hard cider took forever to finish because it was to cool in the basement, i moved the buckets upstairs where it is 72 or so and it was much better.

Tonight I stirred the must again, it is still really fermenting well and it smells really good, like alcohol!! I added some more yeast nutrient and checked the % alcohol. The starting potential was 12% tonight I am at 5-6%. I am thinking of adding 5 campden tablets in the morning before I go to work to stop the fermentation, and rack it to start clearing it up. I tasted it tonight and it was very good, I was thinking of stopping the fermentation so it is still sweet not to dry. The color looks good as well it is a medium to dark pink.

Again thank you for the advice I really appreciate it. To bad I cant e mail a sample for you to try as a thank you.

 

[Yooper]

Thank you very much for the help and advice. I was confused on the beginning stages, but I think I have a better understanding now. I plan to start another batch this weekend, I will definitely add the yeast earlier and then separate the fruit in 7 days. I thought the fermentation took longer than it does. Part of that problem was I was leaving the bucket in the basement to ferment where it is quite a lot cooler,last fall my hard cider took forever to finish because it was to cool in the basement, i moved the buckets upstairs where it is 72 or so and it was much better.

Tonight I stirred the must again, it is still really fermenting well and it smells really good, like alcohol!! I added some more yeast nutrient and checked the % alcohol. The starting potential was 12% tonight I am at 5-6%. I am thinking of adding 5 campden tablets in the morning before I go to work to stop the fermentation, and rack it to start clearing it up. I tasted it tonight and it was very good, I was thinking of stopping the fermentation so it is still sweet not to dry. The color looks good as well it is a medium to dark pink.

Again thank you for the advice I really appreciate it. To bad I cant e mail a sample for you to try as a thank you.

Campden doesn't halt fermentation. It is an antioxidant primarily, but useful when mixing up the must to help kill bacteria and some wild yeast. It does not kill or harm wine yeast, so do NOT add it now, unless you want the stink back from stressing the yeast. It will keep fermenting with or without the campden. Normally you would add campden at racking to help avoid oxidation, but remember that whoever told you that it stops fermentation is wrong so don't use it for that!

Winemaking isn't difficult, but there are some techniques to be aware of so that you don't waste fruit and have to learn the hard way!

 

[brewski78]

Ok, i will just let it keep fermenting, i missunderstood campden tablets also. if the wine is not sweet enough when its done fermenting i will back sweeten it. i am very happy the smell is gone i do not want to take any chances of ruining this, it has been a very good learning process, and i realize i have been lucky so far with my other wine. now that i understand how to do it correctly from the start i am anxious to get another batch going!