Sulfur Smell from Apple Wine

[arkenbergcn]

So tonight my wife opens up my recently bottled apple wine which tasted great when I bottled it. With my first sip I got I could smell sulfur right away. The wine tastes fine, but the sulfur smell really hits you when you drink it. Should I just decant the wine an hour and then drink it or is it ruined?

 

[Yooper]

So tonight my wife opens up my recently bottled apple wine which tasted great when I bottled it. With my first sip I got I could smell sulfur right away. The wine tastes fine, but the sulfur smell really hits you when you drink it. Should I just decant the wine an hour and then drink it or is it ruined?

You can try decanting and if that makes it drinkable, that's great. Sulfur smells are usually created by stressed yeast, so it's uncommon to find that in the bottle unless the wine was bottled really early. There isn't a fix for it once it's in the bottle.

The only other thing I think it could be is too much sulfite at bottling, if you added k-meta or campden at bottling. If that's the case, it will dissipate with a little time.

 

[songe]

Before botteling.. how did you treat the wine?

 

[arkenbergcn]

I added 1/2 cup of sugar to sweeten it (1 gallon batch) and then I added 1/2 tsp of pot sorbate. I was out of corks so I let it set in a carboy for a month before I bottled it. When I bottled it I didn't notice any sulfur odor. The wine also has a slight pearl to it..... I have used the same amount of pot sorbate before with no problems. Not sure what went wrong.

 

[Yooper]

I added 1/2 cup of sugar to sweeten it (1 gallon batch) and then I added 1/2 tsp of pot sorbate. I was out of corks so I let it set in a carboy for a month before I bottled it. When I bottled it I didn't notice any sulfur odor. The wine also has a slight pearl to it..... I have used the same amount of pot sorbate before with no problems. Not sure what went wrong.

Well, next time, rack onto the sorbate first (1/2 teaspoon per gallon) and let it sit (at least 3 days, but a month would be even better!) and then sweeten. Wait a few days after adding the sugar, and then bottle if no fermentation recurs.

Adding them at roughly the same time means that the yeast will start to reproduce, but then the sorbate inhibits fermentation. That could be where the sulfur/stressed yeast odor is coming from.

 

[songe]

Hmm i usually use Kitosan and Kieselsol. where i first de carbonate the wine. add one of them one day in advance and the other the day after. never had problems with wine doing that.

here are some reasons why the wine is rank smelling

The possible causes of hydrogen sulfide contamination are myriad:

Too much sulfites, usually the result of grapes being dusted with too much sulfur during the growing season
Lack of proper nutrients (nitrogen, yeast hulls) during fermentation
Yeast combining with various forms of sulfur (some folks swear that Red Star Montrachet yeast is notorious for causing H2S, but we've never experienced this ourselves)
Bacterial contamination due to poor sanitation technique

as nutrient i use servomycsis for everything. even my meads which is getting pretty tasty now

 

[Yooper]

Hmm i usually use Kitosan and Kieselsol. where i first de carbonate the wine. add one of them one day in advance and the other the day after. never had problems with wine doing that.

here are some reasons why the wine is rank smelling

The possible causes of hydrogen sulfide contamination are myriad:

Too much sulfites, usually the result of grapes being dusted with too much sulfur during the growing season
Lack of proper nutrients (nitrogen, yeast hulls) during fermentation
Yeast combining with various forms of sulfur (some folks swear that Red Star Montrachet yeast is notorious for causing H2S, but we've never experienced this ourselves)
Bacterial contamination due to poor sanitation technique

as nutrient i use servomycsis for everything. even my meads which is getting pretty tasty now

KC isn't the same thing as sorbate! KC are finings, used to clarify. Sorbate is a yeast inhibitor, and it's used before sweetening the wine.

Sorbate works well as a stabilizer combined with sulfite, but is not to be used concurrently with MLF (as a geranium odor results) or in a fermentation that isn't completely done, and clear, and is usually added several days before sweetening to prevent refermentation.

 

[arkenbergcn]

Thanks for the help - it's gives me a few things to try next time. Oh, and one last question, will decanting help out my situation or should I just hold my nose when I drink it?

 

[songe]

Decanting will areate the wine.. which might or might not get some of the smell out

 

[helibrewer]

What yeast did you use? I have found Montrachet to really throw sulphur and now use Prisse de Mousse (CY-1118)...never have picked up sulphur since.

 

[MaxStout]

Montrachet is notorious for generating "rhino farts" if it's stressed, but if you aerate well and give it some yeast nutrient you shouldn't encounter any problems.

 

[robin850]

Yooper is of course correct about the source of the issue.

I have had good luck in the past by aerating the hell out of it with a wire whisk made of copper, then rebottling.

good luck,

robin850

 

[arkenbergcn]

Well, I ended up having to dump all of this wine down the sink. It was not drinkable. It's such a shame because the wine, aside from being dry, tasted great before sweetening with sugar. My guess is that I did indeed have some fermentation going in in the bottle.

Currently, I have some white grape peach wine that I need to back sweeten with some concentrated juice (Old Orchard). The wine taste really good but it's really dry. I hope the same thing doesn't happen again. Last Monday I racked the wine and added 1 campden tablet and 1/2 teaspoon of Pot Sorbate. I plan on back sweetening and then letting the wine sit in a carboy for a while just to make sure fermentation hasn't started. I am still learning at this point and this has been my first bad experience with making wine so far.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I ended up having to dump all of this wine down the sink. It was not drinkable. It's such a shame because the wine, aside from being dry, tasted great before sweetening with sugar. My guess is that I did indeed have some fermentation going in in the bottle.

Currently, I have some white grape peach wine that I need to back sweeten with some concentrated juice (Old Orchard). The wine taste really good but it's really dry. I hope the same thing doesn't happen again. Last Monday I racked the wine and added 1 campden tablet and 1/2 teaspoon of Pot Sorbate. I plan on back sweetening and then letting the wine sit in a carboy for a while just to make sure fermentation hasn't started. I am still learning at this point and this has been my first bad experience with making wine so far.

The key is to wait. Wait before adding the sorbate as it doesn't "work" when the wine is still dropping lees. Once the wine is clear and no longer dropping lees after at least 60 days in a new carboy, then sorbate can be considered. Since you've already added it, hopefully you were past at least 60 days with no new lees forming. If the wine was really young, with lots of yeast in suspension, the same thing will happen.

 

[arkenbergcn]

I started it in early June. Last month I added some bentonite because it had a slight haze. Now it's crystal clear. The SG was .992 today before I sweetened it. Right now it's sitting in a carboy. Hopefully it will be OK. I am going to wait at least a month and see what happens.