Sulfur smell in cider

[JPS357]

Hi Gang,

Bear with me on this one. About a month ago, I made a batch of hard cider using Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice. I made two gallons. My process was to put in one campden tablet (crushed) per gallon, wait two days, yeast it (I added some sugar to one of the gallons). When it finished fermenting, I bottled it in some swing top bottlles and in to the fridge it went. It was pretty good, albeit a little sour, and lacking a bit of carbonation.

Fast forward to my second batch. I used Wal Mart brand apple juice (no preservatives) and used the same process. This time, I decided to back carbonate with some brown sugar that I liquefied in boiling water. I lbottled it and let the bottles sit in the same cool dark room that it fermented in and after 4 days I put it in the fridge and when cold I drank it. The cider had a sulfur smell and taste. It wasn't undrinkable, but it was definitely there. Did I do something wrong? Did I not wait long enough after back carbonating? I still have 6 more bottles (32 oz each) in that room waiting.

Thanks all!

 

[JPS357]

Hi Gang,

Bear with me on this one. About a month ago, I made a batch of hard cider using Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice. I made two gallons. My process was to put in one campden tablet (crushed) per gallon, wait two days, yeast it (I added some sugar to one of the gallons). When it finished fermenting, I bottled it in some swing top bottlles and in to the fridge it went. It was pretty good, albeit a little sour, and lacking a bit of carbonation.

Fast forward to my second batch. I used Wal Mart brand apple juice (no preservatives) and used the same process. This time, I decided to back carbonate with some brown sugar that I liquefied in boiling water. I lbottled it and let the bottles sit in the same cool dark room that it fermented in and after 4 days I put it in the fridge and when cold I drank it. The cider had a sulfur smell and taste. It wasn't undrinkable, but it was definitely there. Did I do something wrong? Did I not wait long enough after back carbonating? I still have 6 more bottles (32 oz each) in that room waiting.

Thanks all!

Any help with this would be great. Thanks gang.

 

[videojunkie1208]

I make cysers, not ciders, but sometimes you can get a bit of a sulphur smell during fermentation. In my cysers, bulk aging usually clears it up in a few months, but that's with an airlock. Not sure how it works in the bottle.

Swing top bottles can be a pain to sanitize. It's conceivable you have a mild infection, but more likely they just need to age a bit. (And hopefully the sulphur gets reincorporated)

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi Gang,

Bear with me on this one. About a month ago, I made a batch of hard cider using Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice. I made two gallons. My process was to put in one campden tablet (crushed) per gallon, wait two days, yeast it (I added some sugar to one of the gallons). When it finished fermenting, I bottled it in some swing top bottlles and in to the fridge it went. It was pretty good, albeit a little sour, and lacking a bit of carbonation.

Fast forward to my second batch. I used Wal Mart brand apple juice (no preservatives) and used the same process. This time, I decided to back carbonate with some brown sugar that I liquefied in boiling water. I lbottled it and let the bottles sit in the same cool dark room that it fermented in and after 4 days I put it in the fridge and when cold I drank it. The cider had a sulfur smell and taste. It wasn't undrinkable, but it was definitely there. Did I do something wrong? Did I not wait long enough after back carbonating? I still have 6 more bottles (32 oz each) in that room waiting.

Thanks all!

Rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

1. The campden is not needed and only increases risk of H2S formation.
2. Yeast nutrient generally should be used, particularly when adding sugar.
3. Brown sugar may increase risk of H2S formation because it contains metals.

Contamination is not likely to be the cause in this case.

See here:
https://***************.com/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide

 

[JPS357]

Hi Gang,

Bear with me on this one. About a month ago, I made a batch of hard cider using Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice. I made two gallons. My process was to put in one campden tablet (crushed) per gallon, wait two days, yeast it (I added some sugar to one of the gallons). When it finished fermenting, I bottled it in some swing top bottlles and in to the fridge it went. It was pretty good, albeit a little sour, and lacking a bit of carbonation.

Fast forward to my second batch. I used Wal Mart brand apple juice (no preservatives) and used the same process. This time, I decided to back carbonate with some brown sugar that I liquefied in boiling water. I lbottled it and let the bottles sit in the same cool dark room that it fermented in and after 4 days I put it in the fridge and when cold I drank it. The cider had a sulfur smell and taste. It wasn't undrinkable, but it was definitely there. Did I do something wrong? Did I not wait long enough after back carbonating? I still have 6 more bottles (32 oz each) in that room waiting.

Thanks all!

Thank you. This is interesting.

I make cysers, not ciders, but sometimes you can get a bit of a sulphur smell during fermentation. In my cysers, bulk aging usually clears it up in a few months, but that's with an airlock. Not sure how it works in the bottle.

Swing top bottles can be a pain to sanitize. It's conceivable you have a mild infection, but more likely they just need to age a bit. (And hopefully the sulphur gets reincorporated)

Thank you. This is interesting. The first batch I made, it finished fermenting in about 10 days. I bottled it. And it was drinkable in days, albeit not too bubbly.

 

[JPS357]

Rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

1. The campden is not needed and only increases risk of H2S formation.
2. Yeast nutrient generally should be used, particularly when adding sugar.
3. Brown sugar may increase risk of H2S formation because it contains metals.

Contamination is not likely to be the cause in this case.

See here:
https://***************.com/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide

Thank you for this. I never knew about the yeast nutrient. Can you recommend one? When does that get used?

Also, would you recommend a different product for back carbonating besides brown sugar?

 

[videojunkie1208]

I use a lot of Fermaid O and Go Ferm. for meads there's a regimen called TONSA that describes a multi-stage feeding for the yeasts. In relatively low gravity ciders, you probably don't need to stagger the nutrients, and can add them all up front.

For beer making there are drops of sugar that you add to each bottle to get consistent priming. Brewers Best Carbonation Drops - Carbonate Beer

 

[JPS357]

Thank you videojunki1208,

Here's a crazy question (and please excuse my ignorance on the subject). Do those Brewers Best Carbonation Drops work with cider? You said beer, but I can't imagine that they wouldn't.

Thank you

 

[videojunkie1208]

Never used them myself, but like you said, I can't imagine them not working.

 

[JPS357]

I should have mentioned this as well....
I made two gallons in the last batch. The first gallon (sulfur smell), I was going for something citrus-y. I zested an orange and boiled the zest with some sugar water before fermenting. I wonder if that could have led to the smell. The second gallon I just tried last night and there is the ever-so-slight bit of sulfur smell, but not nearly as strong as the orange zest one.

 

[JimRausch]

I made two gallons in the last batch. The first gallon (sulfur smell), I was going for something citrus-y. I zested an orange and boiled the zest with some sugar water before fermenting. I wonder if that could have led to the smell. The second gallon I just tried last night and there is the ever-so-slight bit of sulfur smell, but not nearly as strong as the orange zest one.

I'm guessing that the zest wasn't the cause. Basing it on an American Wheat that I add zest in the boil, and again at bottling when I add it to the priming sugar solution and boil it.I never detect any sulfur smell in this.
I also do a fair amount of ciders and meads. Anytime I smell sulfur during fermentation, I add another dose of nutrients. I tend to use Wyeast or Fermax nutrients (or both).

 

[RPh_Guy]

I also like Fermaid O plus Go Ferm. Nutrients with organic nitrogen (amino acids) and vitamins are best.

For priming you can use dextrose (corn sugar), sucrose (table sugar), "carbonation drops" or sugar cubes (which are usually sucrose), or turbinado (which adds a nice flavor).

Orange zest wouldn't cause H2S.

Cheers

 

[JPS357]

Update.
Thank you all for your help on this. So, I actually believe that the sulfur smell was due to the back carbonation not being finished. Of those 8 bottles, they became less and less smelly as I opened them.

Next question about the yeast nutrient. I used one of the ones mentioned here and my most recent batch of cider fermented up into the airlock for the first time. Is this a problem I should worry about?

 

[videojunkie1208]

Congratulations, you've experienced what a healthy yeast batch can do! As long as you clean it out relatively soon, it's fine. Just means you overran your headspace.