whats in my wine?

[dave_harmon]

This was a batch of strawberry wine that i made. it had a funky smell and sour funky taste and after several weeks in the bottle whatever this is developed.
i wasnt as sanitary as i should have been so next time (pineapple) i was super careful but it seems to be the same. does anyone know what this is and how do i keep it from happening? thanks so much!

 

[lumpher]

To start with, "funky smell and sour funky taste" says infection, and I can see that's what that is and not just protein, sediment, etc. I noticed these strings. To be able to tell what you're doing wrong (or not careful enough), we'd need to know more of your process. Are you sanitizing the bottles or just rinsing them? When you make the wine do you use Campden at the start to kill off the wild yeast before you start real fermentation? Do you carefully clean and sanitize whatever you use to transfer the wine to the bottles (autosiphon, funnel, etc.)? Those wispy strings are infection.

 

[fluketamer]

if it tastes sour and smells funky and looks like that its a dumper - sorry . thats one of the few pics ive seen that actually look infected.

thats a shame the color is really beautiful

 

[dave_harmon]

To start with, "funky smell and sour funky taste" says infection, and I can see that's what that is and not just protein, sediment, etc. I noticed these strings. To be able to tell what you're doing wrong (or not careful enough), we'd need to know more of your process. Are you sanitizing the bottles or just rinsing them? When you make the wine do you use Campden at the start to kill off the wild yeast before you start real fermentation? Do you carefully clean and sanitize whatever you use to transfer the wine to the bottles (autosiphon, funnel, etc.)? Those wispy strings are infection.
View attachment 845692

i have been escalating my cleaning with each batch. first two batches were fine. the pictured is the third (forgot to wash my hands.) - after that, for 4th batch, i cleaned everything really well with soap and water and even used a brand new sponge. that batch seems to be headed the same way. after that, i cleaned everything with soap and water and used Star San to sanitize it all (buckets, lids, tubes, everything.) That batch is still in the primary fermenter but based on the sight and smell i would guess it will be the same. (i havent gotten to adding Campden to the process yet)
Im suspecting its somehow carried over in the bucket from batch to batch. - i have been doing smaller batches in parallell in a smaller glass jug and thats been fine. should i toss all my plastic ware and start fresh?
(thanks!)

 

[lumpher]

Are you using a kit or fresh fruit?

 

[dave_harmon]

Are you using a kit or fresh fruit?

frozen or fresh from the grocery store

 

[lumpher]

That can be where it comes from. All of that has wild yeast already on the fruit skins. What I do when I make wine is I pulp up my fruit and put it in with water, then add 1 Campden tablet per gallon of wine I'm making. Let it sit for a day or 2 to kill that wild yeast. After a couple days, the Campden will have settled and you can add your tannin, acid blend, etc, and yeast.

 

[dave_harmon]

That can be where it comes from. All of that has wild yeast already on the fruit skins. What I do when I make wine is I pulp up my fruit and put it in with water, then add 1 Campden tablet per gallon of wine I'm making. Let it sit for a day or 2 to kill that wild yeast. After a couple days, the Campden will have settled and you can add your tannin, acid blend, etc, and yeast.

hmm, but could frozen pineapple chunks have wild yeast on them?

 

[lumpher]

Were they in a sealed nitrogen packet? Otherwise, if they were just from the grocery store frozen section, yep, they could. Canned I don't worry about; in a regular plastic container and frozen, they don't sanitize those too well.

 

[Johnny2]

I heat my fruit in a big pot to about 70C/160F, with water.

 

[Raptor99]

it had a funky smell and sour funky taste and after several weeks in the bottle whatever this is developed.

This could be many different things. One of the things I have been gradually learning is to distinguish between different types of funky tastes and smells. What does it smell and taste like? Is it a sulfur smell? Does it smell like rotten eggs? Or like dirty socks? Or is it a yeasty smell?

You don't say how long ago you started this wine. Has it been aged for several months?

Young wines have a yeasty smell that is normal and dissipates over time. All country wines fermented dry taste sour, so that is normal. The usually taste better with a small amount of backsweetening. How does it taste if you stir a little sugar into a sample?

Possible faults at this point:
* Acetobacter, which digest ethanol and produce acetic acid (vinegar). Does it smell and taste like vinegar?
* Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which can be produced by stressed yeast, often due to a lack of sufficient nutrients (rotten egg odor)
* Oxidation of the ethanol due to excessive oxygen exposure (a sharp bite in the back of your mouth, that lingers for up to several minutes after you take a sip)

The cause of and solution to each of these problems is different. That's why it is helpful to learn to identify the specific fault. Sanitizing your equipment and heating your fruit will help to prevent the first fault, but will do nothing to help with the other two.

 

[Midway Island]

i have been escalating my cleaning with each batch. first two batches were fine. the pictured is the third (forgot to wash my hands.) - after that, for 4th batch, i cleaned everything really well with soap and water and even used a brand new sponge. that batch seems to be headed the same way. after that, i cleaned everything with soap and water and used Star San to sanitize it all (buckets, lids, tubes, everything.) That batch is still in the primary fermenter but based on the sight and smell i would guess it will be the same. (i havent gotten to adding Campden to the process yet)
Im suspecting its somehow carried over in the bucket from batch to batch. - i have been doing smaller batches in parallell in a smaller glass jug and thats been fine. should i toss all my plastic ware and start fresh?
(thanks!)

Well as soon as I saw the word soap that was the clue, to sanitize vessels and equipment you should use bissulfite or a peroxide base never soap or bleach bases. If you want yeast to work properly metabissulftite and 26°C are the 2 key words in winemaking I also use powder free medical gloves soaked in bissulfite.