Back after a hiatus - with a stinky trad/Opale/Pine Tree honey

[Jim H]

Hi all!

First off, great to be back! Due to a really difficult work situation, I had to stop making mead for a while... and didn't see friends so much.... and generally was not having a fun time (READ: my work was crap and getting me down in a very big way.) I think it has been a couple years since my last post. I am posting in the newbees area because, well I am re-starting my mead making and feel sort of like a newbee all over again.

Anyway, during the summer I got myself a small Avanti refrigerator and temp regulator so I could make mead in the heat of the summer without worry. Made a lovely, simple Apple-Locust honey mix BOMM, with a touch of peppercorn and moderately oaked. I am sipping on a glass of that now.
Loveofrose, if I never said thank you for the brilliant insight (and research) of using 1388: thank you.

Now to my problem - my mead's got the stink

I have made what is right now a traditional mead, although I have not yet decided on oaking or spice additions in secondary. For the first time, I used Opale (I wanted to try it, its specs seem good.)

Recipe/specs

• 3.75 gallon batch
• Made a quick 1-day starter of Opale (even though I didn't need to. but I have such good luck with starters)
• 12 lbs Pine Tree honey, 80.5 brix/ ~18% water
• Water to the 3.75 gal mark.
• Honey was added in two parts. First 85% of the honey was added, then 3 days later the remainder. This pattern has generally worked well for me when the fermentation starts vigorously. And fermentation started vigorously.
• Given the step-fed honey, the adjusted SG was 1.116.
• Used the TOSNA 2.0 protocol. Per the Opale specs, it has a low nitrogen req.
• Kept the temps around 67 F throughout fermentation.
• Regular degassing - despite Opale being a low foamer, wow, has this batch produced a lot of foam. Generally degassed every day for the first week, then degassed every other day. Even today it produced about 2 gallons of foam (foamed to the 6 gallon mark in the primary bucket)
• pH has been maintained in the sweet range (3.7-4.6). But, when I first mixed the batch the pH was too high (5.5) so I added just enough acid blend (1 tsp) to get it back to range (4.51)
• At the start added 1.6 tsp K+bicarb (5.8 g). When it hit its low pH, added an additional tsp of it (3.6 g).
• Now on day 20. SG is at 1.008, pH at 4.02, calculated ABV of about 14.4%
• Still in primary

Just today, on day 20, for the first time while degassing it emits a sulfurous smell, heavy. No smell of geraniums, no cabbagey smell.

Before today, it was light, fruity and had the typical smell of a clean fermentation.
This batch has been handled like a baby. The worst that's happened to it is that it's sucked in a couple airlock-fulls of star san.

Should I do something with this, or leave it alone?

 

[Squatchy]

'You need to stir the hell out of it, to try and remove the H2S by off gassing

 

[Jim H]

Yes, I am just getting my drill out.

-- And whipped it to a frenzy. Stopped when the drill got warm. Smelled the inside after I stopped, and it smelled better, not yet right though.

Hmm, so what do you think happened? In the past I only experienced sulfur smells when temps obviously got out of whack.

 

[Squatchy]

Yes, I am just getting my drill out.

-- And whipped it to a frenzy. Stopped when the drill got warm. Smelled the inside after I stopped, and it smelled better, not yet right though.

Hmm, so what do you think happened? In the past, I only experienced sulfur smells when temps obviously got out of whack.

Keep stirring. A few more times should do it. Your yeast is stressed out. Usually not enough food. Or underpitched. Too high of temps makes fussels more often than sulfer smells.

I think in this case it might be the bicarb. I don't know why you would have added acid first. Never add acids up front. You will already see a drop in naturally from the ferment. and then bicarb twice. Your pH didn't call for any of those additions.
If you're using Fermaid O you wouldn't even need to buffer a pH. As a general rule of thumb, I never add things like that unless I have to.

I would suggest to rack it off the lee's any time one has a reductive batch going on once it's finished. H2S will bind over time if left in your must. Usually, a few good stirs will work. Also. Once you get very far into a ferment and it starts to smell adding more food at that point is too late. You can also add yeast hulls. Or boil a little water, add some bread yeast. Let it cool and add it and stir well. The dead cells act as sponges and will help to absorb some of this.

 

[Jim H]

Thanks for the ideas Squatchy.

Looking over my notes - I think I added the K+bicarb in a formulaic manner based on some assumptions (gotta add the potassium!).
As well as the acid addition (the pH started out too high!) and forgotten that the fermentation brings it back down pretty quickly.

Must remember to add the K+ based on pH...must remember.

That's the problem with starting again after a while. You forget lessons learned, not all details make it to mead logs.

Added some boiled yeast, and stirred/splashed vigorously again in the morning and this evening. It now smells more of yeast (of course) and a little bit fusel-y. I thought that F-O had yeast hulls in it? It certainly smells like it does.

I am planning on racking it to secondary tomorrow. I will let it finish its last few points off the lees.

 

[bernardsmith]

Not sure that a high pH is a real problem. Certainly a high pH (low acidity) can encourage bacterial infection but I would think that the yeast produce all kinds of compounds that discourage competitors of all kinds.

I am not familiar with Opale yeast but the spec sheet suggests that it is a low producer of hydrogen sulfide... Not that helps you once it produced the H2S

Last point: I just got myself a tiny batch of pine tree honey and for the record and I also just learned this pine tree honey does not come from pine trees (despite the graphic on the jar I bought). It's made from some sweet secretion produced by some beetle or other insect that bees apparently glom onto...

 

[Jim H]

...Last point: I just got myself a tiny batch of pine tree honey and for the record and I also just learned this pine tree honey does not come from pine trees (despite the graphic on the jar I bought). It's made from some sweet secretion produced by some beetle or other insect that bees apparently glom onto...

I didn't know about this until your post, thanks for that bernardsmith. I like the alternate names for this kind of honey (at least the ones listed in Wikipedia), and now I know the source of the word "honeydew". I like the ring of the Romanian name for this honey: "manna honey", miere de mana. Cool.

Per the info in this thread, I am re-writing my instructions to myself on the pH bit. What bothers me is that I know I had good reason for using the potassium bicarb for supplying potassium, just can't find it now. Is that outdated? No longer recommended?

Now in careful re-reading, I think the thing that may have knocked this batch out of whack was that I did not follow TOSNA 2.0 to the letter. While the SNA total amount was good, I did not feed on the exact recommended schedule - only three feedings, and I did not do the last one on the 1/3 break or day 5. I ended too early. So perhaps this in combination with the goof up with pH management was enough to create a stink.

UPDATE: as of this morning, it is smelling much better, thank you muchly for the help Squatchy. While still a little yeasty from the hulls, there is no sulfur. There are a few fusels that will age out, and some tropical fruit notes.

 

[Squatchy]

I don't recommend using a buffer until you know you need it. Fermaid O is a great buffer on its own. There is a lot of misinformation as to when a strain will stall. I have never had any stall above 3.0.