When preparing wine at home, you may encounter the problem of foreign odor in an alcoholic drink. In such a situation, you need to figure out why homemade wine may smell like mash and how you can eliminate the defect. Proper cleaning helps restore natural aroma, regardless of the cause of the problem.
Why does wine smell like yeast?
There are several reasons why a drink loses its proper aromatic characteristics and begins to smell like mash. Most often this is due to violation of the conditions for preparing the drink and non-compliance with the recipe.
Among other reasons are:
- Use of low quality raw materials. The starting material directly affects the characteristics of the finished product, so it is worth pre-selecting the raw materials.
- Fermentation conditions. An important stage in preparing a drink is the fermentation process, and in order for the wine to acquire an exquisite taste and aroma, it is important to eliminate the risk of interaction between the must and air.
- Ambient temperature. The indicator affects the quality and intensity of fermentation, so temperature deviations lead to the appearance of an undesirable odor in the wine.
- Duration of cooking. Wine must be prepared and infused for a certain time, which is calculated taking into account the starting products.
How to remove yeast smell from wine
If errors were made during the creation of homemade wine and an undesirable odor appeared, it is possible to restore the aroma. From the available options, it is better to choose the more suitable one depending on the available capabilities.
Fermentation and aging
When an alcoholic drink ferments, fusel oils are released, certain components of which give a characteristic odor. To check whether the presence of fusel oils is the cause of the mash smell, you need to take a bottle of wine, cork it and keep it in a warm place. If bubbles form on the walls of the container during the day and sediment falls to the bottom, additional fermentation and subsequent aging of the product will be required. After doing this, the problem should be resolved.
The aging period for wine prepared at home is at least six months. During this time, the drink must be removed from the sediment several times, once a month.It is in the sediment that most of the harmful components are present, which cause a cloudy consistency and an unpleasant odor. Wine can be poured into containers for further storage only after clarification and the absence of sediment. In this situation, aging is used as a method of cleansing.
Pasting
If the wine does not acquire a clear consistency even after sediment has stopped forming, it means that some unwanted compounds remain and clarification is required. To do this, pasting procedures are performed using gelatin, egg white, fish glue or a special substance called Bentonite.
To clean the drink with fish glue or gelatin, they are first kept in water at room temperature for 24 hours. To finish 5 liters of wine, 1 g of gelatin or 0.5 g of glue is required. From a container with wine, pour a little drink into a separate container and add the swollen ingredient there, after which it is thoroughly mixed and returned to the main container. Stir the wine again and wait for sediment to form. When it forms, the drink will become clearer and acquire a pleasant aroma.
Pasting with egg whites is valued for its ease of execution. You need to separate the white from the yolk, beat well and add to the container with the drink. The ingredient is used at the rate of 1 protein per 50 liters of wine. After adding the beaten egg white, the alcohol is stirred quickly to reduce the time it reacts with air. After infusion for a couple of days, the product is removed from the sediment.
The drug Bentonite is used if other ingredients for pasting have not helped. For 1 liter of wine, take 2 g of the substance and pour it in for 10-12 hours to swell. Then pour in 1 liter of water, mix thoroughly and pour the resulting mixture into the main container.
After a few days, the drink is removed from the sediment and the aroma is checked.
Coal cleaning
An extreme measure to eliminate the smell of mash is mixing with birch charcoal. A handful of coal is immersed in a container with a drink, and fusel oils are absorbed. At the same time, along with the foreign smell, the taste characteristics disappear, which significantly reduces the quality of the finished product.
What to do with wine if you can’t remove the smell?
Even cleaning the drink does not always help completely eliminate the problem. If none of the options for combating the unpleasant odor have led to the desired result, it is better to start making wine again. This will save time and labor costs, since the likelihood of restoring the aroma if all methods are ineffective is minimal.
