Why does my mead smell like rotten eggs?

Question

Second mead, ten days in and still bubbling. Walked past the fermenter this morning and got a proper whiff of rotten eggs, or struck matches, somewhere between…

nutrient_in_stages · Accepted Answer

Hydrogen sulphide from stressed yeast, and you have named both causes yourself. No nutrients is the common one: honey is famously poor in the nitrogen yeast needs, and when it runs short this is what it produces.

The lemon juice is the second. Honey is already acidic and adding acid before fermentation pushes the pH lower, which is another stressor. Most recipes that call for acid mean afterwards, for balance, not at the start.

racked_it_twice · Answer

Stir and degas gently, which releases the trapped gas including the sulphide itself and tends to help the yeast along. Go carefully, fermenting mead foams up faster than you expect.

And check where the fermenter is sitting. Temperature too high or swinging about is its own stressor, so move it somewhere stable inside the range on the yeast packet while you are dealing with the rest.

Why does my mead smell like rotten eggs?

3 answers