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Should I be worried about an off smell?
Hello all,
I'm glad I've found this forum since my wife and I are first time homebrewers. We are making a variation on a ginger spice beer recipie in the AHA magazine. Our bucket, airlock, and hydrometer were sanitized in Straight A and while we didn't boil all 5 gallons together, we did boil all of the water added to the beer immediately before pouring it into the fermentation vessel (5 gallon Ale Pail). We didn't have a wort cooler so we let the bucket sit in the bathtub full of cold water until it got down to 80 F. We pitched room temp White Labs German Ale/Kolsch yeast straight from the tube and got no reaction after 2 days. At this point I went and got an American Ale dried yeast and pitched it. Within 5 hours we had a bubbling frequncy of 1-2 per minute in the airlock. This rate has persisted for the last 3 days, but the airlock has a bit of a sulfury funk coming from it. It still smell like beer for the most part, but their is a distinct sulfur odor in their too. Should I just wait it out or has some nasty bug ruined us for good? Any suggestions on what to do?
Thanks All
Hi edds! Welcome to the obsession (err...I mean hobby!).
I wouldn't worry about a sulphur smell. While such aromas are more typical of a larger yeast fermentation, it is not unheard of to have some sulphur smells venting out of the airlock as ale yeast does its work. To the extent you described your process, it sounds like you followed good practices.
As a general rule, it's best relax and don't worry about seemingly odd things that happen while the yeast does its job. I don't always manage to follow that rule myself, but I try! Another thing: it is never to your advantage to assume the worst. Even if you think your beer is infected, go ahead and let it finish instead of dumping it. Then, once it is done sample it. If it's infected, you'll know it and didn't really lose anything by waiting a few more days; if it is a good beer, then you'll be glad you didn't throw away the fruits of your effort. (take note that even a good beer, when young, may taste a little rough around the edges until it has had time to condition).
A question: did you use a hydrometer to check the gravity of your wort before you pitched the White Labs yeast? Did you do the same before pitching the dry yeast? I ask because you can't always rely on an airlock to tell you how your fermentation is going. Sometimes even with no apparent bubbling, fermentation is taking place. Only way to know what's happening for sure is to take gravity readings.
What you are experiencing is the hardest learned practice in homebrewing: being relaxed and patient. Both of these attitudes are made easier by the consumption of a good beer, by the way!
Cheers!
- EJ
As you make more batches you are going to find that every yeast has different characteristics, visually and aromatic. Some fermentations look and smell down right ugly (or beautiful depending on perspective). That particular yeast will give some funny odor as it ferments and everything is AOK. What was the starting gravity of the beer? Right off the bat everyone is going to tell you to start making starters when pitching liquid yeast- they are right! It will reduce that lag time you experienced and give a healthier fermentation.
I've got a kolsch in primary right now with the WLP 029 German Ale/Kolsch. After a couple days it started smelling really bad - like sulphury rhino farts. It cleared up after a couple days and all is good now. I've also noticed the same thing with White Labs 1010 American Wheat which is supposed to be a kolsch strain as well.
When you let the fermentation bucket cool to pitch temp did you keep it covered or was it open?
Also, as mentioned you'll get weird smells from some yeasts sos I wouldn't worry about it. Now when you're ready to bottle and it smells sour you can pretty much know it's bad. Sulphur smell is a characteristic of some yeasts so I'd wait to see if it goes away.
I made a wheat beer and used a yeast specificalyl for wheat beers and it smelled sour right away. I almost domped it. I decided yo wait a few days and the sour smell went away.
So don't worry unless the smell is stil present when you're ready to bottle and then check back with this forum if it is for advice. We all started out and needed guidance from the start and you won't find a better group of people to help you. They helped me a ton.
DC
Thanks for the rapid replies all! My OG is 1.033 and I was afraid to check the gravity because 1) I have worked a lot with bacterial and cell cultures and I'm paranoid about contaminating things and 2) I didn't see any foaming on the top and the smell from the airlock oriface was consistant with the wort I started with. I figure if anything, I've just modified the final product a bit by having 2 slightly different yeasts working at the same time. It's good to know that I probably don't just have a bucket of egg farts in my basement. I'll let it go for a while longer. Other than the reccomended time in the recipie, is there any other indicator I should use to let me know it's time for secondary fermentation?
edds5p0 wrote:
Other than the reccomended time in the recipie, is there any other indicator I should use to let me know it's time for secondary fermentation?
Try to think of a secondary as a conditioning period- not fermentation. You want every last bit of fermentation to be complete before you remove your beer from the yeast. Airlocks are not a good indicator or measurement of completion, only a connistant final gravity for a few days is best to tell. Don't worry about contamination, sounds like with your background you understand the importance of sanitation, as long as your contact with the wort is with sanitized equipt, you will have no worries, taking gravity readings is good practice and you will understand how helpful that info will be.
The secondary is to allow any yeast that didn't flocculate and clear out, to now settle, along with any other fermenter trub and debris. The fermentation cycle is active and keeps things stirred up like a mudpuddle, secondarying allows this to settle. It is completely optional depending on style. Kolsch is a great style to do this, and if you have the patience cold crashing for 4-6 weeks will really clear it up for you.
I wouldn't worry until its done and you take a sample to taste.
But as has already been said, german ale/kolsch yeast tends to put out a strong sulphur smell... so hopefully you are good to go.
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