Fuesel Smell in Primary - 1335 Porter

So I racked off my porter to secondary tonight.

Some precedings:

First All Grain Batch

Choco Porter
4oz Hershey's Unsweetend Cocoa
1335 Wyeast Brit Ale II
6 Gallon Plastic Primary
6 Gallon Plastic Secondary

Color was spot on, but the when i dove in to smell that wonderfull fermenting homebrew smell we all love I got a face full of Fusels!!!! As you could guess my dissapointment... after racking to secondary the smells were lessened but still apparent.

Could this just be natural fermentation smells? Trub?

Should I be worried?

FTR: I ferment on a air vent in which our air is set to 72 so logic would tell me the passing air is lower than 72. I am not sure what the actual temp of the fermenter is, but I have done this in previous brews and have never had a problem. This is my first time using Wyeast 1335 Though?

Thanks in Advance

I find many strange and awful smells come from my beers at various points in the process. I'd wait until the porter has been in the bottle or keg for a reasonable amount of time before passing any judgment.

Don't get me wrong, I placed in seconday and went on with trying to wash the yeast. My plan is to let it seconday for prob two weeks then it will set in keg for at least two months untill I get a fridge and regulator. I was just curious if someone else had these similar issues. Should I still save the yeast until I know weather the beer is good or not?

So here we are almost 4 mos later and the beer is good but it still taste of alcohol. Very hot. The taste is not so much upfront, but lingering and definatly in the aroma. At this point is there anything I can do? Blending etc? Do I just tie up a keg for enternity in hope or blend this with an English mild?

Any input would be great. Thanks in advance!

So I think I'm gonna do this. Pull the porter from the keg and put it back under airlock at 65-68 ddegrees. I'll let it set there for a month or two and see if it will 'degass' at all or if the yeast can clear it up.

Sound good?

What exactly does a fusel alcohol smell like, anyhow? They have a definite taste, that's well agreed upon, but I don't remember many people talking about how they smell.

Sounds like your fermentation temp was a little too high for the yeast...what was your OG?

Fusels smell hot--like if you pored a shot of cheap vodka into your pint of beer. (At least that is my interpretation)

I don't think that letting it sit in a secondary, without a lot of yeast to clean up off flavors, is going to help you out a whole lot. Good luck brotha

GuldTuborg said:

What exactly does a fusel alcohol smell like, anyhow? They have a definite taste, that's well agreed upon, but I don't remember many people talking about how they smell.

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+1...from my experience it is a taste not so much a smell.... could you try and describe the smell? the HOT taste you have is most likly fusels and they will fade slowly with time with emphases on the slowly. 1335 also ferments best on the cooler end of the spectrum and keep in mind the beer will be fermenting at ~4F-8F above ambient temperature depending on how active a ferment it is.

jtupper said:

So I think I'm gonna do this. Pull the porter from the keg and put it back under airlock at 65-68 ddegrees. I'll let it set there for a month or two and see if it will 'degass' at all or if the yeast can clear it up.

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this sounds like alot of extra work for a beer which may end up being mediocre at best. Leave it in the keg would be your best bet although at 4 months if it isnt drinkable i doubt your going to get much better. Blending works sometimes however the beers being blended still both should be GOOD tasting beers. Coincedentally i would not re-use the yeast you washed from this batch. If there was a problem or some sort of contamination then it will/could carry over to your next batch.

What if I re-yeast in a seconday with just a small pitch? Will there be to much alcohol for the yeast? Could I just use a champane dry?

I doubt that repitching would help. Your original yeast probably consumed all of the sugars that are they are able. By adding yeast, if they ferment anything at all, will only dry out the beer. To me it sounds that you fermented too hot. I have found that, even after a year, I still could taste the higher alcohols.

So I'm not getting a lot of advice here. What DO I do? Wait? Dump? Just drink the 'vodka' party style?

jtupper said:

What if I re-yeast in a seconday with just a small pitch? Will there be to much alcohol for the yeast? Could I just use a champane dry?

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champaign yeast will work to dry the beer out but that isnt what your trying to do....once the fusel alcohols are presant in a beer the only thing that makes them go away or lessen is time. I'm telling you man- dump it or build biermunchers counter preassure bottle fuller for 10 bucks and bottle them. put it in the back of your closet and pop on every few weeks until its paletable