Harvested Sierra Nevada Yeast - Rotten Egg smell?

Hey guys and gals!

I did a quick search through here and didn't seem to find any other threads directly answering my question so I really hope this wasn't taken up before but here goes...

I managed to harvest some Sierra Nevada Bigfoot yeast from a bottle I had and used it for a DIPA I brewed on sunday. It took some time to get going at first (@ 24 hours, normally my brews take off in about less than 12) and all seemed well. Then I came home today from being out and my whole apartment smells like sulfury rotten eggs. I was just wondering if any one has any experience with SN yeasts and maybe this is just normal (please let this be normal). I plan on moving it up to my storage room so the smell can be there instead but I'm really hoping its just the yeast and not an infection...

In case anyone is wondering, I also posted this on reddit.com/r/homebrewing

Let it sit on the yeast for a bit longer and let it work itself out:

Sulfur/Hydrogen Sulfide

Tastes/Smells Like:
Sulfur, burning match, rotten egg, raw sewage
Possible Causes:
Hydrogen sulfide, which is the chemical responsible for giving sulfur its unpleasant
smell, is naturally produced by all yeast during fermentation. Many lager yeasts
can create overwhelming sulfur-like aromas. Ale strains generally make such small
amounts that the odor is unnoticeable.
How to Avoid:
During fermentation, the production of hydrogen sulfide is inevitable. Co2 will
carry most of the hydrogen sulfide away. Conditioning or lagering after primary
fermentation is complete should make any left over sulfur smells or tastes fade over
time.

Weezy said:

Let it sit on the yeast for a bit longer and let it work itself out:

Sulfur/Hydrogen Sulfide

Tastes/Smells Like:
Sulfur, burning match, rotten egg, raw sewage
Possible Causes:
Hydrogen sulfide, which is the chemical responsible for giving sulfur its unpleasant
smell, is naturally produced by all yeast during fermentation. Many lager yeasts
can create overwhelming sulfur-like aromas. Ale strains generally make such small
amounts that the odor is unnoticeable.
How to Avoid:
During fermentation, the production of hydrogen sulfide is inevitable. Co2 will
carry most of the hydrogen sulfide away. Conditioning or lagering after primary
fermentation is complete should make any left over sulfur smells or tastes fade over
time.

Click to expand...

Is there any way to tell if it just has an abnormal amount of sulfur-like aromas or if it's just plain old infected?

Hydrogen sulfide can indicate stressed yeast. Given your lag time and that you harvested from a high alcohol beer (cell count?), I'd say that is a likely culprit.

Just curuious...why go through the trouble of harvesting what is probably the most widely available yeast in the U.S.? (US-05, WLP001, WY 1056)

g-star said:

Hydrogen sulfide can indicate stressed yeast. Given your lag time and that you harvested from a high alcohol beer (cell count?), I'd say that is a likely culprit.

Just curuious...why go through the trouble of harvesting what is probably the most widely available yeast in the U.S.? (US-05, WLP001, WY 1056)

Click to expand...

Here's hoping it's just stressed and not infected. Is my beer gonna taste messed up as well or is that something that we'll have to wait and see with, assuming this is a stressed yeast and not an infected batch.

to answer your question: Ignorance. I should have googled but I didn't know that SN used such widely available yeast strains. I thought it would be cool to use a different yeast since I live in Sweden and my brewing supply store probably doesn't have half the stuff I'd be able to get back home in the states. Of course in this instance I would have been able to get my hands on some US-05 or WLP001 without problem.

My harvested yeast smells slight of sulfur, should I use it? If I don't use it, it will mean letting my wort sit for at least two days before I can buy yeast. Thanks