Altbier Question ~strong aroma

LovetheHops · 10-28-2008, 04:11 PM

I am brewing an Altbier style using a partial mash. I am noticing that as it is fermenting, the odor from the brew is quite strong. It doesn't smell quite like rotten eggs, more of a sweet malty smell. However, it isn't exactly pleasant.

Anyway, is this normal? I don't recall the ESB I am brewing at another location giving off so much "aroma". (I santized all my equipment and have the fermentor capped and airlocked)

Thanks in adance for you thoughts

**Yooper** · 10-28-2008, 06:04 PM

There are all kinds of smells during fermentation, so don't worry about the finished beer. Sometimes certain yeast strains do smell worse than others, and too-high fermentation temperatures can really accentuate it!

What yeast are you using, and what temperature is the wort?

LovetheHops · 10-28-2008, 06:59 PM

I'm using a European Ale Yeast (don't have other specifcs right now) at 74 degrees.

Thanks for the reassurrance.

**Yooper** · 10-28-2008, 07:02 PM

I'm guessing that the 74 degrees is the issue. I ferment my alt at about 62 degrees, if I remember correctly. Depending on yeast strain, you may be too high for that yeast.

Is that room temperature, or fermentation temperature of the carboy? Sometimes a fermentation can produce quite a bit of heat, and the temperature of the beer inside the carboy can be 6,7,8, even 10 degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature. My 62 degrees is the actual wort temperature (well, close, since I use those cheap stick-on thermometers).

Edit- I just checked, and I used Wyeast's 1007, which has a fermentation temperature range of 55-66 degrees, so it's a different strain. I did most of the fermentation at 62, then dropped the temperature after primary fermentation was over and kept it at 55 degrees for a couple of weeks.

LovetheHops · 10-28-2008, 08:25 PM

Yea, I think I was just being paranoid as I am a new brewer. The instructions on the yeast said between 70-75 degrees. 74 is the temperature of the wort, the room is actually set for 71 degrees. Interesting how much heat fermentation creates. Alos interesting to wathc the color change. It has gone from black to dark brown.

jklotz · 10-28-2008, 09:14 PM

I've got a California Common Ale I'm brewing now using lager yeast at room temp. It smells awful! Like burning sulfur. I had the same concerns as you do, so I emailed AHS, where I got the kit just to make sure all was ok, and they emailed back, this morning actually, with the following: "The sulfur smell is normal. Lager yeasts tend to give off more of a sulfur smell than ale yeasts especially if fermented at room temperature instead of lagering temperatures. This smell should dissipate as fermentation finishes."

I realize the yeast you are using is different, but maybe this is similar to what you are smelling?

**Cpt_Kirks** · 10-28-2008, 09:45 PM

I have a thread here describing my cherry wheat with the "newborn diaper" smell.

Pretty nasty.