rotten egg smell help!!

Ok so I bought a homebrew kit from tescos to "pub style beer". on the box it is labelled youngs u brew. I have brewed for 6 days as instructed on the box and am now getting a very funny smell like rotten eggs. this is my first brew and I am no sure if it is ruined or if the smell will fade in the next part of the process. please help!!

It happens and will blow off over time. I've had a couple of brews do that in the past few months. By the time I have kegged or bottled, the smell was gone.

thank you very much I will bottle tonight as planned. seriously though, this smells something else

You may want to let it rest for a few more days until the smell blows off. Mine have smelled during the first 5-6 days in primary. Anyone else have some input?

Better to leave it alone for 2 or 3 weeks instead of a week. The longer it sits the longer the yeast will clean up after themselves and you will have a much better beer.

As far as the smell goes well sounds normal to me. Heck I use that time to fart around the house and blame it on the beer.

ok but it says to ferment for 4-6 days. the bubbles stopped rising completely yesterday. should I keep the container sealed and Leave for a couple days to see if the smell fades? I don't want eggy beer

I'm assuming you have some kind of oxygen lock on the container and yes keep it closed. You don't want to let oxygen in.

Dylan12 said:

ok but it says to ferment for 4-6 days. the bubbles stopped rising completely yesterday. should I keep the container sealed and Leave for a couple days to see if the smell fades? I don't want eggy beer

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Yup just let it sit for 14 days minimum. Some of us here have let them sit for months and been fine. The longer it sits the cleaner the beer becomes. If you bottle to early you will end up with bottle bombs

ok will let it sit for another week or so but the yeast I put in seemed like a very small amount and i am concerned that it was not enough. like I sais the bubbles have stopped rising, no bubbles what so ever and it says on the instructions when this happens fermentation is complete. thank You for all the help guys.

The yeast may very well still be active but not putting producing CO2 at the rate that they were. ..hence no bubbles. Just let it sit and be happy...you are making beer and one thing is certain...beer is good!

Ok thank you I will let it sit for a while and see how it goes. if worst comes to worst and the yeast is in fact not active, is that it down the drain

Dylan12 said:

Ok thank you I will let it sit for a while and see how it goes. if worst comes to worst and the yeast is in fact not active, is that it down the drain

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sorry for all the questions but this is my first brew and I'm really hoping it goes well.

Ok I will do that and see how it goes. if worst comes to worst, I leave it to and yeast is in fact not active, is that it down the drain? sorry for so many questions but this is my first brew and I'm really hoping all goes well

Dylan12 said:

Ok I will do that and see how it goes. if worst comes to worst, I leave it to and yeast is in fact not active, is that it down the drain? sorry for so many questions but this is my first brew and I'm really hoping all goes well

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Leave it alone for 3 weeks, quit taking the lid off, buy a hydrometer.

Read all the stickies here and buy a copy of How to Brew by Palmer.

Rick

Yeast go through 3 phases while your beer is brewing. The first phase is lag time, the time when the yeast are preparing to ferment. the second is the main ferment. This is when you see the bubbling or see the krausen rise. The final phase is where the yeast clean up the intermediate products that it produced in the second phase. There is no CO2 expelled in this phase so it looks like nothing is happening but this is a critical phase too. Give the yeast the time they need to complete all phases.

RM-MN said:

Yeast go through 3 phases while your beer is brewing. The first phase is lag time, the time when the yeast are preparing to ferment. the second is the main ferment. This is when you see the bubbling or see the krausen rise. The final phase is where the yeast clean up the intermediate products that it produced in the second phase. There is no CO2 expelled in this phase so it looks like nothing is happening but this is a critical phase too. Give the yeast the time they need to complete all phases.

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thanks a lot mate, but if I leave for a week or so, when the time comes to bottle will there be enough yeast left in it to carbonate etc?

There will be plenty of yeast, in fact there is a lot more yeast in there than what you pitched. In the lag phase mentioned the yeast is reproducing like crazy.

Dylan12 said:

thanks a lot mate, but if I leave for a week or so, when the time comes to bottle will there be enough yeast left in it to carbonate etc?

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A brewer on another forum reported leaving his beer in the primary for 8 months and still had enough yeast to carbonate so I think you will be ok with another week or two. :cross:

Dylan12 said:

Ok so I bought a homebrew kit from tescos to "pub style beer". on the box it is labelled youngs u brew. I have brewed for 6 days as instructed on the box and am now getting a very funny smell like rotten eggs. this is my first brew and I am no sure if it is ruined or if the smell will fade in the next part of the process. please help!!

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Hi guys i have left to sit for about a week and when i went back to it the smell has got worse. it now smells very strongly like vinegar? any advice welcome here i sure can use it

Just leave it be. Stop taking the lid off. Throw the instructions in the garbage. The bubbles mean nothing. The only way to see if it is fermenting is if the Original Gravity is dropping. You can tell by buying a hydrometer and taking a hydrometer reading. Funky smells means your yeast is working. That smell is leaving your beer thus why you are smelling it. The yeast is cleaning up after itself.

Now if you keep messing around with it you could ruin your batch. Each time you open the lid, you risk introducing wild yeast, bacteria, oxidation, and other nasty things.

Did you sterilize all your brewing and fermenting equipment well? Did you brew at the proper temps? What is the temperature your beer is fermenting at? These things are important. If it is fermenting at too high a temperature, you could be messing up the process.

Also if you want help, we need to know more information too. IE what temperatures you're wort is, etc.

One of the most common causes of the egg smell is stressed yeast, usually caused by extreme fluctuations in temperature. You may have pitched your yeast when the wort was too hot. Your fermenting temps should be idle. So again, information is key. You should probably read a book on brewing so you understand the science behind he process. Then you'll understand that temps are key to the process. Good luck!

I had a batch brewed with Burton Ale Yeast that produced a stong sulfer smell during fermentation. Made me sick to smell it! Pretty much fermented out all the way, but there is still a slight sulfery smell in the final brew. Not overwelming or off-putting, but its definitely there. Good luck!

Hi guys, just posting to thanks for the help. Bought a hydrometer, reading was ok and the smell finally cleared up so bottled tonight and its seems to be all good for now.