Strange smelling beer

I was at a friend's house yesterday when he gave me a beer that he brewed and asked for my "expert" opinion on it.

The taste was ok a little bit yeasty but drinkable, but it had a odd nasty smell to it. I would almost describe it has a wet dog smell.

What on earth would give a beer that sort of smell?

Wild yeast? Maybe really bad oxidation? I think my guess would be wild yeast.

Coastarine said:

Wild yeast? Maybe really bad oxidation? I think my guess would be wild yeast.

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Do oxygen obsorbing caps do anything to prevent oxidation, particulally hot oxidation?

I thought a oxidized beer just tasted stale.

Hot side aeration [supposedly] occurs while the wort is still hot, prior to pitching, so no they don't prevent that, but they are supposed to prevent oxidation in the bottle.

Usually it does taste stale. I'm not sure what it might taste like if it were done really, really, really hardcore. Anyway, I think what you were tasting is much more likely a sanitation issue.

Would you say that another way to describe the smell might be "horse blanket"?

Coastarine said:

Wild yeast?

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My money's on wild yeast for that fresh from the barn smell.

Coastarine said:

Hot side aeration [supposedly] occurs while the wort is still hot, prior to pitching, so no they don't prevent that, but they are supposed to prevent oxidation in the bottle.

Usually it does taste stale. I'm not sure what it might taste like if it were done really, really, really hardcore. Anyway, I think what you were tasting is much more likely a sanitation issue.

Would you say that another way to describe the taste might be "horse blanket"?

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Well I have no idea how well he santizes, I know he uses star-san but I don't know how well he uses it.

I've never had the oppertunity to smell a horse blanket so I have no idea if that would be a good description or not. I do own two miniture dachshunds and thought the beer smelled the same way they do when they've been out in the rain.

Could dead yeast also produce that sort of smell? I have a few bottles of stout with some yeast residue along the inside the bottle neck that seemed to have a similar smell. It was faint but noticable.

The only common denominator I can think of has to do with yeast. Neither beer sat on the yeast cake long enough for any autolyzing to take place. Can autolyse take place within the bottle?

I read that oxidation produces a wet cardboard taste, but what kind of odor does it produce? I think I going to go get some cardboard wet and see what it smells like.

I also forgot to mention that his girlfriend thought it tasted a bit soapy, but I would still describe the taste has yeasty.

Was he storing it in clear bottles exposed to light? Maybe it just skunked.