Air lock/smell of fermenting brew

I am unexperienced in the brewing realm. Here is my story/questions:

This is day one of brewing. My wort is within its first 24 hours of fermentation. As the air lock bubbles, and foam gathers on the top of the wort- visually everything looks good. My concern is Smell. I put my nose over the air lock and took a big whiff. Banana, cider characteristics, and a hint of a sprakling/ alcoholic pungency . I am brewing a German style Wheat beer. The aromas are present and aren't unpleasant. It smells like a good sign.. i hope. Is this a good thing?

[*]can the smells coming off the air lock be a good judge on the quality of fermenting process?
[*]What should i know about smells and fermentation? what should i Look for/Smell for good and bad in relationship to the wort as in matures in fermentation?


let me know what you think

thanks

I had beers smelling like a dirty wet dog, some that plainly smell like farts, some fruity and bubble gum don´t judge your proccess for the smell of fermentation. The hardest part when you start homebrewing it´s patience RDWHAHB.

It's possible that the smell could tell you how the yeast is faring, but with so many variables you won't really be able to tell if anything is different unless you constantly brew the same beer with the same yeast, pitching rate, temperature, water, smell at the same times in fermentation...and so on. Smell is smell and highly unreliable. Less reliable than airlock activity which is highly unreliable.

With a wheat I would expect bananas, assuming your using a wheat yeast. Everything else sounds normal, fermentation is ugly and stinky, all will be fine in the end.

I love the smell of an active fermentation, especially when a nice hoppy IPA is in the carboy, sometimes it takes a struggle for me to leave the room.

The only one that so far was "stinky" was the kolsch. Strong Sulfur smell!

But it made one fantastic beer

Don't worry about it. Generally every yeast will throw its own set of smells. I've had Hefeweizens smell like bananas and sulfur and turn out just fine. With American ale yeasts you'll probably just smell hops coming out of the airlock , Belgian yeasts can throw off lots of fruity smells or some funk if it's a Saison yeast, etc.

A lot of the beers I brew seem to go through a progression of smells. First malty and sometimes fruity, then slightly sulfury, then apple when the fermentation slows down. I assume the apple is from the acetaldehyde present in the green beer that the yeast haven't cleaned up yet. Then after that the smells unfortunately stop. :-( This progression changes with different brews and yeasts of course.

Welcome to Airlock Sniffers Club!

Soup4you2 said:

I love the smell of an active fermentation, especially when a nice hoppy IPA is in the carboy, sometimes it takes a struggle for me to leave the room.

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beaksnbeer said:

Welcome to Airlock Sniffers Club!

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Same here, there's usually so much lapulin in my beer that little bubbler just shoots out citrusy piney goodness. I am definitely an airlock sniffer! It's actually kinda sad 5 days or so later when I just hover over it waiting the 30 seconds or so between each bubble

That being said, I've always read that yeast make a bunch of off favors and smells that they clean up themselves as fermentation progresses. A wheat beer without a bunch of hops to mask it would probably be a perfect candidate to get a whiff of those off of early on in primary.

What is your fermentation temp? What type of yeast did you use? All of my Hefs and belgian ales have exhibited banana aroma. It may be more prevalent at higher temps. Word of advice, your fermentation temp is critical to a good tasting beer. Monitor the temp and you will be fine.

DerCribben said:

It's actually kinda sad 5 days or so later when I just hover over it waiting the 30 seconds or so between each bubble

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Haha same here! When I'm lagering or cold crashing I will even open up the fridge to warm it up enough to get that one lone bubble!

I cAn sadly (or happily) say that I have hugged my buckets before to give them the heat needed to give me a bubble or so :cross: