WLP530 Abbey Ale - Sulfur Smell

I'm about 48 hrs into the ferment of my Belgian Blonde with WLP530. My whole basement smell of a very pungent sulfur smell. I've brewed many beers and have never had this from a yeast. It's almost something I would expect from a lager yeast. Has anyone had this before?

I don't think this one is known to be sulfury.

1) What was the wort OG and how much yeast did you pitch?

2) What temp is it hanging out at?

3) Did you aerate?

Reno_eNVy said:

I don't think this one is known to be sulfury.

1) What was the wort OG and how much yeast did you pitch?

2) What temp is it hanging out at?

3) Did you aerate?

Click to expand...

OG was 1.060. Pichted a 1.3L starter.

Temp is controlled at 64*

Yes, with O2.

Hmm....

Do you happen to know the production date of the yeast?

5/10/2012

Hmmm... well as far as melon-scratchers go, this one is a honeydew. *BA-DA CHA*

But seriously, you've got me stumped. Anybody else want to chime in?

It's just sulphury, it happens. Sometimes it's from yeast stress, some strains just kick off plenty... even some hop varieties have high levels.

It's volatile though so co2 leaving the beer will get rid of it. I used some Wlp540 (rochefort), it was old but I made a starter, did a cell count and it was reasonable so pitched it.... I nearly puked when I went near it as it was throwing off so much sulphur. Turned out fine though. Score.

I"ve used WLP530 many times to ferment styles ranging from belgian quad to abbey... even cider. Each time I used that yeast I have noticed a sulphur smell and each batch turned out fine. No sulphur in the aroma or flavor of the finished product.

Ok, I wanted to post an update. The smell now is horrific, like something died in my fermentation chamber. I've brewed 15+ batches and I've never had something smell like this before. I took a sample and it's down to 1.012...perfect. It tasted pretty good too. What the hell is going on?

Sounds most likely that you have an infection of a weird Brettanomyces strain coupled with a big boost of carpylic acid which smells rancid, goaty, terribly much like death.

:edit:
Also, just call it a lambic now and you're good. proceed with fermentation, open up the top of it to let it out gas as much as possible, and keep it on the warmer side to keep the yeast healthy. pay attention to the SG and what the yeast look like and as soon as it's done cool it gradually to 40 degrees and keep it there or lower (to about 37) so as not to shock the yeast but to encourage them to clean up a bit while floccing.

I have this problem whenever I use montrachet yeast. And the smell didn't go away in the aging or with sitting in the bottle over time. I did have it lessen in 2 out of every 4 bottles but the smell was still obnoxious. I wish I had left the top off and covered with a sanitized cheese cloth as soon as it happened to me to try to help get as much smell out as possible. I'd add some yeast nutrient and energizer to try to help. Just my 2c.

I'm going to crash it and then rack to secondary.

Whatever happened with this one?

Had to dump it. Turned out very cidery.

Huh, maybe you got an infection... wild yeast maybe.

I think the cider taste was due to using too much table sugar and not enough grain.