My pale wheat smells horrible

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Eckythump

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Getting time to bottle my pale wheat, so I opened up the carboy to peek inside. It smells horrible in there! Not sure how to describe it except strong and wrong (or "off"). I've never used wheat malt before: does wheat beer usually smell different than other styles?

2# Wheat malt
2# Pale malt
1 oz Cascade
Nottingham yeast
Fermented at 68. Been sitting for 3 weeks.
 
Your not talking about CO2 burn right? I have done that before, thinking the batch was bad and dumped it before I realized (by reading on here) it was the burning in my nose from the CO2.
 
I've been burned on previous batches. It's quite funny to tell people not to stick their face too close to the open bucket, which of course they ignore.

There also seems to be a little bit of white creamy lines around the surface. Not crazy white like some of the infections I've seen on here, but maybe it's the start of one.

I will take a swig tonight and report back. Thanks!
 
It's like the blue bug-zapper light. I can't NOT take a whif...even though it burns me every time. Still worth it.
 
Hmm... The taste is a little watery. I wouldn't say it tastes sour, but the smell is really not to my liking. Does wheat beer have a different smell? Maybe this is what it is supposed to smell like?
 
Hopefully this was a false alarm. Just went out and had a pint of a wheat beer. It had a similar, but much less intense, smell.
 
I just did a quick search of keywords "Nottingham", "yeast", "smell" and found a number of posts on various homebrew forums noting that this particular yeast produced a sulphurous smell. I've also noticed this myself with Koelsch yeast, in a recipe which perhaps not coincidentally also contained some wheat malt - it turned out fine, however. Some yeasts just seem to generate a sulphur smell at some stage during the fermentation but it doesn't hurt the beer - if indeed this is the "off" smell you notice.
 
Bierenliefhebber said:
I just did a quick search of keywords "Nottingham", "yeast", "smell" and found a number of posts on various homebrew forums noting that this particular yeast produced a sulphurous smell. I've also noticed this myself with Koelsch yeast, in a recipe which perhaps not coincidentally also contained some wheat malt - it turned out fine, however. Some yeasts just seem to generate a sulphur smell at some stage during the fermentation but it doesn't hurt the beer - if indeed this is the "off" smell you notice.
Click to expand...

+1, my money is on the nottingham
 
I've used Nottingham in at least 3 previous batches and never had this smell (specially after 3 weeks in the primary). It might indeed be this, though I wouldn't call it a sulfur smell.
 
I did a NB speckled Heifer with Notty and it finished a 3 week primary and racked to keg, noticed a weird smell but it tasted ok
took a quick sample off the keg after a couple days and the smell is still there
my swmbo even noticed it so it is strong

any ideas?
 

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