Rotten egg smell coming from carboy..........

Ok as some of you have seen it's been a fun filled day today. I brewed up some honey brown ale yesterday and had a great time doing it. Everything ran smoothly for me. I decided to go with one of my 5 gal. better bottles so I could watch the fermentation process take place. 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy + honey at that = a pretty violent fermentation with not a lot of room to grow.

Today my airlock was foaming over, the top blew off, etc etc. so I ran to the hardware store got some tubing and hooked it up with a blow off. It worked great so I left the house for a while. Upon returning the overflow and ceased, still bubbling constantly but not spewing by any means.

This is when I noticed a rotten egg type smell that was in the air!? I took the bucket away, cleaned up the airlock, sanitized it, refilled it with vodka and placed it back in the carboy. I have read so many posts about people freaking out about their beers being infected and being told to calm down and let it take its course so I'm not here to freak out on everyone but I am curious why a rotten egg smell would be present?

My first batch I did smelled like pale ale the whole way through. This one has a fowl smell in just 27 hours of fermenting. When I stick my nose over the bubbling airlock it's a strong off odor of some kind . What do you guys/gals think is up????

What yeast did you use?

Some yeast strains produce more sulfur than others. Lager yeast are notorious sulfur producers!

Don't worry about it. Just keep the temperature under 70 degrees, and wait it out!

Thanks for the quick responses!

White Labs California Ale V WLP051 - I made a starter with it as well which was my first attempt at that. Temps are remaining in the high 60's so I'm good there.

It was just alarming to have such a funky odor filling the room it's in. As I stated the only other beer I've brewed (english brown ale) smelled of strong beer the whole way through.

nevermind I did a google search entering my yeast + smell and it came back with this:


Date: April 4, 2008
Beers brewed: IPA, Pale, Brown
Comments: I've used this strain for several beers and have enjoyed the clean flavors produced. The only issue is the rotten egg smell I get when this yeast ferments my wort. The wife really hates it! But, the beer consistently tastes great. I've harvested it from several primary fermentations and stored it in the fridge for up to 3 months. It still wakes up and takes of within hours of pitching. Good stuff.


Date: Jan. 26, 2009
Beers brewed: American IPA
Comments: I have experienced similar traits from this yeast, i.e, the egg smell, slow fermentation. After 8 days fermentation stopped and everything settled. Temp was 66-69 F the entire time. I started with a 1.058 and got down to 1.025. I have since roused the containers and raised the temperature. *crosses fingers* I have used Cal 001 in the past using the same recipe and so I did expect some variance in activity regarding temperature.



so in other words I feel much better!

I just experienced this with my Honey Weizen (using Wyeast liquid American Wheat). Days 2 and 3 were egg-scrutiating, but the smell has backed off and now at day 7 all I can smell is the wonderful beer. No more egg.

I feel left out here....I just posted the same thread a couple of days ago and only one person responded

I wonder if there's something to including honey in a brew that causes yeasts to produce more sulphur?? I brewed a braggot yesterday with half LME and half Orange Blossom Honey...I pitched some washed American Hefeweisen yeast and it took off within 12 hours. But it reeked of rotten eggs! Everything I'm reading says to just let it go, but I'm curious if there's anything behind using honey and increased sulphur production.

I have used WLP-051 and it produced a strong sulfur smell. Went away after a few days. I also had honey in that batch so i cant answer to the honey question.

All is well... and for what its worth, mine fermented entirely at 72F.. in houston i didnt want to pay for the AC to keep it colder. Beer still turned out great, granted it was really strong, but good.

same things happen to me ...just went downstairs to check the temp of my swamp cooler a steady 65F the yeast was white labs 1056 can anyone please reassure me that everythings cool..this is 2nd partial mash and first time use a starter...

honey has no nutrients for the yeast so they can get stressed out pretty easy. If you add some nutrients to the wort it helps. Check out the Edworts apfelwein thread talking about rhino farts going away with proper nutrients. Informative....