Does home brewing smell?

I've gotten approval from my roommates to start my own home brewing. However, the one caveat was it is to not make the apartment smell bad. Now I know that there will be SOME smell from brewing and that the differentiation between good and bad is of course, subjective. Generally, when you home brew, would it make an apartment smell bad? If so, how strong is the smell, how long does it last, andways to prevent this? Thanks

lol

yeah, it smells. you grow to love it however.
the hops boiling is pretty strong... not as bad as smelling thai food cooking tho!
smell disapates rather quickly.

my wife, and oldest boy hated it when i brewed indoors.

I think God probably smells like brewing....

Depends who you talk to. I love the smell. My kids and their mother hate it.

Yes, home brew definitely smells. Even after you are done brewing, it will smell during fermentation. I love the smell of barley and hops, you could put it in a bottle and call it cologne.

after a long brew hanging over the outdoor kettle

I come inside and can still smell the wert on my clothes and hair

smells WONDERFUL

:rockin:

yea it smells but like you guys said it great!!!

It does not smell like when you cook fish or shrimp or something like that, it goes away quick too

My wife does not mind but my daughter does not like it but I do it anyway, when they get there own house they can have it any way they want but since there not paying to bad

I keep my carboys in my office in the basement and some beers you can smell but usally only in the frist couple of days

yup it smells like everybody says... my family always compalined when i did it at home and even now when i am brewing and people come over they alwasy ask "Whats that smell?"... along with the normal meth lab comments... i think you room mates will likely complain if you brew inside... you should probably brew outside

Cheers

yep. smells great in the same way cigars smell great...to some people. it can be overpowering. if you can go outside, do it.

My next door neighbor complained to my landlord about the odor - she though I was cooking meth or something. I seal the entrance door and furnace exhaust with plastic now and only brew with the windows open and fan at full tilt. A lot of people don't like the odor...

My family says it smells like yams.
It dissipates fairly quickly.

During fermentation it smells kinda beery.

No gross odors that I've experienced.

I dunno, I've never noticed any smells of fermentation, unless you're counting the occasional blowoff........

You might want to stay away from apfelwein, though...those fermentation gasses can be pretty rank for about a week.

It smells wonderful...I am steeping my grains now on this Dead Guy Clone..smells good in here.

I have brewed in an apartment without problems. Depends on your situation, I guess.

I would not characterize the aroma of beer being brewed as being stronger or more objectionable than the aroma produced by other forms of cooking involving grains.

I live in a 2 br apartment and brew. While you're brewing, the smell of hops is definitely in the air. It will be smelt throughout the apartment. It usually goes away the next day though. And it's a good smell, I think (SWMBO disagrees). My first batch did not smell during fermentation, but this batch smelled something terrible!! The smell was contained to the room where the fermenter was and went away after a day or so. So, to answer the question, as everyone else has said, yes. My suggestion, brew outside or with the windows open, if the smell offends your roommates, and put the fermenter in your room. But if they are true men (if the are men at all) they should love the smell and want to bathe in it!!

+1 on the odor, and non-brewers don't seem to like the smell.

I have never tried this, but in order to at least cut down on the fermentation smell, you could try putting some activated charcoal in your airlock water (best to use a 3 piece airlock).

If you want to cut all of the fermentation smell just go to my other post on odorless brewing.

I have a room now that doesn't have a single hint of beer smell to it yet I have a beer that is foaming like mad and would normally be tossing out bitter smells.

There are ways to make sure your place doesn't smell at all using non chemical methods.. you just need to find them

I brewed a lager today and it stunk up the whole apartment... and it smelled like i was cooking bad pot into hash, some really fresh and skunky hops... i bet your roommates wouldnt like that

Cheers

I brew in my basement which also doubles as my winery. I installed an exhaust fan directly above the stove and it has significantly reduced the aroma's which I find pleasant, but the SWMBO detests. On Wednesday morning, I was brewing a 5 gallon extract IPA and had someone come to the back door. When I opened it up, I immediately saw that the exhaust damper was spewing tons of mist and the aroma of boiling wort was everywhere. It was however not very strong inside the house.

If at all possible, make sure you have some means of venting your brewing area to outside and you should have little problem with odor.

Salute!

Everyone is varied on the smells from brewing but those tend to dissipate very quickly and can be managed via several methods already suggested in this thread. The one thing to really watch out for are some of the recipes with real fruit (Apfelwein). They tend to have high levels of sulfur which is the same thing used to make stink bombs. The smell goes away after a week but it might be a lot to ask your roommates to endure, at least until they are drinking your brew and realizing you can make it for less... and it is great ish :rockin:

albannach said:

+1 on the odor, and non-brewers don't seem to like the smell.

I have never tried this, but in order to at least cut down on the fermentation smell, you could try putting some activated charcoal in your airlock water (best to use a 3 piece airlock).

Click to expand...

Yea but if you do that then you can't sniff the airlock. What? Oh come on, I know you do it too. Yes, you.

Use a blow off tube for the fermenter and route it out a window....

Huh. This might explain why the first question the LHBS store asked me after my first brew was "What did you think of the odor?" I said I thought it was wonderful. It was a partial-mash ESB, and the fragrance, which was strong for a day and then dissipated, reminded me of cooking whole grains and bread-baking. Barley soup came to mind (which, if you think about it, describes most beer fairly well).

The closet with the fermentation bucket has the faintest beer/yeasty odor, also not bad to my nose though not necessarily a "company" fragrance. I suspect the fact that the odor is so light is in large part because it's winter (the closet is in a sun-room that does not have controlled environmental, so it's cool now and will be warm, but not hot, in the summer) so I'm already thinking where to move this operation after March. My home office closet is just filled with junk that could be relocated... ;-)

During the actual brewing is when the aroma is most noticable. My wife is not a fan of it but hasn't complained too much. During fermentation only once did either one of us notice much of an aroma. It was an IPA that both of us agreed smelled fantastic. Never noticed a smell with any other brew or apfelwein or with the mead I'm making.

Smells better than sex and candy.

Flattop said:

Use a blow off tube for the fermenter and route it out a window....

Click to expand...

good idea but you will have a foamy sticky hard mess outside and against your wall that you will have to scrape off

route the first hose to a blowoff bucket then another hose from the bucket out the window less mess and less people calling the police reporting you have a meth lab lol

[noob alert] When you say it smells during the "brewing" part, is that when you are boiling it? I imagine THAT would smell (good or bad) for the entire day but we're fine with that. We cook stuff all the time that leaves the apartment with a food smell (Sometimes multiple, conflicting smells... cookies and seafood do. not.mix).

They (and I) are more worried about the long term smells. Basically if I start making my own beer, will it smell from day one on?

You guys are all awesome by the way! I accidentally unplugged the Enet cable from my rig and kept F5ing the page and saw no replies several hours later. Noticed it was unplugged, F5d again and saw 2 pages of replies! Next morning 3! AND they are all nice ones! I am registered on many MANY forums and some people can get downright NASTY with the most simplest questions ::cough cough APC cough cough::.

to you all!

i agree. i lurked on this forum for a while and i would not have have signed up if people were rude. everyone is extremely helpful.

it smells like gods ******. that is to say, it smells wonderful.