Odd smell from my beer

I I have started my first batch of beer from a kit I started it on monday afternoon around one o'clock I then went out when returned around ten there didn't seem to be any activity from the airlock at all so I grabbed my paddle and gave it a little stir and within a few seconds of putting the lid and the airlock back on it started bubbling steadily.

It's now wednesday an it's still bubbling steadily and I was having my breakfast in the kitchen an my wife asks me have you farted ?? To which I reply no and then hear the airlock bubble again so I sniffed the top of the airlock and it seems to be coming from my beer?? Is this normal or have I got a bad batch ? I can't describe the smell exactly at the moment because I then had to head off to work but any help wold be appreciated.

The kit was a coopers euro lager and the SG was 1.032 to start with or it could have been 1.320 I haven't got my notes with me but I worked it out with the 0.5% ABV added for priming in my secondary it would be roughly 3.9%.

Justin.

Sounds like it smells like a perfect lager, fermentation is messy business, you will have all sorts of smells coming from a fermenting beer ranging from cooking venison to the dreaded rhino farts.

Lol that's put my mind at ease I thought my first ever batch may have spoiled but it look like I have a lot to look forward to

i remember the first time i experienced the rhino farts. i almost dumped the batch, but it turned out to be one of the best I've ever made

How do you brew ? Kits all grain or extract ??

I also have another question someone at work has been telling me that on around about the fourth day of primary fermentation he stirs his brew to mix in all of the froth on the surface so it settles to the bottom before kegging/bottling is this good practice or not ??

Never judge the beer on the smell from the airlock. I have yet to experience a pleasant smell from one, and nowadays I know that there's nothing to do but wait and be happy that those smells are going out the airlock and not into my beer.

scorpien222 said:

I also have another question someone at work has been telling me that on around about the fourth day of primary fermentation he stirs his brew to mix in all of the froth on the surface so it settles to the bottom before kegging/bottling is this good practice or not ??

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I am not a big fan of putting anything in my beer after the yeast is pitched and the lid goes on. If you want to stir just "rock the baby", gently swirl the bucket or carboy a little. Me, I just leave it alone and let them do their job without buggen em'. They know what to do.

Cheers
Jay

Jaybird said:

I am not a big fan of putting anything in my beer after the yeast is pitched and the lid goes on. If you want to stir just "rock the baby", gently swirl the bucket or carboy a little. Me, I just leave it alone and let them do their job without buggen em'. They know what to do.

Cheers
Jay

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Cheers jay I think he just does it so the froth is out of the way for when he siphons it in to his barrel but I can't see it doing any harm being there. How do you guys start your siphon going I think somone said the have a bit of their cleaning fluid in their siphon line to start it is this a good idea or am I better off with just a bit of plain tap water ??

BlueGrot said:

Never judge the beer on the smell from the airlock. I have yet to experience a pleasant smell from one, and nowadays I know that there's nothing to do but wait and be happy that those smells are going out the airlock and not into my beer.

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Fair point I think I would prefer it more out than in too.

scorpien222 said:

Cheers jay I think he just does it so the froth is out of the way for when he siphons it in to his barrel but I can't see it doing any harm being there. How do you guys start your siphon going I think somone said the have a bit of their cleaning fluid in their siphon line to start it is this a good idea or am I better off with just a bit of plain tap water ??

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If you dont have an autosiphon or something equivalent the suggestion is to use a bit of sanitizer to get beer into the tubing then make the beer go into the secondary/bottling bucket. Tap water isnt sanitized so you could introduce unwanted bugs into it.

DrunkleJon said:

If you dont have an autosiphon or something equivalent the suggestion is to use a bit of sanitizer to get beer into the tubing then make the beer go into the secondary/bottling bucket. Tap water isnt sanitized so you could introduce unwanted bugs into it.

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Makes sense but do you not use tap water when adding cold water to your wort or should all of the water going in be boiled an then cooled ? I was also just a little concerned that the fluid may effect the taste but I suppose if it's diluted correctly there shouldn't really be any.

BlueGrot said:

Never judge the beer on the smell from the airlock. I have yet to experience a pleasant smell from one, and nowadays I know that there's nothing to do but wait and be happy that those smells are going out the airlock and not into my beer.

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Really? All of my beers smell DELICOUS during fermentation. I love (carefully) dunking my head in my fermentation chamber and smelling the sweet sweet smells.

mrrshotshot said:

Really? All of my beers smell DELICOUS during fermentation. I love (carefully) dunking my head in my fermentation chamber and smelling the sweet sweet smells.

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My bad. Missed the part in the OP that this was a lager. Never done a lager... Yet.

mrrshotshot said:

My bad. Missed the part in the OP that this was a lager. Never done a lager... Yet.

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So do you brew real ale ? Or bitter ? Is it these that smell better during fermentation the wife might appreciate these more

scorpien222 said:

So do you brew real ale ? Or bitter ? Is it these that smell better during fermentation the wife might appreciate these more

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So far I've only brewed ales using ale yeasts. Ale yeasts are top fermenting and usually like temps around 65-70 degrees.

Lager yeasts are bottom fermenting and like temperatures in the 40's.

Did you use a lager yeast? If you don't have a way to get the beer down to lager temps I'm not sure how your beer is going to turn out.

But I've read lager yeasts make crazy smells. I find the smells of ale yeasts rather delicious.

mrrshotshot said:

So far I've only brewed ales using ale yeasts. Ale yeasts are top fermenting and usually like temps around 65-70 degrees.

Lager yeasts are bottom fermenting and like temperatures in the 40's.

Did you use a lager yeast? If you don't have a way to get the beer down to lager temps I'm not sure how your beer is going to turn out.

But I've read lager yeasts make crazy smells. I find the smells of ale yeasts rather delicious.

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I am assuming it was lager yeast it came with the kit so it should have been I have alot of froth on the surface which I originally thought was the yeast but as you say lager yeast ferments from the bottom.

I will have to check the temperature of mine as I only got a thermometer last night and haven't got round to it but I live in the uk and it's not exactly warm here at the moment it's only 18 degrees C.