okay taste, weird smell....what does this mean?

I brewed a Brewers Best Holiday ale a few weeks back. I sampled one today (it has only been bottled for 1 week so far) to see how it was progressing. It tastes fine to me (needs more carbonation still), but it has a kind of sour smell to it. The samples I took for gravity readings throughout fermentation smelled like this as well, i just thought maybe it would go away with time. Anyone know what typically causes this?

Could just be green beer. You can get some strange smells/flavours from incomplete fermentation. The beasties almost definitely just need to clean up a bit after fermentation. This is the hardest part of brewing, the wait... Taste again in a week or two.

Most off flavors and smells disipate with time. Many experienced brewers will tell you to not even think of diagnosing off flavors, etc. until 6 weeks after bottling, and with big beers even longer.

What was the OG for your Holiday Ale?

thanks for the quick replies. My OG was about 1.066 from my measurement (supposed to be 1.068 - 1.072). The FG was 1.02. I got this reading 3 straight days so bottled after only a 12 days in the primary. I am guessing maybe I should have left it in the primary longer from reading a couple other threads on here, just wasn't sure if this would cause the sour smell.

anteup02 said:

thanks for the quick replies. My OG was about 1.066 from my measurement (supposed to be 1.068 - 1.072). The FG was 1.02. I got this reading 3 straight days so bottled after only a 12 days in the primary. I am guessing maybe I should have left it in the primary longer from reading a couple other threads on here, just wasn't sure if this would cause the sour smell.

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leaving it on the yeast for 3 weeks min. is a good idea, however if I had to guess, its just a green beer right now.

Let it sit 2 more weeks, then crack open another bottle. If your happy with the result, cool some more, if not...wait another week. rinse and repeat.

actually that seems a little high for a FG. what kind of yeast did you use?

TipsyDragon said:

actually that seems a little high for a FG. what kind of yeast did you use?

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TipsyDragon - I just used what came with the kit. Some kind of Danstar brand yeast, can't believe i didn't write down which kind. I obviously have a lot to learn. I have been reading the past week or so how much yeast can change the flavor, so this is definitely something i will note in the future.

Fermentation Temp makes a big difference as well. I had a sweet stout that was stable at .007 gravity points higher than it's FG. I moved the fermenter towards the end of fermentation to an area that was 2F higher and it finished on target.

Not saying this is an issue for you, just another thing to consider.

anteup02 said:

I have been reading the past week or so how much yeast can change the flavor, so this is definitely something i will note in the future.

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good


it is possible, only possible, that you had a stuck fermentation. IF you did that wouldn't cause the smell. i'm going to ask another silly question here. what was your fermentation temp? keep in mind that the wart was most likely a few degrees above room temp.

well i had my apartment around 68 degrees...guess i need to go get a thermometer strip to attach to my bucket as well to better monitor this.

oh. and a word of warning. because your brewing in a bucket don't panic if the airlock doesn't bubble during fermentation. buckets are well known for not getting a good seal around the lid. it seems like 99% of the "its not bubbling" posts come from people using buckets. use your hydrometer to detect fermentation not your airlock.

and don't let anyone feed you the old wives tale about oxygen absorption of plastic. for the time period you will have it in the bucket you have nothing to worry about. besides with all the CO2 going out not much is going to get back in.

anteup02 said:

well i had my apartment around 68 degrees...guess i need to go get a thermometer strip to attach to my bucket as well to better monitor this.

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i have found that my 'fermometer' strip on my bucket doesn;t really tell me much - my apt will be set at like 68-70 but because of drafts and such my first batch has been fluctuating between about 62-72 degrees.

someone mentioned to me also your beer is usually about 4 degrees warmer on the inside of the bucket.

i really need a temp controlled fermenting spot and think thats a key to good beer

the 3 main things i have learned and seen stressed on here to get good beer is

sanitation
fermenting temperature
wert temp at the time you pitch your yeast

not trying to give advice just commenting on what you said about having your temp of your hosue set at a certain temperature.

the fermenting yeast are heating the wart and in turn the warm wart is warming the bucket which of course warms the fermometer strip giving you a more or less accurate reading.

and don't forget proper pitching rate. you don't want to under pitch the amount of yeast you add and you don't want to go to far overboard either. there's plenty of calculators out there for that as well.