airdusters
Well-Known Member
I just rehydrated 11 grams of Danstar Windsor Dry Yeast and it smells just like vomit. Is this normal, or do I have bad yeast?
Nope that is not normal. If it smells like vomit, my opinion is toss it.
Ive read this happens sometimes when people wash a yeast cake(and btw it seems they are fine), never heard of it from a dry pack. But you know what normal healthly yeast smells like, whenever it starts smelling like vomit, rotten meat, and to a lesser extent sulfer, then something is wrong.
My yeast cakes when I first started out smell awful. Probably due to bad fermentation and underpitching. All my yeast cakes now smell normal. So if you have a horrible smelling yeast cake, they are probably in bad condition in my opinion.
So what did you do to adjust? I use starters and try and ferment below 70 degrees (actual wort temp) and all my cakes make me dry heave when I dump it over to the garbage disposal. I don't use secondaries - only 3-4 week primaries then bottle.
Seems fast to smell that bad... I wash my yeast and usually ferment for ~3-4 weeks too. My cakes never smell bad. I ferment in a converted freezer with Love controller but you said your temp is consistent too.
Do you pitch the whole starter or decant first (shouldn't matter... just curious)? Do you make light (color and body) style beers or darker ones? Highly or lightly hopped? Adjuncts?
My yeast cakes when I first started out smell awful. Probably due to bad fermentation and underpitching. All my yeast cakes now smell normal. So if you have a horrible smelling yeast cake, they are probably in bad condition in my opinion.
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