airdusters
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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?
Yeast smells like vomit?
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Priemus
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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.
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.
VAShooter
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I've never washed yeast but everytime I rack to my bottling bucket from the primary my yeast smells like a hot bed of puke when I dump it down the drain. I figured it was normal. My beer taste ok, even with the funky smells. What causes this? I typically leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks then straight to bottles.
Priemus
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I dont wash or recycle, I do tend to keep the last yeast cake hanging around while the next beer brews just incase it gets stuck or something. But ive never had a yeast cake smell like vomit or, for that matter anything bad. Usually just smells like the dry hops(im open to the idea that these are masking the vomit), or like rising bread.
airdusters
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I ended up pitching it and its fermenting like mad, woke up to an airlock full of yeast!
The vomit smell seems to have disappeared, hopefully for good
The vomit smell seems to have disappeared, hopefully for good
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.
VAShooter
Well-Known Member
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.
I just make sure that I am pitching enough yeast by using the mrmalty calculator, pay really close attention to sanitation and ferment in a temperature controlled freezer. I mean the yeast doesn't smell great, but it definately doesn't make me want to vomit. Other than that, I am not really sure.
ThePearsonFam
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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?
VAShooter
Well-Known Member
I'm still fairly new (6 bacthes deep ) 5 extract and 1 AG. I pitch the entire starter. I'll need to research the decant technique.
My brews are varied - hoppy to robust porters. Next up is a heffe and I have an IPA ill be bottling in a few days so I'll make sure I take note of the cake on the IPA. I was very careful to monitor the temps on the IPA (first AG for me)
How did this batch finally turn out? I just ran into the same problem. I pitched it, but I'm worried it might ruin the batch
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