Fermentation stench

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joshimus

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I have a batch of Munich Dunkel that was stored in approx. 40-45 F for fermentation(for a week and a half), the yeast didn't activate so I tried fermenting at room temp and the lager yeast is now going crazy but is producing a horrible fart smell. Could this be infection or spoiled sugars? The yeast has been active for about 2 days but just began to stink. Any advice or thoughts would really help!
 
RDWHAHB.

Terrible a$$ smells are a normal part of a healthy fermentation. If you used a german yeast chances are it really smells like butt. Perfectly normal.

Any particular reason why you tried fermenting so cold to begin with?
 
just relax and wait it out. yeast produces all kinds of weird smells and gross looking things while it's fermenting the wort. in a week or two it'll be fine and you can proceed as normal. RDWHAHB.
 
Thats good to know! This is the first time I've used lager yeast and thought it was more likely to ferment somewhere near freezing, honest mistake. But just found out this lager yeasts is active around 50-55 F.
 
When I fermented my first lager, I had heard before hand of the sulfury smell but smelling it first hand caught me off guard! It went away after a few days. Apparently the developing CO2 drives it off.

I'm now a couple of lagers later, and the sulfury smell just seems to be part of the process. And my first lager turned out great. So, no worries.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, it definately eases my mind that this is common in lagers. I couldn't pinpoint the smell before, but it is a completely sulfur smell that I never expected.
 
My second batch (Which was just a little over a month ago) was an Oatmeal Stout. I used Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast. Towards the beginning and end of fermentation on that batch I got a pretty strong sulfury smell, but after a little while it cleared up and the beer came out just fine.
 
cuinrearview said:
The strong sulfur aroma during the last few days of a WLP300 fermentation still curl my toes.
Click to expand...

Whew, I just asked this question in another thread on a Banana Bread ale. I pitched whitelabs for the first time the other day, and I also am fermenting in my bedroom for the first time, so the smell kind of took me by surprise. I roused the fermentor a bit to drop the krauzen in the hopes of blowing off some of the sulpher so it doesn't flavor the beer. Thanks for the info :)
 
Lager yeast strains fermented at ale temperatures will definitely stink up a storm. You may get some weird flavors in the lager from a high temperature ferment.
 

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