What to do when things don't smell right?

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Chicagobrewer

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I have a Full Moon clone brewing right now and the smell in the room just doesn't seem right. So, everyone has said time heals (almost) all beer ills. My question is, where should my beer spend the extra time to work out any off flavors that may be present? Should it be in the primary, secondary, or in the bottles?
 
I'm not really worried. I was just wondering what if. So, if it does turn out to be a nasty batch where should it spend its healing time?
 
I'm not really worried. I was just wondering what if. So, if it does turn out to be a nasty batch where should it spend its healing time?

Giving it a good bit of time in primary will give the yeast time to clean up some of their by products. After that the secondary and bottle conditioning will pretty much age about the same.
 
I was just wondering what if.

Don't worry about it. If something is off, there's little to nothing you can do to fix it at this point anyway. The yeast (or any other bugs that may or may not be present in your beer) are in the driver's seat, and you are the captive audience along for the ride. Don't jump out of the car before you reach the final destination!
 
My girlfriend tells me I smell all the time, but she is still with me..

You should do the same with your beer!
 
Why are you harping on "what if it goes wrong?" When you keep reading, "don't worry," "time heals..." yadda yadda yadda.....

We wouldn't say that if we didn't experience the truth of those statements.

It is very, very, very hard to ruin a batch of beer, especially a first timer's batch. Your equipment is brand new, relatively clean, and un scratched....so what makes you think you're going to be the exception to the rule?

Just because your beer smells bad? Wait til you brew your first lager, or a btach of apfelwien (can anyone say "rhino farts?")

Rather than worry about how it smells, quit sniffing your airlocks, and leave your fermenter alone. Your job is done, the yeasts are the boss of this process, not you, and they've been doing it for over 5,000 years, in some pretty nasty situations, heck even before people understood basic gene theory, think you did a worse job then those folks???

Instead of stressing, how bout doing some reading, and see, why we tell you new brewers to relax...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

And the reason people tell you to never dump your beer...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

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The only thing wrong is that you have a typical case of "noobitus," the tendency to think of your beer as being as weak as a newborn kitten....
 
I agree with Revvy. I made my first batch of apfelwein 2 weeks ago... If beer/apfelwein was judged mainly by airlock smells, no one would drink it... especially apfelwein. My nostrils are permanently haunted by the apfelwein smell.
 
I agree with Revvy. I made my first batch of apfelwein 2 weeks ago... If beer/apfelwein was judged mainly by airlock smells, no one would drink it... especially apfelwein. My nostrils are permanently haunted by the apfelwein smell.

Not to mention UGLY as well....

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Fermentation is down right nasty sometimes....it's ugly and stinky, and that's on normal days....
 
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