Fruity Smell From Airlock

So today I'm working around the primary, moving the fan around, and catch a faint whiff of something pleasant. I put my nose down by the airlock, and it smells very good -- kind of fruity and mellow, hard to nail down exactly.

While it smells really good, it's not what I'd expect an Oatmeal Stout to smell like. Granted, this is day two of the fermentation, so I really don't know what it should smell like at that age. Just checking. FYI I'm using Whitbread yeast if that makes a difference.

Expect all sorts of weird smells during fermentation. Sulfur, fruit, rhino farts just to name a few. All normal.

And all delicious in their way.

(currently sniffing a 3 day old Nut Brown)

GroovePuppy said:

(currently sniffing a 3 day old Nut Brown)

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Oh why does that not sound good....

ChshreCat said:

Oh why does that not sound good....

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You know you want it.

Just enjoy the smells (aside from the Rhino stuff, unless that's your thing). Like Mc mentions, you can get all sorts of weird stuff going on. The best thing to do is just let it ride, it will all work out!

Wine yeasts are the worst, they smell like elephant poo. My tripel smelled like bananas during fermentation, after complete there is no banana taste in it at all. The Belgian pale ale still in the fermenter right now kicked off a lot of sulfur, it smelled like fruit mixed with rotten eggs. Just took a whiff off the airlock of my primary which has a wit three days in.. smells like rubber bands.

Every yeast is different. US-05 puts out the most pleasant fruity aromas, I love the smell it makes!