Smelly Fermentation Chamber

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

daveooph131

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
1,123
Reaction score
34
Location
Dallas, TX
Hey brewing a lager right now...I put it in a used chest freezer I snagged on craigslist.

Thing is...I completely cleaned the freezer (nearly throwing up - it smelled so bad) Even after all that work the thing still stinks, it has gotten worse since lowering the temp to lager in it. I have my beer in a glass carboy, with an air lock. What are the chances, this smell in the freezer can carry into the beer?

I'm really hoping it won't skunk the brew, I just need this freezer through the hot summer.
 
Smell shouldn't have any effect on the fermenting beer. Gases are only supposed to be coming OUT of your fermenter. When you get a chance, you should bleach the heck out of the inside of the freezer, let it soak, rinse, repeat, then let it air out a few days.

After that, close it up for a week or two with a generous amount of baking soda in there.

Unless there was some really bad stuff in there like rotten meat, where the "juice" ran down behind the interior panels and got into the insulation, the above procedure should cure the problem. Not a quick fix though.
 
Sorry, I reread your post and see that you're lagering in the freezer, not fermenting. My bad. In that case, I'd either try to get it out of there, or run a "blowoff" tube from your airlock to the outside of the freezer to keep any nasty air from migrating into the beer.
 
On a similar note - never ever store an old fridge with the door closed and the power off in ambient summer temperatures - you will never get the stink out.

I like the idea of running a blowoff to the outside - so the gas in the fridge dead space can't make contact with the gas in your fermentation headspace.
 
Well, I'm def. going to ditch the freezer after this batch. I do have it fermenting at around 50 right now (that is the low end my yeast recommended).

Anyway, what is the final concensious? Not on how I got ripped off....but will this smell screw with my brew/:drunk:
 
Back
Top