Strong alcohol odor . . .

I racked an ESB to secondary a couple days ago and when I was cleaning out my primary I noticed the trub had a REALLy strong alcohol smell. Just like sticking your nose in a vodka bottle. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention to every other batch I've brewed, but I don't recall getting that strong of an odor before. I'm sure the beer will turn out fine - but have y'all noticed anything like that before? Have I just missed that aspect in every other batch I've done?

BTW, fermentables were 6.6 lbs LME and 2 lbs turbinado sugar so I know it's supposed to be high abv. I'm just saying I've never noticed the vodka smell before . . .

AHU

What did it taste like?
Have you used Turbinado before? It could be from that, I've never used it myself.

The trub? Didn't taste it. I tried vegimite (sp?) before and it wasn't good. I think that stuff comes from some kind of brewing byproduct doesn't it?

And never used turbinado before (aka: sugar in the raw).

AllHoppedUp said:

The trub? Didn't taste it. I tried vegimite (sp?) before and it wasn't good. I think that stuff comes from some kind of brewing byproduct doesn't it?

And never used turbinado before (aka: sugar in the raw).

Click to expand...

not the trub...the beer

The trub? *tongue in cheek*

Uh, no didn't taste beer either. Only in primary for 8 days so figured it wouldn't be too great anyway.

Well, sugar 'in the raw' is supposedly just sucrose with molasses is it not? It could therefore be a sucrose thing, again something I have zero experience with. Then why am I answering this?... Time. That's all I got is time and no brewing equipment!

I think its just something you haven't noticed before. Next time be a little more adventurous and taste that sucker. Once you get past the smell ..you got it licked.

Sudster said:

Once you get past the smell ..you got it licked.

Click to expand...

You can say that about lots of stuff.

AllHoppedUp said:

I racked an ESB to secondary a couple days ago and when I was cleaning out my primary I noticed the trub had a REALLy strong alcohol smell.

Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with the Winter Bock I made. It had a strong alcohol aroma when I bottled it. I was really disappointed. After 3 weeks in the bottle the aroma was gone and it turned to be a decent brew.

This was my first lager and I did many things wrong when fermenting it. This may have produced a large amount of higher alcohols (which I must have smelled). These higher alcohols are consumed by the yeast during the aging/lagering process. This is what I think must have happened.

My Doppelbock, which was fermented much better, never developed an alcohol aroma so far even though it has a higher ABV than the Winter Bock.

Conclusion: give it some time.

Kai