WLP011 Sulfur Smell from Airlock

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brewpool

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Hi Everyone. Been lurking a few months and finally registered here. I just brewed my 4th 5 gallon batch on Saturday, a honey vanilla pumpkin ale using steeping grains and extract. I measured an OG right on target at 1.055. I have had good success on my first three batches and am a stickler for sanitization. On this batch I saw visible airlock activity for nearly 3 days, but last night into this morning I smelled a sulfur (rotten egg) smell from my airlock and no visible bubbling. I ferment in a chest freezer set to 65 F using an STC-1000.

Has anyone experienced a sulfur smell from this strain? Do you think the fermentation stalled? I was planning to take a gravity reading after work, then again before the weekend to see if I may need to pitch more yeast. Let me know if I need to provide additional info. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
I have yet to experience this but, most say that the beer should be fine and that Sulfur smell is an indication of yeast stress for some reason.

Everything you have given so far seems good. The only thing you did not mention is pitch. Did you create a starter or just use dry yeast or? I read an older thread where a guy under pitched and that may have caused the stress.

I am sure other more knowledgeable people will be along shortly to answer in detail.
 
The WLP011 is liquid, which I let warm to room temp while brewing, cooled my wort to 70 F, pitched the vial and aerated. I did not create a starter.
 
I just checked the gravity and it is about 1.024, down from OG of 1.055. Target FG is 1.014. Looks like it may have just fermented very quickly? Anyone else have this experience with White Labs WLP011 European Ale yeast or maybe even from having used honey in the boil?

I'll try to RDWHAHB. :)
 
Did you cool your wort when you took your hot sample reading? Your numbers may be off if you didn't which may account for the drop...

Sulfur is very volatile and readily escapes the wort. If you have a co2 system, you can stick a hose down to the bottom of the wort and fire her up to force that sulfur out when fermentation is done. BUT! A good vigorous fermentation does this for you and the fact that you can smell it in the airlock is a good thing :) it's escaping your beer!
 
Did you cool your wort when you took your hot sample reading? Your numbers may be off if you didn't which may account for the drop...

Sulfur is very volatile and readily escapes the wort. If you have a co2 system, you can stick a hose down to the bottom of the wort and fire her up to force that sulfur out when fermentation is done. BUT! A good vigorous fermentation does this for you and the fact that you can smell it in the airlock is a good thing :) it's escaping your beer!

Yes, I measured both samples in the low 70s and temperature corrected my readings. I do not have a CO2 system. At least not yet ;)

Im still shocked how quickly the gravity dropped over a 4 day period now. Sounds like I may have worried over nothing? I'll chalk it up to still being a newb and trying a new yeast strain. Thanks for all the input so far.
 
Well ales finish out fairly quickly... Do a search for "beer to keg in 7 days" or something like that and you'll see beer can ferment at amazing rates under prime conditions
 
Yeah, good call. I've never taken a gravity reading earlier than 7 days so I didn't really know what to expect. The more I thought about it, the honey would be 100% fermentable so I'm thinking it stressed the yeast and also helped quickly drop gravity. All seems well with the beer though since I had checked on it. Another good learning experience for me.
 
Have had sulfur smell in the past, I believe with a wheat yeast, did some research and learned that it was not abnormal, and the beer turned out fine.

Been thinking about a zombie dust clone myself, how did yours turn out?
 
Have had sulfur smell in the past, I believe with a wheat yeast, did some research and learned that it was not abnormal, and the beer turned out fine.

Been thinking about a zombie dust clone myself, how did yours turn out?

I was spoiled as I used to live 10 minutes from 3 Floyds before I moved to AZ; the real thing is amazing.

The first attempt at a clone turned out really good. My wife really likes it. It turned out more bitter than anticipated so I'm removing one of the hop additions next time. I have a buddy who wants to get into homebrewing so we may brew v2.0 of it this weekend.
 
I have not been able to get my hands on Zombie Dust, but have heard alot about it, if you haven't tried Surly's "Todd the Axeman", you must.
 
Sounds awesome based on the name alone. Not sure if its available in AZ but I'll keep an eye out for it.

I'll be be checking gravity on my pumpkin ale and planning to bottle in a week or two. I'll make sure to update with regards to the OP
 
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