Fumey, Alcohol smell?

[jbwuebben]

My last tree batches of beer ive noticed that when it came to bottle, after removing the lid on the fermentor I noticed that there was a very strong fumey alcohol smell that stung my nose which contrasted from my other brews that simply just smelled like beer. Is this normal, or a sign of comtamination? I have also noticed some off flavors in these batches.

 

[BrewChem]

Are you monitoring and controlling the temperature of the fermenter..?

 

[jbwuebben]

No

 

[Slainte-brew]

You probably fermented to hot and produced some fusel alcohols and/or phenols from your yeast. Each yeast is different but most will start making off flavors once you hit the 70's or higher

 

[BrewChem]

+1 on high temp issue, especially during the first 48-72 hours of fermentation. What did you brew..? How much yeast did you pitch.. did you use a starter..?

 

[bad67z]

You probably fermented to hot and produced some fusel alcohols and/or phenols from your yeast. Each yeast is different but most will start making off flavors once you hit the 70's or higher

This ^^^, temp control one of the things you should maintain to get a consistent product. I would suggest if you have not read " How to Brew" by J. Palmer you pick up a copy. It will give you a good base to start making good consistent beer.

 

[mcwilcr]

the three main causes for alcohol or "hot" smell as it is commonly referred to are:
1) too high fermentation temperature (I think the rule of thumb is keep fermentation under 80deg).
2) under pitching your yeast (this is partially why it is more common to have alcohol smell in higher gravity beer).
3) under oxygenation or your wort (which to my knowledge limits the reproduction of the yeast cells creating the same end result as under pitching)

it is these reasons and many more that people suggest controlling fermentation temperatures at least somewhat, using a pitching rate calculator and doing yeast starters. You can also use an oxygen tank and diffusion stone to ensure your wort is never under oxygenated.

 

[Slainte-brew]

I use a swamp cooler religiously, even in my basement. Buy this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038Q6LB0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 or something like it. Fill halfway with water, splash of bleach to keep it clean. Every few weeks I dump it in the sump and fill again. Even dump a small bag of ice in for a cold crash before bottling.

It evens out temp. fluctuations and lets you lower temp with cool water or ice.

Or splurge and get a temp controlled ferm chamber.

Agree with mcwilcr, oxegynate and properly pitch yeast. I shake the hell out of mine and pour it in so it splashes and I always hit FG.

 

[Jukas]

My last tree batches of beer ive noticed that when it came to bottle, after removing the lid on the fermentor I noticed that there was a very strong fumey alcohol smell that stung my nose which contrasted from my other brews that simply just smelled like beer. Is this normal, or a sign of comtamination? I have also noticed some off flavors in these batches.

Are you sticking your nose directly into the primary fermenter, just after primary fermentation completed? It's possible you're getting a hot burn smell from the co2 blanket.

Otherwise it's most likely what other posters have suggested, you've fermented outside of the yeasts range introducing off flavors.