pig140
FBC
I just brewed my usual blonde that I've brewed several times before and I'm getting strange smells at the height of primary fermentation. I've used WLP001 lots of times on several different beers, but never smelled anything like this. It's a sour, pungent, chemical smell. Kinda vinegary (don't worry - I know it's not an infection).
The yeast got stressed pretty bad. I brewed this with a buddy who placed the order with AHS, which is only 6 hours away from me. He ordered on a Tuesday and they're usually 2 days out. Well.... it got stuck on the truck for 7 days and I'm in Louisiana where it's been near 100°. The order came in on brew day. The packet came in swollen and then deflated after being put in the fridge. When I pitched (after bringing it back to room temp), I noticed that after shaking it, there no usual hiss when opened. I almost pitched my spare US-05 - kinda wish I had. It took 48 hours before I saw any activity. At 3 days, krausen was forming but the strange sour smell had started. By the next day the krausen was thick and appeared normal but the smell sharp and chemical - almost like hot antifreeze.
It's in a big mouth bubbler in a converted kegerator ferm chamber set to 63°. I've never had WLP001 do this. My other chamber has a wheat beer in it that I brewed 3 days before this one and it smells great. I'm thinking it's either stressed yeast or the WLP001 was DOA and wild yeast are getting busy. Could taste like my normal blonde... or could taste like something else.
Any idea? I know I could've done a starter, but that would mean waiting a couple weeks or longer to brew this batch due to schedules.
The yeast got stressed pretty bad. I brewed this with a buddy who placed the order with AHS, which is only 6 hours away from me. He ordered on a Tuesday and they're usually 2 days out. Well.... it got stuck on the truck for 7 days and I'm in Louisiana where it's been near 100°. The order came in on brew day. The packet came in swollen and then deflated after being put in the fridge. When I pitched (after bringing it back to room temp), I noticed that after shaking it, there no usual hiss when opened. I almost pitched my spare US-05 - kinda wish I had. It took 48 hours before I saw any activity. At 3 days, krausen was forming but the strange sour smell had started. By the next day the krausen was thick and appeared normal but the smell sharp and chemical - almost like hot antifreeze.
It's in a big mouth bubbler in a converted kegerator ferm chamber set to 63°. I've never had WLP001 do this. My other chamber has a wheat beer in it that I brewed 3 days before this one and it smells great. I'm thinking it's either stressed yeast or the WLP001 was DOA and wild yeast are getting busy. Could taste like my normal blonde... or could taste like something else.
Any idea? I know I could've done a starter, but that would mean waiting a couple weeks or longer to brew this batch due to schedules.