Stinky beer

Already posted this in the fermentation and yeast forum, however it's not getting a response so I figured I would try here.

I recently finished fermenting a batch of scotch ale I designed in beersmith. This is the 4th batch of beer I have finished fermenting in the last month. As I was relieving the pressure from my fermentation vessel, I quickly noticed that the smell was not so pleasant. Kind of reminded me of sour milk. I went ahead and transferred to my secondary vessel for aging and watched the wort pass through the clear hosing looking for discoloration or anything that would look like growing bacteria. The beer was clear and amber like it should look. I harvested my yeast and studied it and it looks normal. However, the yeast did smell like sour milk. All my other batches gave off a fresh beer and hops smell. Could this be because of the grain bill I used? Here is the recipe for a 10 gal batch:

18 lbs 2 row
2 lbs crystal
8 oz carapils
4 oz roasted barley
1 oz smoked malt
2 oz east Kent goldings
WLP001 California Ale yeast.

It smelled different when I brewed it too, but the sour milk smell has me leary. I hope it doesn't taste like that.

Sounds to me like lacto... You might have an infection on your hands. Did you taste any of the beer yet?

RiverCityBrewer said:

Sounds to me like lacto... You might have an infection on your hands. Did you taste any of the beer yet?

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What is lacto? I tasted the beer. It wasn't good, however every beer I have sampled between transferring to the fermentation vessel has not tasted good. This one is the worst though. Not sure. I'll have to wait it out and see. How can you tell?

Have you brewed a smoke beer before? You could be picking up a strange smell from the smoked malt?

jfrizzell said:

Have you brewed a smoke beer before? You could be picking up a strange smell from the smoked malt?

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No, this is my first. Could that be what's creating the nasty smell? I'm also hoping the smoked flavor nellies out with time. It's potent.

jhutch31 said:

No, this is my first. Could that be what's creating the nasty smell? I'm also hoping the smoked flavor nellies out with time. It's potent.

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Just throwing that our there. Not sure if that would cause a sour smell or not but I suppose it's possible.

I've never noticed a sour smell from a rauchbier... usually its smoke/cottage ham/smoked meat type of aromas. If you are smelling sour milk that could be attributed to Lactobacillus which is a lactic acid producing bacteria. Its used in many food making processes like yogurt, sourdough bread, cheese, sauerkraut, etc. Lactic acid in pure form could also be used to adjust the pH of the mash or sparge water and in high enough concentrations can be smelled and tasted in the water/mash. You said the beer didn't taste good, but if the beer tastes sour then you may have a Lactobacillus infection. It won't hurt you, but the beer will definitely not taste like you expected.

RiverCityBrewer said:

I've never noticed a sour smell from a rauchbier... usually its smoke/cottage ham/smoked meat type of aromas. If you are smelling sour milk that could be attributed to Lactobacillus which is a lactic acid producing bacteria. Its used in many food making processes like yogurt, sourdough bread, cheese, sauerkraut, etc. Lactic acid in pure form could also be used to adjust the pH of the mash or sparge water and in high enough concentrations can be smelled and tasted in the water/mash. You said the beer didn't taste good, but if the beer tastes sour then you may have a Lactobacillus infection. It won't hurt you, but the beer will definitely not taste like you expected.

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Thank you for the response. Im going to let this beer finish and see how it tastes when it's done. Hopefully it's not undrinkable nasty. I think you are probably right about the infection. That sucks. It's exactly as you described it. Smells like cottage cheese/sour milk. It doesn't taste like that, but that smell I imagine will resonate with the beer when its finished. I'll report back when it's done.

Thanks!

John

Might not be all bad. I'd run over my mom for a good Flemish sour.