3 brews in 3 days, one stinks :(

[firebird400]

Ok so I did 3 brews in 3 days a couple of weeks ago.

The same recipe, mashed the same, boil and cool down the same.

For the first two I made a starter from harvested US-05, they were both harvested from the same batch.
The first starter was at 0.26 gal and the second a tiny 0.13 one.
Both had plenty of yeast in them, I used a the entire bottle of harvested yeast for each one, both had a layer of about 3/4 of an inch of yeast in them

For the third I used Nottingham Yeast with no starter.

The thing is that the second batch stinks to high heaven of eggs.

Does the size of a starter or the amount of yeast have anything to do with us getting off flavors like sulfur.

I have had this happen before but that was with Bavarian Lager Wyeast 2206

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Yep the size of the starter is very important, it dictates the amount of yeast you are pitching firebird400. I forgot where I read it but you can pitch a small amount of yeast and get the same F.G. as someone who is pitching the right amount of yeast. Though fermentation times will differ, the taste of the beer will also vary. Pitching the correct amount of yeast is very crucial in brewing.

You assigned the building of a pyramid to 3 amazing artist, and though the temple will be finished eventually the quality of the art in it will suffer due to exhaustion! You needed at least 200 artists to finish the temple with quality and integrity.

Now in this analogy we are talking about artist, but when it comes to yeast. You are really making these poor little bugger multiply too much, producing scare tissue on their cell walls and making them stress out producing unwanted by products in your beer. They are getting sweaty while they work and you are drinking the temple they are half heartily producing.

Now a drinkable beer can be made, but we are after looking for the best beer right? At the end of the day I find myself nitpicking too much, your beer will in all actually be very drinkable.

 

[firebird400]

I get your point. I will enlarge my starters and read up on pitcing rates. How long does it usually take for the eggy stink to clear? Do I need to wait for it to go away before I move it out of secondary and force carbonate or will it even keep on getting less after I bottle

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I have no clue firebird400, I have never had that smell from one of my brews. The closest I have gotten has been a sulfurish smell from a hefe yeast I used. But that was gone after 3 weeks in primary. How old is the beer at this point?

The beer should continue to condition in the bottle as long as you are not filtering it or something of this nature. Also, if I see I got a slow sluggish fermentation, I will usually leave my beer an extra week on top of the yeast cake to help clean up any unwanted by products. As long as you have no infection you can sit on the beer in hopes of letting the beer condition the anomalies out of itself.

Now I just noticed you have a pretty unique brewing set up, excuse me while I take a look at your creation!



Edit: I would leave the beer in secondary a little longer see how the smell improves. Maybe someone else with more experience on that front will chime in.

By the way, what a unique brewing set up you have built! I am thinking of going to ice land for my honeymoon. What looks beautiful! (PM me a response so we don’t detract from your post.)