Bottle conditioning lager smell & temp

[alamovolcano]

Hey y'all - brewed a light American lager as my first, all-grain BIAB brew two weeks ago. Fermentation has definitely stopped but there's still a little bit of sulfur smell to it. Wondering if I should wait or if that'll all sort itself out in the bottles?

I used the SafLager W-34/70 German Lager Dry Yeast and it fermented between 61 - 64 degrees F, just right for that yeast but a little warm for a true lager I know.

My other question is temp for bottle conditioning. Regular temp is between 68 - 72 degrees F, but does that change with this style of beer?

I'd love to bottle it up today so it's close to ready when some friends are in town in a couple weeks, but don't want to serve them beer smelling like feet. Any thoughts appreciated! Cheers!

 

[friarsmith]

How far along is the fermentation?

If you bottle it with sulfur smell, it will most likely stay the same or get worse. I would suggest letting the beer warm up to room temp for a few days. The slight little bit of fermentation and CO2 produced should help push out the sulfur.

You could also sanitize a short piece of copper tubing and stir your bottling bucket w/ it for a minute or so. Or hook up a short piece of sanitized copper tubing inline with your bottle wand/filler. Do an interweb search for “sulfur removal post fermentation”. And if you progress to kegging CO2 scrubbing works great!

Prevention is best. Adequate nutrients, oxygenation, fermenting cooler than what you did, adequate yeast cell count, time/patience. 34/70 tends to produce sulfur to some degree even if you take all these steps.

 

[alamovolcano]

Fermentation was at two weeks. I pulled a little more from the fermenter last night and the sulfur smell was 97% gone so I went ahead and bottled. Sitting upstairs at room temp overnight helped smooth it out I think. Going to condition around 72F for two - three weeks then store in the basement around 65F.