Does Hefe stink bad when fermentating

[odie]

Doing my first hefe. Brewed on March 2 and stuck my head in the freezer ferm chamber. Stinky like spoiled food. Last time I opened it a couple weeks ago it smelled like I expected. The bucket lid is pretty snug so I hope just smelling stale gas in the freezer.
Gravity check this morning was 1.010. Pretty close to done? I forgot to take a sip though :/

 

[str1p3s]

I've never made a hefe, but lagers smell like farts to me when fermenting. Also, if you put your head in the fermenter and it feels like someone punched you in the nose, that's co2 from the fermentation

 

[RPh_Guy]

Stinky like spoiled food.

Hydrogen sulfide production is not uncommon (rotten eggs, burnt matches, "rhino farts").

If it smells like vomit, feces, cheesy, mold, rotting meat/vegetables, anything besides sulfide, you might have a contamination.

Definitely smell /taste the beer and not just the freezer.

17 days primary seems like far too long imo.

 

[odie]

Didn’t open the bucket lid. Just freezer lid and grabbed a gravity sample. Forgot to taste, had to catch my ride to work

 

[odie]

Was set at 65’ The whole time

 

[thehaze]

I agree with RPh_Guy.

Some Hefe/Belgian yeast will produce sulfur ( rotten eggs, rhino farts, etc. ) during fermentation, but it will go away. Hefes are pretty low ABV beers and should be consumed fresh. I only let mine 9-12 days in the fermenter and will bottle them quickly. They are ready in 7 days. I have a hopfenweisse in the fermenter since March 14 and I will be bottling it on March 26.

65F is kind of low, but it depends on what you want from it. Remember to raise the temperature to allow the yeast to clean after itself.

 

[Jag75]

Yes it has a sulfer smell that goes away as quick as it hits .if you ferment low temp you will get clove , higher temp the banana. I ferment my hefe at 67/68.

I always leave my beer in fermenter for 3 weeks so I dont see any issues being 17 days

 

[odie]

It might have been set at 65? the target is 68 but doesn’t active fermentation keep the liquid temps a couple degrees warmer than the kezzer setting?

 

[Jag75]

It might have been set at 65? the target is 68 but doesn’t active fermentation keep the liquid temps a couple degrees warmer than the kezzer setting?

Active fermentation does increase the beer temp . I think your keezer will adjust for that but not sure how quickly it does .

I noticed with my Lager the temp of the beer wasnt as cold as the i308 setting so the freezer kicked on .it cooled the beer but went a tad cooler then I wanted . Took about 24 hrs to get it steady .

 

[enkamania]

Yes

 

[Henbrew]

I made a Hefe a few years ago that made my basement smell like farts during fermentation. The smell only lasted two or three days if I remember correctly and the beer came out great.

 

[Ninoid]

I make Hefe with WB-06 dry yeast and no any fermentation smell. Two weeks in fermenter and one in bottles and is great.

 

[odie]

nasty gym sock stinky from some blowout stuck outside the bucket. Inside smelled ok. Well never made hefe before so not sure how it supposed to smell in the primary. But was not offensive.

 

[odie]

Harvested the yeast cake. Had to really stir it up to break it up and got lots of foam. Since i screened all the wort into the primary it seems I have almost no trub.

What u see is the total liquidized cake and a little beer and foam. I used the seperatory to remove the foam. Total of about 1.25 quarts of everything in the bottom of the fermenter. No decanting or washing.

It hasn’t settled yet but I’m kinda thinking I’m gonna get a huge clean yeast cake without doing anything else.

 

[Jag75]

Dang Odie that quite a collection of yeast ! Howd the Hefe smell . Bananaish at all?

 

[odie]

Yeah I guess banana. The trub cake looks like pure yeast. I don’t know if that’s because of the light colored grain bill, or not a hoppy beer or because the kettle was poured through a screened funnel and about a quart of almost solid crap from the boil was discarded

 

[odie]

This morning about 10 hours later

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Hefes definitely put out a lot of smelly farts. Perfectly normal.

 

[Ninoid]

100% wheat in Hefenweizen with WB-06.
There is no difference in fermentation between him and any other barley beer.

 

[Smellyglove]

Add zinc and turn up the temperature after a while to drive it off. more wheat = more zinc, which also yields more esters,