Extremely strong smell in fermenter

[jdelvo06]

i fermented 2 different 2 gallon batches in 5 gallon buckets. My IPA that has been fermenting for a few days has an EXTREMELY pungent smell to it when i opened the lid and took a whiff (stupid but i couldn't help myself). It also has a very thick muddy looking foam at the top. I then opened my other bucket with 2 gallons of Octoberfest which is almost ready to bottle. It also has the same pungent smell to it. Is this normal? I'm probably just paranoid but the smell was so strong it has me a little worried. I'm assuming its because of the extra space in the fermenter allows the gas to collect before it escapes out the airlock. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Subdivisions]

The thick muddy foam is Krausen. It's normal. THe pungent smell could be a build up of CO2. There's a lot of headspace in your fermenters so there's a nice layer of it. I keg and when you take a whiff of some concentrated CO2 it burns your nose

 

[jdelvo06]

Thanks for the peace of mind. It shocked me when i smelled it. At first i took a whiff from the top of the bucket and it had your typical hoppy ipa smell. A little closer to the wort and it felt like NFL players should be using that stuff instead of smelling salts. After reading a few threads about using larger fermenters for smaller batches a few people have said you shouldnt use a secondary fermenter because of the extra space. My plan was to dry hop in a secondary but i am now reconsidering. Any thoughts?

 

[number40fan]

Secondary requires a vessel that is close to the size of the brew. 2 gallons in another 5 gallon bucket and you will not like the results.

 

[jdelvo06]

But leaving in the primary the full time is ok? I'm new to this but that doesn't make sense to me. Whats the difference?

 

[Subdivisions]

In the primary there's a layer of CO2 being built up and pushed out the air lock. In secondary this activity has slowed way down and there's more air than CO2 in the headspace. If you just leave it in primary and don't open the lid a bunch of times it's less likely to get oxidized. You can dry hop in the primary and then put it in a fridge to cold crash and drop all the hop gunk to the bottom when you're ready to bottle

 

[RM-MN]

In the primary there's a layer of CO2 being built up and pushed out the air lock. In secondary this activity has slowed way down and there's more air than CO2 in the headspace. If you just leave it in primary and don't open the lid a bunch of times it's less likely to get oxidized. You can dry hop in the primary and then put it in a fridge to cold crash and drop all the hop gunk to the bottom when you're ready to bottle

Your beer has 3 protections against bacteria. It has alcohol, it has low pH, and it has a layer of CO2 above it. That is enough to keep the bacteria at bay because a lot can't survive the alcohol, others can't thrive in the low pH but some love alcohol and don't care about the pH but need air to live and grow. Acetobacter is one that requires oxygen. When you rack to the secondary, your CO2 layer is gone and can only be replaced by purging with CO2 or from the dissolved CO2 coming out of suspension in your beer. There isn't enough dissolved in your beer to fill a large space and displace the air so you create an environment where bacteria can survive. By racking it to a container that is pretty small, your CO2 coming out of the beer can fill the tiny space just fine and protect the beer.

 

[jdelvo06]

makes sense, thank you all for the help.