Fermenting Rotten Egg Smell

[jturie]

Brewed up a NB Honey Weizen extract kit this past Sunday. Using the liquid Wyeast American Wheat. Fermenting happily ever since, but the first couple of days the whole house smelled like rotten eggs. Five days later, still bubbling away, but I can still smell some odor at the airlock.

Does this occasionally just "happen" due to the mystery of beer, or is there something wrong? The only two unusual things that happened were that I slightly scorched the extract (hardly noticeable), and I pitched a little warm at 75 degrees (although that seems to be in the range for that yeast), but the wort dropped to 70 degrees in less than 30 minutes.

 

[Nurmey]

No worries, it happens with some yeast.

 

[SexPanther13]

Yeah the same thing is happening with my Wyeast American Wheat that I pitched a little warm. I was a little worried but after reading through here most people say it isn't much to worry about. I was only concerned because Palmer says sulfur smells only come from lager yeasts and bacterial infections in How to Brew

 

[jturie]

Update--just kegged it last night @ 1.011. Smelled great, tasted great. No off flavors or odors.

 

[ThirstyNomad]

Good to know, i got the same smells from my NB American Wheat with the same yeast...

 

[mew]

I get these smells often from various wheat yeasts regardless of fermentation temperature. It usually happens toward the end of fermentation and dissipates after fermentation has stopped.

My advice for any others who may be reading this thread is just to make sure the smell is gone before bottling. Other than that, it's nothing to worry about as the OP found out on his/her own.

 

[KevinW]

I get a fair amount of sulfur from my Kolsch yeast too, it makes SWMBO gross out but she hasn't complained about my beers yet! Well, no complaints when drinking them anyway

 

[SexPanther13]

The smell on my wheat went away after the first 2 days like I figured it would. And I tasted it before I transferred it to the secondary for fruit additions and it tasted great so I'm not going to worry about that smell anymore on any of my other beers unless it just won't go away.

 

[WickedLB]

I get a fair amount of sulfur from my Kolsch yeast too, it makes SWMBO gross out but she hasn't complained about my beers yet! Well, no complaints when drinking them anyway

I get the same when I brew the my Cal Commons. I have learned to tell SWMBO that the basement smells, its the yeast, and it is supposed to smell that way. I was thinking about a Kolsch soon so that is good to know!

 

[GNBrews]

I'm having this same issue with Wyeast 3068 fermented at 62F. Because wheat beers tend to taste best while still young, I hesitate to let my latest batch of Hank's Hefeweizen age for more than a week or two. Do you fellas have any alternate ideas for getting rid of the sulfur note?

 

[davesrose]

I get the same when I brew the my Cal Commons. I have learned to tell SWMBO that the basement smells, its the yeast, and it is supposed to smell that way. I was thinking about a Kolsch soon so that is good to know!

I like making Cal. Commons and have found the classic yeast strains for it can produce some really odd smells. Anything from banana (using white labs california ale yeast) to sulfur (using some lager yeasts)....I've just learned that smell doesn't mean much: taste samples are everything

 

[WhiskeySix]

I get a fair amount of sulfur from my Kolsch yeast too, it makes SWMBO gross out but she hasn't complained about my beers yet! Well, no complaints when drinking them anyway

I have a Kolsch that I bottled last week. Boy did it stink for a couple of days!

I brewed a stout yesterday. When I cut open the Wyeast pack to make a starter I was hit with a big rotten egg stink. I guess some yeast just stink. Like some of my coworkers.

 

[Tchib]

Yea, I gots that with a very nice cooked apple cider, it smells like egg salad left out overnight. Pretty sure it's just sulpher because as I said, it was boiled out completely and the yeast was pitched clean, albeit a little warm.

Just realised this is an old post, my bad.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

do a forum search on Rhino farts if yiou want a chuckle.

 

[youngson616]

Brewed up a NB Honey Weizen extract kit this past Sunday. Using the liquid Wyeast American Wheat. Fermenting happily ever since, but the first couple of days the whole house smelled like rotten eggs. Five days later, still bubbling away, but I can still smell some odor at the airlock.

This just happened to me with my first all grain hefeweizen batch. Rotten egg smell and all, never had my fermentation smell that strong. Seems to be doing fine though!