Holy crap WLP400 belgian wit smells bad during fermentation

[TrojanAnteater]

Brewing a wit and using WLP400 for the first time and the smell coming from my fermenter is just horrid right now. She's fermenting at 68F. Generally it seems as if most smells coming from the fermenter during high krausen are pretty nasty, but this smell is traveling across the hall from one room to another.

Anyone have any similar experiences with WLP400, or any other yeasts you find particularly nastier than others while fermenting?

 

[rsmith179]

I actually used that same yeast two brews ago with similar results. Shouldn't last too long though. I transferred out of the primary at 1 week and there was just a little odor left when opening up the primary.

You think that's bad? Try wine yeast! That stuff stunk up my whole basement for over two weeks.

 

[snailsongs]

this must be the third thread I've seen regarding belgian wit yeast being stinky.....not including the one I made a couple months ago.....yeah. It smells like half digested baby vomit. the weird thing is, you can still detect the same note in the finished beer, but it works well in there all toned down and mingled with the other aromas/flavors.

 

[user 29674]

Yep. For the first hour or two of fermentation it smelled of lovely oranges and cascade hops, then I went back for another sniff and gagged on the stench. After about a week it went back to the citrusy/bready smell. but yea... gagfest

 

[user 29674]

Oh - and keep you eye on that WLP400. It has one hell of a personality. Very calm at first then suddenly you have to rush to get a blowoff hose on, and then its calm again, and then you need a blowoff again. Its exhausting.

 

[flyangler18]

Yeah, WLP400 is a finicky and sneaky strain. I've had starters agitated on a stirplate raise 4-5 inch krausens, cresting a 2L Erlenmeyer.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Certainly one of the worst smelling fermentations, and one of the only strains (along with WLP300) that I always use a blowoff for.

 

[Shawn Hargreaves]

Weird... I never noticed much smell from that yeast.

I guess I'll just have to brew a wit again sometime soon and make sure to smell it more carefully

 

[Freezeblade]

WLP400 is a monster, blows off like crazy and stinks, it's like an ogre.



it has layers......like an onion.

 

[BeerPressure]

Mine smelled like orange yogurt, it was nice.

 

[Goterdid]

Pitched my WLP 400 and went camping for 2 days. Next time using a blowoff tube for sure. had a nasty blow out from airlock and a nice mess to clean. Picky strain, but end result was great. No baby vomit smells though ??

 

[heywolfie1015]

I hear ya. My second brew was a wit the 400, and it had me worried as all hell that I screwed something up. Turns out great product, though.

 

[paraordnance]

weird, because I have opposite experience with WLP400. Made good healthy starter and just pitched it in AHS belgian Pale Ale, had nice krausen in 3 hours. Little blow off, was controlled and expected but really no sulphur smell across hallway, can't smell nothing in fermenting closet. The beer still active after 10 days but plannig on leaving it alone for 3-4 weeks. Fermometer shows 64F

 

[Pick]

Got one fermenting now with 400/Notty. No sulphuric smell at all.

 

[Bradthoc]

Glad I found this thread. Was really getting worried. I brewed up a wit 3 days ago. Last night, I was observing the fermentation and noticed a smell. I put my nose down by the airlock, took a whiff, and wanted to fall over. Smelled like wet latex to me, but I can see where the stale vomit comments are coming from. Nice to know this can be normal for the WLP400 (first time using it). Plan to rack it out of primary and into a secondary vessel soon after fermentation stops in hopes to minimize any odor in the finished product.

 

[jekeane]

Resurrection of a long gone thread. But I have this on a stir plate now. I had to decant 400ml to a second vessel and both are still pushing krausen out the top 10hours later. Never seen anything like this with a starter. The smell is pretty phenolic as well.