Oh Brother... Dubbel Bubble and Sulfurous Wheat?

[superslomo]

Brewed a NB extract dubbel kit, and it's now a few days into vigorous fermentation with the wyeast belgian abbey. It smells shockingly like bright pink bubble gum.

I pitched cool, it's been sitting comfortably within the working temp of the yeast (low to mid-70's) and it stinks like gum.

I have a bad feeling this is going to take a long time to clear up.

Likewise, I had a starter for the Am. Wheat I'm doing, from a wyeast pack, and it has a weirdly pits-of-hell sulfur smell coming out of the lock. I'm a little concerned I've now got ten gallons of worthless waste brewing and it feels a bit frustrating.

 

[Seven]

The bubble gum smell is normal for Wyeast 1214 in the 75-85 degree range but you probably don't want to ferment at this high of a temp early on. You may also get hints of clove, banana, alcohol, rose, and fruit. (Brew Like a Monk, page 178)

I wouldn't judge any beer based on odors given off early in the fermentation process. Just use good temp. control and give it enough time to ferment and condition, and they should turn out well.

 

[seabass07]

A lot of wheat yeasts give off the sulfur smell. If you taste it while it smells, it will be like drinking rotten eggs. But it should go away within a week or two.

 

[superslomo]

lol, thanks all.

the dubbel started out close to 75, but the cellar temps are now in the low '70's, so I'm hoping it will balance out.

the Safale US-05 I used on the last batch of honey wheat smelled pretty solid the whole way through fermentation, so I was surprised at the sulfurous rhino-backside aroma coming out of the 1010 pitched batch I'm using now. I was more concerned as one quart jar of starter seemed contaminated (didn't use it), and I now was thinking maybe both had been messed up in starting out. Hopefully not...

 

[seabass07]

I've never heard of sulfur from contamination. It's not from the wheat, it's from the yeast. It's a common smell with a lot of top fermenting yeast strains.

 

[MazdaMatt]

I had 2 carboys of Wit brewing and it smelled like someone was farting through a sweaty sock.

 

[superslomo]

yum.

 

[solbes]

Whats done is done on your Dubbel. It will be estery, but should be good after some conditioning. If you try it again, I would try pitching at 64-65, and let it slowly rise to 70-71 over the course of fermentation. Still get nice esters that way, but more subtle.

All of this assumes this is roughly the temp of the fermenting wort. If you are measuring ambient temps only, you should probably account for the 3-4 F temp difference due to the exothermic nature of the fermentation.


I've brewed 2 wheats and they both smelled like sulphur during primary. They both cleaned up nicely with no sulphur tastes at all. I think you're golden on that one.

 

[superslomo]

I guess I'll just call it Dubbel Bubble and hope for the best. Time heals all wounds, it is to be believed.