Smell during Fermentation?

[roxy35]

Hey all,

I'm brewing my first beer, Hefeweizen, and its on day 3 of the fermentation process. All is going well, however my wife is complaining about the smell in the closet. There is no smell outside the closet, just when you open the doors. We also use it as a coat closet and are a little concerned about stinking up our coats.

First, I'm sure this smell is ordinary and common, but have any of you experimented with placing air freshners or, even better, odor elimintaor products (such as this: Shop NATURAL MAGIC 14-Oz. Odor Absorber Gel Brushed Cotton at Lowes.com).

And, I'm trying to keep the wife happy since she is tolerating the beer inside. I'd use the garage, however I'm concerned the temperature would fluctuate too much.

 

[nebben]

Often times, I find that mine have a hop aroma (pleasant to me) or a sulfur odor. Either way, I don't think I would be comfortable putting a fermenting carboy beneath coats or otherwise perfectly fine clean clothes.

 

[borovy3488]

I agree, the coat closet probably isn't the greatest place to ferment. I had the same problem when I started brewing, and I just took SWMBO's advice. She asked if we could just place a dryer sheet on top of the airlock. I did, and she was happy. I don't really know if it did much for the smell, but she was happy, haha.

 

[PVH]

The proper technique is to annoy the wife just enough for her to endorse adding a new brewspace to the domicile.

 

[borovy3488]

The proper technique is to annoy the wife just enough for her to endorse adding a new brewspace to the domicile.

AGREE. We just moved to a new house, and this was pretty high on her list. I now have a brew cave (workshop under house)!!

 

[teaser452]

My SWMBO loves the smell that the fermetation gives off. I left the first brew on the kitchen island for the the first 2 days, just so it could be warm and kick off the fermenation before sticking it in the cellar. When I went to move it, she asked me if I had to, because she liked the smells it gave off.

 

[roxy35]

AGREE. We just moved to a new house, and this was pretty high on her list. I now have a brew cave (workshop under house)!!

Trust me, I'd looooove to put it in the garage. I just can't imagine the temperature fluctuations being OK for the brew. Do people who use their garages have adequate temp controls?

I could probably get away with using the garage now, in the winter (live in NC), since it only gets down to mid-40s and highs in low-60s (actual garage temp will be higher since not technically outside). However, this fluctuation still has me worried.

I'm not a huge fan of the coat closet either but our options are pretty limited, and this is the one place where I feel like I can win

 

[HopHeadGrady]

Im lucky I have a big enough house where it's not an issue with the wife. But doing a mash in the kitchen smelled like I was cooking barley porridge for North America. I went out front and the vent coming out from my kitchen smelled like porridge.. lol Other than that, the fermenting room smelled like a massive fart for 3 days when my lager yeast was bubbling. I find Ales smell like liquid bread, pretty mellow.

My advice is to start an Ale in the closet and toss the jackets into the corner.. Haha.

 

[dmaxdmax]

We have a rarely used guest bathroom that I suppose could house a primary for a little while - perhaps a long while in the tub so the floor space would be clear for emergency visits. Keep the door closed and turn the fan on for a bit if it gets funky. I'll stick my min/max thermometer in there for a day or so and see how the temp fluctuates.

 

[Strangelove]

Between the 2 beers I have fermenting, the mead and my usual number of bottles waiting to be cleaned the laundry room (my brewery) smells...interesting. Kind of reminds me of the basement of the bar where I tended. It's out of the way and the beer tastes good. That's enough for me. I wouldn't want to walk out of the house smelling like that, though.