Smells oh so sweet

[PenPen]

Hi all,
I brewed my first beer, and irish red ale extract w/ specialty grains kit from AHB on Saturday, and all is going well. Got fermentation started within 7 hours of pitching and have enjoyed a nice fermentation with tons of sediment swirling about and a hefty krausen. I think all is going well. things are no starting to subside as I can see less sediment swirling and the foam is starting to subside.

My question is that the beer, or rather the gas that I smell coming out of the arilock is still incredibly sweet smelling. Is this par for the course? I'm fermenting at the correct temperature range and in fact I'm using a water bath in my basement which has held the temp very stable with no more than 1 degree temperature fluctuation, so I don't think it could be a temperature problem. I guess, just being a neophyte, I want to know if this is how it goes. Does it just smell sweet until it's completely done fermenting. It's only been in the primary for 2 days, so I know I should just chill out and get back to watching OSU vs. Fla, but I wanted to see what you guys think.

Thanks!

 

[WOP31]

Welcome to the world of homebrewing! Everything sounds like it is going fine. I find that unless there are terrible smells coming out of the air lock you are generally OK. It sounds like your beer is progressing nicely. I wouldn't worry about it untill you transfer it. On a side note it is really nice to see some one who has done there research and posting inteligent and well informed questions. Cheers and welcome again

 

[PenPen]

Thanks a lot for you response and thank John Palmer for "How to Brew" for getting me started in the right direction. I've read that book like 5 times already. I guess I'll just wait and see how it turns out once it goes through the whole process. Thanks again.

 

[PenPen]

By the way, wop31, the wife and I took our first long weekend in Indiana two weeks ago and loved it. Indianapolis has a ton of great breweries with some really good beer. Very impressed. I just wish Columbus, Oh (our town) had the beer selection Indy does. Cheers.

 

[WOP31]

Nice, I hope that you got to try something from the Oaken Barrel and Upland Brewery they are really great. Good luck with the brews and keep up up to date with how they turn out.

Cheers

 

[Jetsers]

nice job on the water bath, and at 2 days the smells can be strange, but don't worry. You still have a while until you drink it.

 

[PenPen]

We actually did go to Oaken, but the one in Bloomington was too far south. Oaken had a very good porter. Good stuff.

 

[Ryanh1801]

I had the same concern, but it seemed to mellow out after 7 days.

 

[surftexasz71]

im 2 days into my first batch also and i was wondering about that really sweet smell. good to know its fairly normal.

this is going to be a really long 4 weeks