Someone tell me to RDWHAHB.......

[PlayMizuno]

...............and actually mean it.

I have learned from the great minds here that airlock activity does not mean fermentation. I was still a little worried when my belgian was continuing to "burp" every 8 seconds or so after 25 days in the fermenter. So last night I opened it up to check the gravity and this is what I saw.

The thing smelled like A$$, but I learned here as well the WLP400 smells that way, but d@mn that was bad. The OG was 1.064, and it tested 1.013 last night. I went ahead and keged this, so someone help relieve my worries.

 

[broadbill]

what did it taste like? By tasting, you'd know if you had an infection or not.

Pics looks like normal krausen to me....

 

[david_42]

Looks nominal to me, I'd say you will be enjoying your Belgian in 2-3 weeks, so RDWHAHB.

Did you have any candi sugar in this? 80% attenuation is on the high side, but candi is 100% fermentable and will drive apparent attenuation up.

 

[PlayMizuno]

I did not use any candi sugar. I was supprised at the OG myself. It may have been a few points high because it was a little warmer than I normally check it at due to chiller issues. I did not taste the sample (I was put off by the smell and I was already enjoying a s/n clone), but I will take a small pull out of the keg tonight. Thanks for the responses.

 

[jturie]

Looks yucky.....Fedex it to me and I and several of my friends will orally dispose of it

 

[petep1980]

Do not ever smell your fermenter, unless you're dry hopping like a mad man!!!!

Primaries smell like rotten apples to me.

 

[Homercidal]

Plus the CO2 you sniff can give your nose a burn!

 

[DirtyPolock]

I posted almost the exact same question about a week ago.

Take a look at my thread - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/opened-primary-saw-something-new-168453/.

I used the exact same yeast and my primary looked almost exactly the same. What you are seeing is just the krausen that did not fall. I smelled it like you and it was terrible. I guess it was the CO2 that we mentioned by Homercidal. I did taste my hyrdo sample and it was on target and not bitter or sour at all, just flat which was expected.

 

[PlayMizuno]

Thanks for all the support and reassurance. I normally due IPA's & IIPA's and the look/smell was something I was not expecting when I opened the fermenter up.

 

[humann_brewing]

Plus the CO2 you sniff can give your nose a burn!

yeah, like when you lift the door to a chest freezer with a fermenting beer in it, whooo lot's O' gas to sniff.

 

[cookietruck]

did a beer with the ardennes strain, i got a whiff of the yeast cake as i was cleaning the fermenter out.
it smelled really foul. the beer tasted awzm when i was bottling it though.