sour smell from fermentor

[j781187]

opened my bucket after 9 days tested gravity had sour smell and very little taste put in secondary to see if it gets better any words of advice?

 

[tektonjp]

Given the dearth of information you've provided, all I can say is wait and see. I can't advise on what you've shared.

 

[TopherM]

Don't worry about the taste or the smell after 9 days. Fermentation is a pretty nasty enterprise. CO2 and carbonic acid that are produced during the fermentation process could easily be described as smelling sour, and you just can't judge the taste of a final beer based on a 9-day wort sample.

Finish the beer up. Don't judge any beer until it's cold, carbed, and conditioned. It just isn't done until it's done.

 

[Revvy]

Don't worry about the taste or the smell after 9 days. Fermentation is a pretty nasty enterprise. CO2 and carbonic acid that are produced during the fermentation process could easily be described as smelling sour, and you just can't judge the taste of a final beer based on a 9-day wort sample.

Finish the beer up. Don't judge any beer until it's cold, carbed, and conditioned. It just isn't done until it's done.

Topher summed it up perfectly.

 

[Clonefan94]

I just kegged my first "recipe" beer this past weekend. It was in primary for 3 weeks so instead of putting it into secondary, I had a free keg, so decided to skip secondary and just keg it. When I opened the lid on the bucket, it smelled like hell. I was sure that it was ruined. It was a pungent, sour bready smell, that was overwhelming and not appealing at all. The last little bit of racking, I stopped the flow and ran some into flask for my hydro sample. Took the reading and that was good. Then took a taste, just to see how bad it was, and honestly, it was really good.

Basically a long story to say, don't go by smell when opening for the first time right after fermentation. Yeast, krausen and off gasses can be very deceiving. Once I got mine out of the bucket, it actually smelled very much like I would expect beer to smell.

 

[j781187]

good to know the og was 1.048 and last night it was 1.009 so it has been fermenting i was just worried about the smell but all looked good just a sour bread smell how it come out good how liong should i let it sit in the secondary?

 

[sok454]

I remember my first batch (i'm experienced... i'm now on my second batch) I walked passed it in the basement and wondered if a cat had pissed down there... then I realized I have no cats.... Tastes fine after 23-4 days in primary... just bottled yesterday.

 

[TopherM]

I keep typical ales in primary for 21 days after brew day, and don't secondary. Secondary isn't really necessary unless you are adding more fermentables or wood chips or something like that or aging for an extended period (like 4-12+ months).

With a careful siphoning (easy with an autosiphon), you can get the same clarity benefits of a secondary by carefully racking above the trub without risking the exposure of racking one extra time. You may want to think about just leaving in secondary in the future.

Anyway, you haven't done anything wrong, you're still fine. Leave it in secondary at this point until about 21 days after brewday, then bottle and carb/condition.

 

[WilliamShakesbeer]

"Sour" smell, especially if it feels like it's burning your nose/eyes if you get a good whiff of it, could be CO2. Like others have said - wait and see, you're probably fine.

 

[Aboo]

Just so you know, you're not alone! I popped the top on my bucket last night to ensure fermentation was occurring as I had zero bubbles. Well, I cracked the lid, got a whiff and IMMEDIATELY closed it. Freaking smelled horrible! Like smelling salts or something.

Glad to hear this is a normal thing and it will clear up... It's been in that bucket 11 days now... I'm going to take my first gravity reading on Friday.