Sulfur in Wyeast 3787 showing up a week after fermentation?

[luckybeagle]

I brewed a Patersbier (Father's Reward) using Wy3787 about 3 weeks ago. I pitched at 64F and let it rise to 68F before moving it indoors to finish up at room temp (70-71F). It hit FG within 4 or 5 days, and I let it sit in the fermenter for another 7 or so due to being busy.

I always ferment in a pressure fermenter with a spunding valve instead of a blowoff/airlock, which I set to 0psi on this beer.

It tasted great and finished around 1.005.

About 5 days ago I moved the fermenter to my chest freezer and set it to 50F. I disconnected the spunding valve so that any wort/beer shrinkage wouldn't suck in air from the chest freezer.

I went to bottle it yesterday but took one last sample beforehand and picked up a very strong sulfury smell and taste. I haven't gotten sulfur in any ales I've brewed aside from Hefeweizen, which seems to dissipate fast. I'm wondering if leaving the fermenter at 50F in a totally sealed container caused the beer to reabsorb whatever byproducts the yeast was holding onto. Because of this, I decided not to bottle yet.

I've since reconnected my spunding valve but still have the ferm chamber set to 50F. I'll be bottle conditioning this beer. Should I raise the fermenter back to room temp and wait until the sulfur dissipates, or bottle now and expect the sulfur to be gone when I start drinking it in a few weeks?

 

[KeizerBrewr]

I would let it hang out in the fermenter a bit longer. Haven't really heard of that strain tossing sulfur so this is new to me.

 

[BertusBeensteen]

3787 is the westmalle strain, also known as farty-pants. Mostly throws off some sulfur during primary. Never experienced it in the beer itself though. (Not a lager-like sulfer though, more rotten eggs)

I would let it rest rest at room temp i guess. Or maybe flush with co2 from the bottom of the fermenter to see if it helps.

 

[luckybeagle]

Thanks! I brought the fermenter in from the 50F rest. It's now at 70ish with the spunding valve attached again and set to 0 PSI. I'm going to give it a couple days at this temp to see if it makes a difference, per your suggestion. I figured it'll be warmed up to room temp when it's bottle-carbing anyway so there should be no harm in it.

I forgot about Co2 flushing... I'll keep that in mind if this doesn't work.

Regardless of the outcome, I'll update this thread in a few days.

 

[pvtpublic]

Sulfur is volatile, so it off gasses easily. It takes some time on its own, but you should be able throw some potassium metabisulfite in there to neutralize it. Shaking will help, as will the co2 scrub as Keizer and Bertus have mentioned.

 

[luckybeagle]

Interesting, I didn't think of potassium metabisulfite. I didn't end up adding it, but the sulfur seems to have dissipated on its own.

I was planning on bottling this one, but ended up kegging it last night due to time constraints and the fact that this beer was really made for the slurry more than anything--(I used some of it in a tripel last night and will use the other half for a quad).

When I brewed this single, I made a large yeast starter and used some of it to ferment this one, and the remainder to ferment a dubbel. Now that the dubbel has reached FG, it's throwing off that same sulfury smell. It's so weird that it didn't have any of that during active fermentation, and that it shows up only at the end. This one is in a glass carboy, so I am fairly certain it has nothing to do with it being in a closed environment with no way to offgas (like the single was in the fermzilla during conditioning).

 

[BertusBeensteen]

I had sulfer showing up in a lager, two dus after kegging it. No sulfur whatsoever during fermentation, so it happens.

I just brewed a Belgian blonde today, fermenting now with a starter made from bottle dregs (westmalle extra). We will see/smell what will happen.

Had rotten eggs smell from wyeast 3787 during fermentation once. (Also in the starter).

 

[VikeMan]

Sulfur is volatile, so it off gasses easily. It takes some time on its own, but you should be able throw some potassium metabisulfite in there to neutralize it.

Potassium metabisulfite doesn't neutralize sulfur compounds. It increases them.

In the absence of a strict LODO process, dissolved oxygen will typically get rid of H2S. It's one of the few times that dissolved O2 provides a benefit. Some trace metals will do the same.

 

[day_trippr]

Interesting thread to me: I use 3787 to brew a Trappist table beer, and typically about 5 days into fermentation it would throw some major sulfurous notes. These would attenuate going forward and well before packaging they were gone. Never figured out if it was something I did/didn't do or if that was just that strain doing its thing. Beer was always quite good...

Cheers!

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm fermenting a tripel with 3787 right now so I'll report back if I smell anything.

What fermentation temp schedules are yall using?

I pitched at 63 and let it free rise to 66 and I'm going to start raising the temps by a degree a day up to 74 and let it finish out there. From what I've read this is a slow finishing yeast that needs lots of time and warm temps to completely finish out. So maybe sulfur is a result of kegging too early?

 

[day_trippr]

The sulfurous character was long gone before I kegged those beers.
Also I always do starters (I brew 10 gallon batches) and my pitch rate for 3787 is ~1.25M cells/ml/°P.

Anyway, I start at 66°F for three days then let it rise up to ~70°F over a few days then let it run until it's quiet.
Typically go 14 days before kegging including a cold crash...

Cheers!

 

[BertusBeensteen]

Almost two days into fermentation. Day one was full on banana, now it is rotten eggs.
Made a mess of my fermentation chamber, krausen everywhere.

 

[TheMadKing]

Almost two days into fermentation. Day one was full on banana, now it is rotten eggs.
Made a mess of my fermentation chamber, krausen everywhere.

I'm on day 3 and I'm definitely getting the banana but no sulfur at all. Temp is at 69F now

I did use Servomyces nutrient though so maybe that's a sign of a lack of FAN or something?