Sulfur smell in hefe

[trevelynzx]

hey all, not getting traction in the recipe thread so gonna try here -

recently brewed the “bee cave” hefeweizen recipe. ferm didn’t quite finish as i’m still at 1.022 (7 days in primary so far).

gravity hasn’t moved in several days. note that i am measuring FG with a refracto a my hydro is broken. maybe that’s a problem?

anyway, overwhelming sulfur smell when drinking the samples. although they actually they taste really good except that they’re still a little sweet.

sooo... 1) pitch more yeast? and 2) what about this sulfur smell? will that dissipate?

ps- brewed with wlp300. made a 4L starter for 24 hours. yeast seemed to drop pretty quick after that but i pitched the whole thing anyway. did not have either of these problems with this recipe last time when using the weihenstephaner yeast.

 

[MrHadack]

Hello!
Based on some of the feedback in this similar thread from 5 years ago, you may have over-pitched. Give that a read and see what you think.

 

[Rev2010]

The sulfur smell is very common in hefe's and it will dissipate over time. I am one of the one's that let's my hefe's sit in the fermenter for three weeks. Every time I've tried it earlier I've never been as happy with them although the vast majority on here go by the mantra to drink them young bottling/kegging between 7-14 days. As far as your gravity issue, I'd say try sanitizing a long plastic or metal spoon if you have one (most of us do) and then opening the fermenter and *gently* use the spoon to swirl up the yeast from the bottom. Don't splash or stir vigorously, just very gently. Should get things going again.


Rev.

 

[Jag75]

I've had mine in the fermenter since sat evening. Made a yeast starter 1L using WLP300 as well . It was Sunday that I started to smell that smell your describing. I checked it yesterday and that smell is turned into a banana smell. Not overly banana but a nice hint of it. Odd thing is I've had no airlock activity . I thought maybe my lid was cross threaded and didn't seal . So I unscrewed it lifted it up and it has a layer of Krausen . So I closed it trying to make sure it was sealed . Never had this issue . First time using this yeast .

 

[trevelynzx]

Interesting, thanks guys. i’ll give it a stir to stimulate the final fermentation and wait on the sulfur smell. definitely a tasty beer under it so i agree time may heal this wound.

 

[Jag75]

Interesting, thanks guys. i’ll give it a stir to stimulate the final fermentation and wait on the sulfur smell. definitely a tasty beer under it so i agree time may heal this wound.

Have you done hefes before? This is my 1st one. I made it sat and tue night my gravity was 1.012. The OG was 1.048. How can that be ? 4 days only . Is this normal for the hefes you've done trevelynx?

 

[VTX1300]

I have done Hefes with this yeast before and had them finish in 5 days at 68°. This yeast seems to work fast for me.

 

[Jag75]

I have done Hefes with this yeast before and had them finish in 5 days at 68°. This yeast seems to work fast for me.

Wow ! I'm blown away at how quick it finished . Now I know how speedy this yeast is.

 

[VTX1300]

I do let this recipe in the fermenter for a 2 full weeks before kegging. I feel a hefe needs a little time to finish properly. 3 weeks if I don't have another brew scheduled.

 

[singybrue]

hey all, not getting traction in the recipe thread so gonna try here -

recently brewed the “bee cave” hefeweizen recipe. ferm didn’t quite finish as i’m still at 1.022 (7 days in primary so far).

gravity hasn’t moved in several days. note that i am measuring FG with a refracto a my hydro is broken. maybe that’s a problem?

anyway, overwhelming sulfur smell when drinking the samples. although they actually they taste really good except that they’re still a little sweet.

sooo... 1) pitch more yeast? and 2) what about this sulfur smell? will that dissipate?

ps- brewed with wlp300. made a 4L starter for 24 hours. yeast seemed to drop pretty quick after that but i pitched the whole thing anyway. did not have either of these problems with this recipe last time when using the weihenstephaner yeast.

The refractometer does not read properly in the presence of alcohol. There are calculators online that can make the corrections for more accurate readings, but a hydrometer is best for FG readings.
The sulfur smell will usually condition out, but don't keg or bottle until it's gone.

 

[Rev2010]

Here's my "Non-Heinous Hefeweizen" in a Franziskaner glass. Came out great but wish I didn't get lazy and skip the ferulic acid rest this time.