Sulfury smell coming from fermenter...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Beavdowg

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2009
Messages
404
Reaction score
9
Location
Portland, OR
I brewed an extract batch on Sunday. It is a honey lager but made with California Lager yeast that can ferment in the 70*s range. Cooled it with an IC and racked it shortly after into a plastic ale pale. I pitched the yeast after racking and saw bubbles by Monday morning. I don't have a very consistently cool place in my house so I put the pale in a room off my garage that was staying about 70* during the day. My wife told me yesterday that it got up to about 75* in that room yesterday. It was 75* when I got home last night. By the time I went to bed last night it was back down to 71*. This morning it was just under 71*. Anyway, there was a nice sweet smell coming from the fermentor when it started fermenting but this morning(Tuesday morning) there is a sulfury smell from the fermentation lock. I used iodophore solution to soak stuff in and whatever was too big to fit into my cooler filled with an iodophore solution I sprayed with the same iodophore solution out of a spray bottle.

I don't every remember that sulfury smell coming from my fermentor before(granted it was 12 years ago last I brewed). Is my beer ruined or is this a normal phase of fermenting?

thanks
 
Don't sniff your airlock, and you won't have to worry. :D

Seriously, fermentation can be ugly, and stinky...and be perfectly normal....

Sukfuric compounds are often given off during fermentation, especially with lagers. but any yeast has the potential to give that off...Do a search for "Rhino Fart" and you'll REALLY get an idea of how stinky it can get.

But everything is fine....
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate the answers. I hope it turns out ok. I never had a bad batch of beer when I was brewing, granted I've only done 5 or 6 batches so this was concerning me. It sounds like it'll be ok. I've got to figure out a way to keep my temps cooler, like in the mid to high 60's. What happens when the temps get to high during fermentation? Does the frementation just simply stop or does it ruin the beer?

thanks again!:mug:
 
I brewed an extract batch on Sunday. It is a honey lager but made with California Lager yeast that can ferment in the 70*s range. Cooled it with an IC and racked it shortly after into a plastic ale pale. I pitched the yeast after racking and saw bubbles by Monday morning. I don't have a very consistently cool place in my house so I put the pale in a room off my garage that was staying about 70* during the day. My wife told me yesterday that it got up to about 75* in that room yesterday. It was 75* when I got home last night. By the time I went to bed last night it was back down to 71*. This morning it was just under 71*. Anyway, there was a nice sweet smell coming from the fermentor when it started fermenting but this morning(Tuesday morning) there is a sulfury smell from the fermentation lock. I used iodophore solution to soak stuff in and whatever was too big to fit into my cooler filled with an iodophore solution I sprayed with the same iodophore solution out of a spray bottle.

I don't every remember that sulfury smell coming from my fermentor before(granted it was 12 years ago last I brewed). Is my beer ruined or is this a normal phase of fermenting?

thanks

It's going to be ok, but there is something that I want to mention. Yes, that yeast CAN ferment up to 70 degrees or so with ok results. But, if the room was 75 degrees, it could have been more like 80 or 85 degrees inside the active fermenter. Fermentation is exothermic, so it produces heat and can be as much as 10 degrees above the ambient temperature. That's probably why you got the sulfuric smell- lager yeast smell at cold temperatures but get really stinky at higher temps!

If you want to moderate the temperatures, you could always put the fermenter in a cooler or trash can and put water around it. That will help keep the temperatures steady. If you throw a frozen water bottle or two in there, it can keep your temperature steady and cool.
 
If you want to compare, brew a batch of Edwarts Apfelwein, that stuck stinks on days 2-6, but tastes GREAT when it is done.
 
The smell you encountered is mostly likely Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). This is a natural byproduct of fermentation and is scrubbed out by CO2 as it escapes from fermenting beer. This almost always is removed to the point that it is no longer near the flavor threshold by the time you drink it. For most ales you will not taste it below 30 ug/L, and most beers will not have more than 1 ug/L once all the CO2 has scrubbed it out.

Sometimes elevated levels can result from common beer-spoiling bacteria, or from very high pitching rates (more than 100 million cells/mL). Usually if it is present in the finished beer, it will also be accompanied by a good amount of DMS (which gives a canned corn flavor).
 
I love the sulfery smell from my fermentation freezers. It lets me know the yeasties are eating healthy and are thus gaseous. Just like us after thanksgiving.
 
Back
Top