SUPER faint fermentation odor

[BorealBrewer]

I decided to try a pseudo-lager with Nottingham. It's Light DME, bit of crystal 10L for body/head, Northern Brewer for bittering, NB and Liberty for aroma; OG 1.041.

Fermentation temp is 55F. It's about 56 hours since pitching, got about 1" of krausen, and way more airlock activity than I thought I'd see at that temp. I've read all the cold-temp Nottingham threads on HBT I could find, but nobody mentions odor.

There is NO yeasty/fermentation (bready, estery, sour, or otherwise!) smell...hydrometer indicates good progression (1.029). I've never experienced such a faint-smelling fermentation, ever!

Does this predict the clean, crisp lager taste I'm hoping for? Should I be looking to raise the temperature and do a diacetyl rest if there is no apparent diacetyl being produced?

Am I putting the cart ahead of the horse?

So, I guess it's three questions. Any advice, anyone?

 

[porterpounder]

Just because it's not off-gassing doesn't mean it's not being created. The odors are driven off by the CO2 exiting the fermenter. If the fermentation is not as vigorous some of those compounds may be exiting the fermenter much slower or being absorbed by the liquid. Colder liquid, more solubility of gas as well. It may just be keeping it. Warm it up and see if it starts to burp.

 

[jbsg02]

I'm experiencing a similar situation right now, rehydrated US-05 on day 3 at 65 degrees and the smell is super clean.

 

[BorealBrewer]

Thanks PorterPounder...you make a good point! I got so excited, I didn't think that some of the nasty stuff might be staying in solution and not getting scrubbed out by CO2.

Figure I'll let the SG drop to the low 20's, then warm it up to about 65F (the temp I normally ferment with Notty) and see what happens. I'm hoping the final beer is as clean as this smells right now...but warming it up might aid that goal!