The Smells of Brewing

[3 Dawg Night]

What are your favorite smells associated with homebrewing? I'll start.

I LOVE taking a big whiff of a freshly-opened yeast package. That bready, living scent is one of the things I most look forward to as brew day approaches.

My 10-year-old loves inhaling deeply from a newly-opened package of hops. That boy is going to be a major hop-head one day!

 

[IslandLizard]

The mash is my favorite, reminds me of a bakery, the smells of mixing dough then the rising of loaves of bread. The yeast also plays a role in the last part.
Mmmm...

 

[sibelman]

The mash, and I also especially like the boil just after adding.hops.

 

[wepeeler]

The mash and each hop addition. Such a sensory hobby!

 

[KiwiSander]

I love all the smells of brewing, the fresh smell of hops, opening the grain bag, the mash smell...

But my wife hates the smell of the mash / boil. Of course I just make sure I am mostly brewing when she is out and make sure I vent the Boil as well as possible, but just curious of there are other people who doesn't like the smells?

 

[schmurf]

I agree the boil doesn't smell of roses exactly, but I don't have any problems with it myself... but the wife doesn't like it at all. Luckily I don't brew in the main building so it doesn't bother her. Apart from that I really like the smell of the mash.

 

[Henbrew]

Smelling hops is the best but fresh milled grain is a close second. Smelling the CO2 in my fermentation chest is the worst.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

For me it's the mash, the sweet malty smells of the grain steeping. Every time it reminds of a brew I was doing over twenty years ago when my step daughter came home from school, she opened the door came into the kitchen and yelled out "you're making brownies!". I said no, "I'm brewing beer!".

The thought of that moment never gets old!

 

[Grizwold1]

For me it's sticking my nose into the freshly milled malt bucket.

 

[z-bob]

I love all the smells of brewing, the fresh smell of hops, opening the grain bag, the mash smell...

But my wife hates the smell of the mash / boil. Of course I just make sure I am mostly brewing when she is out and make sure I vent the Boil as well as possible, but just curious of there are other people who doesn't like the smells?

I think that is pretty much universal.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I think that is pretty much universal.

Nahhhh, my wife loves the smells of brewing as much as I do, and she has a much better nose then I do. We both love the fresh milled grains, the mash and every hop addition. Also how it changes from start to finish. Love it.

 

[DBhomebrew]

I like all the smells, but the burst of hops when you drop the first addition and it all boils to the surface is a great one.

 

[passedpawn]

Opening a new bag of hops for sure.

 

[odie]

nose in the glass right before I drink the beer.

it all comes together at that point. it's what you have been working towards.

 

[T Murph]

I have to agree with Dave, it's all the smells from milling the grains to the Co2 coming out of the air lock, but that smell when the hops first hit that boiling wort, man that smells like success.

 

[beersk]

The smell of the boil, particularly in dark worts. That roasty, chocolately smell from porter/stout worts is amazing. Also, the smell of the mash has always been one of my favorites, same goes with darker worts.

 

[MaxStout]

The smell of the mash, and that blast of hops goodness when the bittering additions hit the boil.

And the aroma of a freshly-poured beer.

 

[eliastheodosis]

The smell of fermentation. I'm an unabashed airlock sniffer and I love smelling the beer at different stages of fermentation. I feel like you can really get to know each beer throughout the process. It always makes me happy to smell that it's fermenting well. It feels alive in those moments and it always gives me an appreciation for the alchemical aspects of this hobby. It's beer to me more in those moments than at any other time.

What a nice thread! Thanks @3 Dawg Night

 

[Broken Crow]

The ever more pervasive scent of grain, either steeping or mashing, as it floods my house.
(especially when my girlfriend is asleep when I start and wakes to a house full of mashing-grain smell....she always wakes up excited and happy with that.)

 

[3 Dawg Night]

The smell of fermentation. I'm an unabashed airlock sniffer and I love smelling the beer at different stages of fermentation. I feel like you can really get to know each beer throughout the process. It always makes me happy to smell that it's fermenting well. It feels alive in those moments and it always gives me an appreciation for the alchemical aspects of this hobby. It's beer to me more in those moments than at any other time.

What a nice thread! Thanks @3 Dawg Night

Ooh! That's another great one! My family laughs at how I like to sit with my head in my fermentation chamber, sniffing heavily.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Coming from an /r/prisonhooch (rhino-fart) start, the smell of a nice dark wort (with lots of dark crystal/chocolate malt) fermenting is just heavenly

 

[Brewsmith]

Everyone has hit a bunch of mine. The grainy smell of a mash is wonderful. I’m with everyone else on the aroma of wort just after hops have been added.

 

[balrog]

+1 to the mash
-∞ to the rhino farts from airlock (ApfelWein, I'm looking at you)

 

[seatazzz]

+infinity to the mash, and also the boil. I'm doing a cream ale this morning, and my garage/brewery has a lovely smell reminiscent of baking cornbread. And weird as it sounds, I like the smell coming from the burners; I use NG, and it brings me back to my early days helping my mentor (he owns a brewpub) brew on his big system. There isn't one smell associated with brewing that I don't like; unless it's spent grain that's been in the bucket too long! That's nasty.

 

[jerrylotto]

I love all the smells of brewing but my entire family hates it. Especially mash and boil time. It's a real challenge scheduling Brew Day is when they're not home.

 

[rallenhall]

Whole process. The bakery-like aroma hangs in my basement brewery for a day or two afterwards. Fortunately my wife will sometimes come downstairs during a brew session and say "The house smells great!" She's of 100% German linage if that explains anything.

 

[mac_1103]

I love all the smells of brewing but my entire family hates it.

I love all the smells of brewing and my wife agrees (although she's not an airlock sniffer). The only possible exception is the smell of boilover that gets burned onto the stove top.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I too love all the smells of brewing. My wife really loves the smell of freshly opened hops, and also the mash/boil. She'll often times pour a cup of coffee and join me on the back patio during the mash and boil. She frequently stands right next to the kettle to take it all in.

 

[BrewZer]

Smelling hops is the best but fresh milled grain is a close second. Smelling the CO2 in my fermentation chest is the worst.

One person's meat is another's poison, I guess.

I personally LOVE the smell of the bubbling airlock!!!

 

[grampamark]

I like all of the smells associated with brewing. Since having Covid last year though, I can smell just about enough that I might be able to tell if the house was on fire.

Having a reduced sensitivity to taste and aroma has made brewing and cooking a bit of a challenge.

 

[MaxStout]

I love all the smells of brewing but my entire family hates it. Especially mash and boil time. It's a real challenge scheduling Brew Day is when they're not home.

My wife absolutely HATES the smells of brewing. She says it reminds her of a bowl of oatmeal (which she hates with the burning passion of a thousand suns). She loves the end product, of course, though she doesn't drink as much of it as I do.

She visits her 97-year-old mom every few weeks and stays overnight. Those are the "me times" I take advantage of to brew.

 

[day_trippr]

I confess I'm conflicted wrt enjoying the aroma of brewing as it indicates desired character escaping into the atmosphere despite my efforts to keep all that in the product. Meanwhile The Spousal Unit seems to just be happy I'm home

Cheers!

 

[Henbrew]

One person's meat is another's poison, I guess.

I personally LOVE the smell of the bubbling airlock!!!

Oh, I love the airlock smell too but when you ferment in a chest freezer the CO2 saturates the entire space. If I go for a sniff during active fermentation it just burns my nose.

 

[Lampy]

Have to admit I am a big time airlock sniffer... and I smell the hops pellets bag every time too.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Have to admit I am a big time airlock sniffer... and I smell the hops pellets bag every time too.

You a brave person. Alot of us aren't so willing to admit the smells we like.

 

[OleBrewing]

the hot scotchy midway thru the mash.

 

[cfrazier77]

Does homebrew farts the next day count? Sometimes I can chase myself out of a room, definitely the worst smell.