This fermentation smells...different

[Immocles]

Topic says it all. I've brewed in some way, shape, or form about once/twice every two weeks for about the last year and a half. With the exception of a couple ciders smelling godawful, most everything has been pretty enticing. I made a 2 row/falconers flight smash pale ale on Monday this week. Normally I would expect some hoppy smells coming out of the airlock by now, but this baby smells not great. Almost sour milk-ish. I didn't skip anything cleaning/sanitation wise. I used a previously opened pack of us-05 at 66-67F, which I have done several times. Normal fermentation for the most part, but more vigorous than usual. Very churn. Had to replace the airlock, and then replace that airlock once I located the right tube for a blow off but I also filled my fermonster up a bit higher than I normally do. That was at 3 days into fermentation. I'm not so much panicked about it as I am curious. Kinda wild how different these buggers can be from batch to batch.

 

[ReaperOnefour]

I got this off the internet. Lactobacillus. A common bacteria that can get into beer and eat up all the sugars, turning it into lactic acid. This can make the beer taste/ smell sour. It says that the cause of it is most likely from cleaning/sanitizing issue.

 

[vcorbett]

I'd still leave it for a few days and see how it's going, hate to waste the batch.

 

[Immocles]

I’m less concerned. Fermentation can be pretty grim and my sniffer is faulty at the best of times but just expected some sort of hop scent. I’ll be dry hopping soon and plan to pull a small sample to feed my curiosity.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Had to replace the airlock, and then replace that airlock once I located the right tube for a blow off but I also filled my fermonster up a bit higher than I normally do.

Maybe you should consider starting every fermentation with a blow off tube.

 

[Immocles]

Maybe you should consider starting every fermentation with a blow off tube.

Yeah yeah yeah, I know. I generally only do 2.5g in my fermonster but I squeaked out 3 in this one. I dubiously looked at it when I pitched and figured, “Eh, that looks like a problem for future immocles to figure out”