# My Beer Tastes And Smells Like A Fart!



## hupnupnee (1/10/06)

Hi guys,

I have a coopers bavarian lagar that tastes and smells very sulphury. I brewed this beer in the dead of winter using the can yeast which I believe is saflagar. It fermented at around 8* to 10* over about 3 weeks. During fermentation it stank the house out. I thought the stink had dissappeared when I bottled but it seems to have continued the sulphur production in the bottle. The bottles are now over two months old. 

My question is can I expect this fart to dissappear over time or should I just learn to love the smell of my own. :blink: :blink: .

Other than the fart the beer is really crisp and dry. 

Bottoms up

Tim


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## Ash in Perth (1/10/06)

Sulfur compound production is common in most lagers but usually it dissapears once fermentation has completed. I hvae never heard of it lasting 2 months after bottling. 

I dont know too much about different infections (ive been luck y to have only had 1 ever) but i do not think this would be a result of infection.

Did you cold condition it at all or jsut 3 weeks primary then into the botlte?


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## hupnupnee (1/10/06)

Ash in Perth said:


> Sulfur compound production is common in most lagers but usually it dissapears once fermentation has completed. I hvae never heard of it lasting 2 months after bottling.
> 
> I dont know too much about different infections (ive been luck y to have only had 1 ever) but i do not think this would be a result of infection.
> 
> Did you cold condition it at all or jsut 3 weeks primary then into the botlte?



Hi Ash

I'm pretty sure it is not an infection either. The odour is that of a fermenting lager not an infection. It just shits me that it is in the bottle as well.

Cheers

Tim


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## sinkas (1/10/06)

how many farts have you tasted?


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## Batz (1/10/06)

sinkas said:


> how many farts have you tasted?




Never met Tidalpete have you?

Batz


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## hupnupnee (1/10/06)

hmmm fart!!!


Ha ha smart ass!!

Cheers Tim


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## Barramundi (1/10/06)

i hope thats not your planned brew for the swap...


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## Frothy-head (1/10/06)

I have trouble smelling the brew as I fart to much and don't notice.

Ok, I only fart a bit....


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## Trough Lolly (2/10/06)

hupnupnee said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I have a coopers bavarian lagar that tastes and smells very sulphury. I brewed this beer in the dead of winter using the can yeast which I believe is saflagar. It fermented at around 8* to 10* over about 3 weeks. During fermentation it stank the house out. I thought the stink had dissappeared when I bottled but it seems to have continued the sulphur production in the bottle. The bottles are now over two months old.
> 
> ...



Hi Tim,
The 'fart' or rotten egg smell you are experiencing is typically the odour given off in the beer by Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) which usually accumulates during lager fermentation. The amount of H2S varies between different lager strains, the composition of the wort and of course, the temp at which you ferment the lager at. It looks like you did have a genuine lager strain (possibly W34/70 if it was quite noticeable H2S after 8 to 10C fermentation). The common answer to your dilemma is time - it will take a long maturation time to remove the H2S to a level that will drop below your sensory threshold. 
It's also possible, I'm afraid, that you'll never get rid of the rotten egg smell. I've done a bit of reading on this issue, and H2S in beer can result in the formation of other sulphur compounds, including mercaptans and 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (which looks nasty, let alone the smell :blink: ) and they have very low sensory thresholds and are extremely difficult to remove from the beer. So, it may pay in future to give the beer a good two weeks in primary, rack to secondary and lift the beer off the yeast cake and get on with scrubbing out the H2S before bottling. 
And finally, two points worth noting, based solely on my own experience - minimising oxygen uptake during racking and bottling does reduce the sulphur levels in the bottle, and if you get into kegging, you'll discover a real benefit in being able to force CO2 into the beer - and the H2S out of it by burping the keg. You might want to do a similar experiment with a couple of your bottles - take the lids off and then re-seal the bottles. You might find that it will help push the H2S out of solution if you carefully pop the bottle and then recap them. Unless you pasteurised the beer, you will have plenty of yeast in the bottles - check the sediment at the bottom of the bottles as proof, and this yeast, even though its small in size, may still be making H2S whilst the beer conditions in the bottle.
Cheers,
TL


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## dirty mac (3/10/06)

A while ago I totally had the same prob. I started my first ever lager and didn't know what the hell I was doing. Brewed with Saflager yeast but the thing fermented at 20C. What made it worse is that in my inexperience I didn't think it was working cause there was no bubbling in airlock so I pitched the yeast under the can as well (which was probably an ale yeast.) Anyway it started taking off big time then and the whole brew smelt like I'd dry hopped a nard into it after a big night out :lol: 

I thought that it would just get better with time in the bottle but when It was meant to be ready to drink the grogan smell and taste was still there and there seemed to be some metho taste as well. Worst f---ing beer ever. I never want to go back to that memory of burping up the old choc coated nuggets....I tell you what though ever since that day my later beers have never tasted so good and I learnt a hard lesson in brewing a good clean lager.

My advice...just "dump" it :lol:


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## dirty mac (3/10/06)

hupnupnee said:


> Other than that the fart beer is really crisp and dry.
> 
> Bottoms up
> 
> Tim




In that case you should try to replicate it but next time add even more flavour by force carbonating. Just prior to bottling eat a diet of beans and lentils and then simply hold arsehole over each bottle and bobs your uncle.
chin chin.. :chug:


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## hupnupnee (3/10/06)

I guess I could rename the brew the Roy and HG Stanley Steam(er) Beer.

Not too keen on the forced carbonation method there Dirty Mac, however I am curious as to if this might be a new means of storing energy for the future. Any carbon credits in it do you think?

Up ya bum

Tim


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## WSC (22/3/10)

Hi all,

I'm looking at trying to understand why I have this sulphur smell in my beers. I have had 2 -3 in 4 years. I'm not talking about the smell a lager yeast gives off, this is an ale yeast problem I seem to have.

My theory is that not washing off cleaners is the cause - i recently cleaned all my bottles with napisan.

Ginger Beer - have had a few ginger beers that have this smell, I put it down to chlorine in the water/not washing off bottle cleaners.

APA - this one annoys me the most and have brewed it several times with no problems. Things I did differently - used about a month old stubby of trub from 1272 yeast (the yeast smelt OK and I tasted some trub from another bottle and it has no sulphur smell) and washed the bottles in napisan, rinsed and used morgan no-rinse prior to bottling. it did sit for some time prior to bottling (maybe 2 weeks) but it was stored at 19 degrees and tasted fine prior to bottling. I fliter my water. Have since done a stout with no sulphur smell.

So my question is would the napisan not being washed off properly be the cause, would Morgans No rinse sanitiser react with the napisan to give a sulphur smell?

Anyone else have this issue?


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## mckenry (22/3/10)

WSC said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm looking at trying to understand why I have this sulphur smell in my beers. I have had 2 -3 in 4 years. I'm not talking about the smell a lager yeast gives off, this is an ale yeast problem I seem to have.
> 
> ...



Hey WSC,
I have had this before. It was using dry US-05 (ale yeast). Like you I had used this yeast plenty of times without ever getting sulphur smells. 
Do you AG? As it turned out, there was a little bit of mouldy grain stuck in my mash tun. It was in the bung thread. I dont use the bung to drain the tun, I have another ball valve for that.
Also mine tasted fine prior to kegging, then developed the smell from there.
BUT- by releasing the pressure (and therefore smell) every day or two, I got rid of it. You cant really do that with bottles though...
So, check for some mouldy bits in your gear.
mckenry


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## Nick JD (22/3/10)

Pour your beer into a glass in the toilet and then light a match. 

Seriously though - decant into a big old cold glass jug and leave it in the fridge for ten minutes. The sulphury smells are pretty volatile, just like farts they tend to creep off.

Tell your mates it's like red wine and needs to breathe.


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## WSC (22/3/10)

mckenry said:


> Hey WSC,
> I have had this before. It was using dry US-05 (ale yeast). Like you I had used this yeast plenty of times without ever getting sulphur smells.
> Do you AG? As it turned out, there was a little bit of mouldy grain stuck in my mash tun. It was in the bung thread. I dont use the bung to drain the tun, I have another ball valve for that.
> Also mine tasted fine prior to kegging, then developed the smell from there.
> ...



Kits and bits brewer, gear is pretty clean, but I don't have hot water in my shed yet so could be a bug. There is nothing else off with this beer, calrity is good, no rings on bottles etc, the reason I washed all the bottles is that I started to get a few gushers in the last batch, think due to the bottles being about the 3rd brew I'd done with only rinsing with water straight after drinking and then no rinsing prior to bottling.


@ Nick JD - will let it breath and see how it goes, doesn't seem to go way in the glass though, lasted all the way to the end.

I will drink these beers, never tossed a batch yet, but this will take time....i think it annoys me more than it tastes that bad. Thanks for the replies.


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## pyrobrewer (22/3/10)

WSC said:


> a few gushers in the last batch, think due to the bottles being about the 3rd brew I'd done with only rinsing with water straight after drinking and then no rinsing prior to bottling.



Ya think!

This is far from best practice. What is so hard about *Cleaning* and *Sanitising? 
*
It practices like this that give homebrew a bad reputation


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## Dazza_devil (22/3/10)

I've had a bit of H2S with two brews one with Nottingham at low temps the other W34/70, both were stouts.

The Nottingham stout, initially I noticed that leaving it in the jug for a while lifted the smell out a little. I put the whole batch in the fridge and noticed that the fart was diminishing over time. It's now 8 months old and I can't detect the off smell at all so I would recommend putting it in the fridge and leaving it there for months. Don't write it off.

The W34/70 wasn't as rich with that reminiscent aroma, same, put it in the fridge and it was undetectable within a couple of months, delicious.


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## WSC (22/3/10)

pyrobrewer said:


> Ya think!
> 
> This is far from best practice. What is so hard about *Cleaning* and *Sanitising?
> *
> It practices like this that give homebrew a bad reputation



What I do is rinse with HOT water and then use No rinse sanitsier........didn't word it right. Many others do this, then give the bottles a good clean every second or thrid batch. I have only recently had any issue's with this approach.

It's jumping down people's throat like this that gives AHB a bad reputation............but thanks for the reply and the advice........


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## pyrobrewer (22/3/10)

WSC said:


> What I do is rinse with HOT water and then use No rinse sanitsier........didn't word it right. Many others do this, then give the bottles a good clean every second or thrid batch. I have only recently had any issue's with this approach.
> 
> It's jumping down people's throat like this that gives AHB a bad reputation............but thanks for the reply and the advice........



http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showarticle=117

I am curious why clean after 2 or 3 - Is the first time not dirty enough? How dirty do they need to be? 

Hot water alone is not a substiute for cleaning. 

Sanitiser will not work on a soiled surface.

You cant be a little bit clean, It is or it isnt - nothing personal


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## WSC (22/3/10)

pyrobrewer said:


> http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showarticle=117
> 
> I am curious why clean after 2 or 3 - Is the first time not dirty enough? How dirty do they need to be?
> 
> ...




OK, great, would this lack of cleaning produce Sulphur smells and if so how so, it has never happened with this beer before? and there are no other obvious signs of infection.


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## pyrobrewer (22/3/10)

WSC said:


> OK, great, would this lack of cleaning produce Sulphur smells and if so how so, it has never happened with this beer before? and there are no other obvious signs of infection.



Possibly Yes 
H2s is (hydrogen shulphide) and SO2 (sulphour Dioxide) are naturally produced via 

Amino acid break down
Yeast strain
Fermentation conditions
It is reactive and produces Mercaptains and MBT (the light strike compound)
Bacterial spoilage byPectinatus, Zymomonas
Precursers in malt
insufficent boil
Of course in this case we could have reduced the liklyhood of the bacterial spoilage with correct hygeiene procedures 
When I have a cold I have no visible signs of the bacteria causing the cold but im still infected. 
Up to this point I have never been struck by lightning, ive just been lucky


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## WSC (22/3/10)

OK, so can I rule out the fact that I may not have rinsed out the napisan or a reaction between napisan and morgans no rinse?

With this batch I DID clean and scrub the bottles then sanitise with no rinse.....so we can move on from that I think.


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## .DJ. (22/3/10)

maybe try some new bottles (you can buy them ffrom Big W) AND some old bottles with your next batch...

if the old ones smell and the new ones dont.. the bottles are your problem..

If its not this, then get an experienced brwewer to look at your process, you may be missing something..


Process of elimination really.......


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## Dazza_devil (22/3/10)

The times that I experienced the H2S it became obvious whilst the brew was in the fermenter probably around day 3-5 into fermentation.

I reckon you would of noticed it during fermentation if it's not your bottles.


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## WSC (23/3/10)

Treid another bottle of this last night and it was fine, so either it is limited to a few bottles or it goes away after a while, oh well, might be a bit of a lottery, but at least I know it was not the fermentation or the yeast, must be a bottle thing.


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## SirDrinkalot (6/4/10)

I can understand you wanting to see where you when wrong but it seem like your wanting to try hard to keep the brew instead of tipping it....
I admire that... you must be a die hard brewer to stick by what you made!!!


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## jetfoley (10/4/10)

Trough Lolly said:


> Hi Tim,
> The 'fart' or rotten egg smell you are experiencing is typically the odour given off in the beer by Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) which usually accumulates during lager fermentation. The amount of H2S varies between different lager strains, the composition of the wort and of course, the temp at which you ferment the lager at. It looks like you did have a genuine lager strain (possibly W34/70 if it was quite noticeable H2S after 8 to 10C fermentation). The common answer to your dilemma is time - it will take a long maturation time to remove the H2S to a level that will drop below your sensory threshold.
> It's also possible, I'm afraid, that you'll never get rid of the rotten egg smell. I've done a bit of reading on this issue, and H2S in beer can result in the formation of other sulphur compounds, including mercaptans and 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (which looks nasty, let alone the smell :blink: ) and they have very low sensory thresholds and are extremely difficult to remove from the beer. So, it may pay in future to give the beer a good two weeks in primary, rack to secondary and lift the beer off the yeast cake and get on with scrubbing out the H2S before bottling.
> And finally, two points worth noting, based solely on my own experience - minimising oxygen uptake during racking and bottling does reduce the sulphur levels in the bottle, and if you get into kegging, you'll discover a real benefit in being able to force CO2 into the beer - and the H2S out of it by burping the keg. You might want to do a similar experiment with a couple of your bottles - take the lids off and then re-seal the bottles. You might find that it will help push the H2S out of solution if you carefully pop the bottle and then recap them. Unless you pasteurised the beer, you will have plenty of yeast in the bottles - check the sediment at the bottom of the bottles as proof, and this yeast, even though its small in size, may still be making H2S whilst the beer conditions in the bottle.
> ...



No this is wrong... Its obviously from some1 you dont like opening and farting into all your bottles, then recapping them.


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## mattwest (11/7/10)

"I brewed this beer in the dead of winter using the can yeast which I believe is saflagar."

And there in lies the problem. I tasted a beer like this once and the person who brewed it said it was from out of date lager yeast the HB store was giving away. Who knows how the yeast has been treated.

For a couple of bucks, if brewing a lager, pay for a good pack of yeast.


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## bum (11/7/10)

Fermentis (the makers of the Saflager varieties) have a pretty good name. They make many well regarded dry yeasts. If you're gonna lash out on a better yeast you could do worse than try one of their yeasts.


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## woodwormm (13/7/10)

The first Coopers Bavarian Lager i did had this issue too....

they were great after about 9 months in the bottle though! give em time...


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## Bandito (14/7/10)

I believe this to be the result of yeast growth - overcome by making a starter and pitching the slurry. (from experience). My starters often smell like a fart.

And fermenting at too low a temperature with a lager yeast - raise the ferment temp and it should reduce. Long periods in the bottle should reduce it too (from reading)


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## rendo (14/7/10)

Bandito said:


> I believe this to be the result of yeast growth - overcome by making a starter and pitching the slurry. (from experience). My starters often smell like a fart.
> 
> And fermenting at too low a temperature with a lager yeast - raise the ferment temp and it should reduce. Long periods in the bottle should reduce it too (from reading)




ummmm, guys...i dont think raising the temp for a lager yeast is a good idea. That is the last thing I would ever do with a lager yeast...UNLESS i wanted for off flavours and shitty tastes. The only time you might raise temps is just before cold conditioning for day or two is for a diacetyl rest, if you can detect any.....

lager yeast & raised temps....= yuck

better to let it wait, 2-3 weeks at least and anywhere from 2weeks to 2months cold conditioning....

rendo


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## Bandito (14/7/10)

hupnupnee said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I have a coopers bavarian lagar that tastes and smells very sulphury. I brewed this beer in the dead of winter using the can yeast which I believe is saflagar. It fermented at around 8* to 10* over about 3 weeks. During fermentation it stank the house out. I thought the stink had dissappeared when I bottled but it seems to have continued the sulphur production in the bottle. The bottles are now over two months old.




I was referring to the lower end of the 8 to 10C mentioned


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