3638 And Sulphur

[Dazza_devil]

My Hefe Weissbier has just starting throwing off massive amounts of rotten egg gas.
I made up a 2.5 litre starter and pitched it into my 1.044 wort at 18 degrees C. The starter smelled very nice and I fed it with around 1 litre of the batch wort which was beginning to ferment while my wort was heating up to pitching temp.
Fermentation was a little slow to begin, 12 hours after pitching I noticed about 5mm of krausen forming. Another 4 hours later there was about 5 inches of krausen and a wonderful aroma coming from the fermentation fridge. It was a cold day yesterday and the heatpad in my fermentation fridge was used to heat my wort from 17.7 to 18.1 degrees in the afternoon.
Late last night the ferment began to put off heat so I opened the fridge door to cool her from 18.4 to 18 degrees C a couple of times. I also had to install a blow-off tube because the krausen was still rising, close to the airlock. Around 1 am I thought I detected a small hint of sulphur and upon awakening at around 7am this morning the rotten eggs smell nealy knocked me over when I opened the fridge door. The krausen appears to have filled the headspace but remaining constant.
I doubt the yeast was stressed, 6 inches of krausen and wonderful aroma 28 hours after pitching may suggest otherwise, unless opening the fridge door exposed the krausen to too much cold.
Hopefully it will clear but still, my Dunkleweissen didn't throw sulphur with this yeast and it was delicious. Both the samples I kept from the smack-pack's 1 litre starter have behaved in this manner. First one with the Weizenbock and now with my Hefe, the weizenbock didn't have a huge healthy krausen like this one did before it threw the sulphur though.
Anyway, it's got me buggered.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Would there be a particular reason why the sulphur smell coincided with the absolute height of fermentation and when fermentation began to put off heat?

 

[Fourstar]

Would there be a particular reason why the sulphur smell coincided with the absolute height of fermentation and when fermentation began to put off heat?

thats when mine did as per the 3068 thread you where following. :icon_cheers:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=47563

 

[Dazza_devil]

thats when mine did as per the 3068 thread you where following. :icon_cheers:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=47563

Yeah, that thread came to mind straight away. Did you draw any definite conclusions?
I really wish I had of got a fresh pack of 3638 now. I put a lot of time, thought and bills into this brew. The starter smelled delicious and I thought I was onto a good thing, alas.
It'll no doubt be drinkable but probably not the beer I was hoping for.
How's your weizen going down?

 

[Fourstar]

Yeah, that thread came to mind straight away. Did you draw any definite conclusions?

Yeast health is my conclusion. the top crop i took from the stinky batch into my dunkel (the purest, healthiest and msot active yeast) didnt throw any bas esters.

Either way the first beer came out well with the dunkel smelling/tasting great and due to be kegged within the next day or so.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Yeast health is my conclusion. the top crop i took from the stinky batch into my dunkel (the purest, healthiest and msot active yeast) didnt throw any bas esters.

Either way the first beer came out well with the dunkel smelling/tasting great and due to be kegged within the next day or so.

I don't get it.
How can the yeast suddenly be unhealthy when it's at the height of fermentation? The starter smelled delicious at every step of the way, as did the beer that I decanted off it.
Why would it only be apparent that the yeast was unhealthy when it's at absolute high-krausen in the main batch?

 

[hockadays]

How and what steps did you build your starter up from?

 

[Dazza_devil]

Smack pack was built up to 1 litre then to 3 litres, fermented out.
I stirred her all up and took 3 X 330 ml samples of the starter, using the rest to ferment a dunkleweissen after chill, decant and feeding again.
The 3 stubbies full of starter beer settled out leaving around 1 cm of slurry in the bottom of each.
This last batch I took one of the 330 ml stubbies out of my beer fridge where it had been for about 8 months.
I fed it 250 ml of 1.040 wort, fermented it out then fed it another 2.5 litres of 1.040.
After this was fermented out I cold-crashed it for around 3 days.
I then let it warm up to about 17 degrees C before decanting and adding around 1 litre of my hefe batch wort.
This was starting to show signs of fermentation by the time my main batch had heated from 16.7 degrees to 18.
I then pitched the yeast.
12 hours later there was about 5mm of krausen.
Another 4 hours later, 5 inches of krausen and smelling delicious, the krausen still rising.
That night she was starting to put off heat, I opened the fridge door a couple of times to cool her back from 18.4 to 18 degrees, still smelling divine.
I installed a blow-off tube and went to bed.
The next morning the rotten eggs knocked me over when I opened the fermentation fridge door, 6 inches of krausen and constant.

 

[Fourstar]

I don't get it.
How can the yeast suddenly be unhealthy when it's at the height of fermentation? The starter smelled delicious at every step of the way, as did the beer that I decanted off it.
Why would it only be apparent that the yeast was unhealthy when it's at absolute high-krausen in the main batch?

because thats when the yeast is most active and has already hit its height of ester production. its down hill after that.

 

[Nick JD]

I think Weihenstephan might be German for "Who cut the cheese?" :lol: 34/70 smells like Hell's Kitchen too.

My take on it is vigorous fermentation with these hefe yeasts produces sulphur compounds. If you want to limit sulphur, limit yeast vigor. I'm not saying to be mean to the yeast, just stop it from turning into the blob and climbing out the bunghole.

Very rarely does it continue into the finished product, although I did have one that was a bit whiffy drunken before 2 weeks in the bottle. Dropping the yeast right out helps heaps - Kristalls clean up nicely.

 

[marksy]

Yeah dude, she`ll be good. My lager yeast I have atm does that. It smells nice when its fermenting but after a few days some rotten egg smells is present. Mines still there after 7days in fermentor. The taste isnt but.