Problems With Sulpher Smell In Ales

[merlinthehapypig]

I've produced a few brews using coopers kits and i've been having a problem with a sulpher odour from the fermenter.

This has happened on two coopers draughts and one coopers pale ale. Using the kit yeasts. All three brews fermented fine in about 4 days at around 14-16degC and a day or two after the bubbling stopped they had started to produce a sulpher smell which i've noticed when taking hydrometer readings. I've since kegged the brews and let them sit for a few days at room temperature.

I was hoping the smell would dissipate but i took a sample from one of the kegs and still the same bad egg small.

I'm suspecting it's something to do with the yeast because i've had other non-coopers brews which are unaffected. I'm wondering if this smell will go away once i chill and gas the kegs up or if I should leave it for a bit longer. It hasn't seemed to effect the taste but the smell is very off-putting.

I also wondered if it might be a problem with the yeast since what I presumed was an ale yeast in the draught and pale ale kit was fermenting quite fast at such a low temperature.

So has anyone else had this issue? I have a couple of non-coopers kits down at the moment and also a coopers dark ale so I'll wait and see if these brews develop the same problems. I might also try another coopers draught but use a safale yeast or something.

 

[Paxton]

What are you using for Sanitation? And what is your Sanitation ritual?

We'll start there before we talk about Infections.

 

[matti]

Since it was a kit yeast it is hard to tell which yeast it was.
Assuming it is an ale yeast and you brewed it at 14-16 degrees, one must assume that this particular strain produces sulphurs at this temperature. The ruh beer would have benefited from raising the temperature during the actual fermetation period to release some of this sulphurs.

It is normal occurence with lager yeast and not so common with ale but there are some hybrid yeast strains that tend to produce sulpur.

If you had been bottling; the yeast would be able to absorb som of this during and after carbonation period.

Since you are kegging I am not sure if it will disappear with time.

Maybe the Cooper guys put the wrong type of yeast in the can?
Hence it fermented so darn quick at those temperatures.

who know :huh:

 

[merlinthehapypig]

well i was suprised how much it was liking the low temps but since it was bubbling heaps i just let it go.

Infection has sprung to mind but i've brewed many times with the same sanitisation ritual and the same equipment without any problems in the past.

For the record though... I've been using sodium met and generally soak everything in it for about an hour before using it. This includes the fermenter and anything that will touch the wort after the boil. I'm careful not to touch anything with my hands that will touch the wort.

After reading some of the info on the forum I am thinking that perhaps my sanitisation is insufficient. I've heard that sodium met isn't a good sanitiser, and i've also been told I should be boiling my water. but I stress that using water straight from the tap has never caused me noticable problems in the past and neither has sanitising with sodium met.

This also happened in brews in different fermenters, the only common factor would be the pot that I use to boil the wort in and the stirring paddle. And of course the fact that it's only with coopers kits so far.