Sulphur Smell....help!

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pbrandonvirg

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I have just put down a Bavarian Lager with 1kg of strawberries in syrup(boiled this for 15 mins)+ 1kg dextrose. It is now day 2 and it smells pretty rancid. I was wondering if this batch is a lost cause, or should I see it all the way through.Any insights would be great.

Cheers
 
what yeast? (kit yeats?)

dont throw it (after most of the hard work) it might be ok. many a good brew has been tipped out when they would have been ok to drink

then again it might be screwed
you boiled for 15min so there shouldn't be any bugs in there.

I say if you can wait and see, then let us know the taste at end of fermentation (remembering its young, flat and warm)
 
I've had a few yeast give off a sulphur smell, though I've never done a lager from the post on this forum it appears that lager yeasts can produce a sulphur odour, at day 2 you have nothing to worry about, the sulphur smell should fade. What yeast and at what temp are you fermenting.

Finished installing Visual Basic, better stop procastinating and have a look at the brew timer :)
 
It is a Coopers Bavarian Lager and it is currently sitting at 26 degrees. Not sure what yeast it is....came with the can............
 
pbrandonvirg

I used to use Saflager and never had a bad smell but I have starting using WhiteLabs liquid yeasts and my first lager smelt DISGUSTING for the first week. Overpowering sulfur smell which goes away after a couple of weeks.
Hard to explain how bad it smelt but it is one of the nicest beers I have made so don't stress. Keep going and see how it goes. Taste it when you rack it or bottle it and see what it's like.
RDWHAHB

Hoops
 
Hmmm 26 is pretty warm.
If it's an ale yeast it's probably best to ferment around 20. A proper lager yeast should be fermented around 10-12.
 
they really should change the kit instructions. eg for best results ferment at...
all the newbies get fooled by the kit instructions. when i first started i did.
 
Thx for the replies guys.... about the temp being at 26 degrees- can't be helped, that's how warm it is in my laundry unfortunatley, and HOOPS- yes it smells absolutely disgusting- rotten egg X 10, pretty bad, but I will persevere as you suggested, and hope that time fixes these issues.

Cheers
 
mate, get some ice or frozen bottles on that brew pronto.try to maintain 18 C at the most.

It will be tasting like fruit puch otherwise....

cheers
 
cool the fermenter down asap or you will get waaaaayy to many esters being produced, turning your lager into a pseudo ale.


i have brewed with a true lager yeast and the smell was absolutely filthy during the first week of fermentation. i once heard Paul Holgate of Holgate breweries say that lager yeasts do that and you cant do anything about it and the sulphur is "better out than in"


i gave the beer a warn rest before bottling to get rid of most of the sulphur and it seemed to work quite well.



juat wait and see, your beer will most likely turn out just fine.
 
I did a coopers bavarian lager a few weeks ago. Fermented it at 21degC because it seemed to stop at anything lower. I had no strange smells or anything, although when it was finished it was a bit dry tasting. But this is probably only because it hasnt had time to mature.

lager yeast can produce some bloody strange smells ,and perhaps at 26deg this even worse. try dropping the temp a bit to 20-21, i think this seems to be the best temp for the coopers "lager" yeast.
 
pbrandonvirg said:
Thx for the replies guys.... about the temp being at 26 degrees- can't be helped, that's how warm it is in my laundry unfortunatley...
Mate, your brew temp is too high - get it down, preferably under 18C if you can manage it. There will be a significant quantity of esters in this batch, but that cannot be reversed now - but you will end up with a brew that is not a Bavarian Lager as such. It will be drinkable in time, but you are far better off trying to bring down the fermentation temp before its too late.

If possible, rack the beer out of the primary fermenter, when its finished bubbling etc, and transfer it to a cleaned/sterilised secondary fermenter with an airlock. Then put it in a fridge and keep it at around 8C or less for at least 2 to 3 weeks to allow the beer to lager in the fridge. That may help improve the overall characteristics of the beer. You can even toss in some hops into the secondary fermenter for aroma and flavouring if you want to.

Cheers,
TL
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys...looks like my temp is too high....unforunately there is nothiing I can do to get it down.......what I might do is bottle it and store them in my cooler and see how that goes....next time I might try a NON-lager/ strawberry batch. I suppose it is the only way I have learnt........ the hard way.


Total brews to date:13
Number of failures: 2
Strike rate: 85%



Cheers
 
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