That Rotten Egg/sulphur Smell In Lagers

[Interloper]

I'm sure everyone knows that rotten egg sulphur smell of a fermenting lager but for the first time I have that smell in my bottled brew.

I did a Thomas Cooper Pilsner with 1kg BE2 and 500gms LDME and the supplied kit yeast.

Let it ferment for 17 days in primary and could really smell that rotten egg pong.

Racked for 7 days and left in bottles for three weeks.

I cracked one on the weekend and it was crystal clear, great mouth feel but a big waft of that sulphur pong remains in the beer.

I've never had that before in a lager. I can't remember having this from the Thomas Cooper Pilsner, although it's been a while since I've done one.

Any experts know if the smell will fade with time in the bottles or am I stuck with stinky egg lager beers?

 

[bolwell]

Eat curried egg sandwiches when you have one of these beers. Lateral thinking.

 

[lokpikn]

Try opening a bottle and pour in in a jug and let it sit for a few minuets and see if it fades. I have not had it before but i think i read somewhere about it.

I thought a diacetyl rest would help relive this but im sure some will verify if im wrong. I thougt it was a by product of fermenting yeast and it should ferment out.

 

[wyatt_girth]

My last few have been lagers (and two were actually this same kit). Mine have had this smell in the first one or two 'taste test' bottles but disappears, or at least lessens, by the time I crack them - after maybe 6 weeks or so.

 

[Hutch]

Hi Interloper,
What temp did you ferment at?
This sulphur smell is a normal by-product of lager-yeast fermentation, and is a result of cold fermentation temperatures (the yeast struggles, and gets a lot of gas ).

A diacetyl rest will not help with this (as it's not diacetyl). It is usually cleaned up by the yeast during secondary fermentation/lagering, and typically takes a while, depending on yeast strain, and how much was there in the first place. Some lager yeast strains seem to make a lot of it, while others none at all.

It is best to allow your lagers to remain in a secondary fermenter, under cold (refrigerated) conditions to lager for an extended period of time. This will allow the remaining yeast to clean up after itself, and the yeast to settle-out. It is usually recommended to lager for several months, though not too many people have this sort of patience. When it comes time to bottle, you can stir in a very small amount of yeast to allow for bottle carbonation, as most of the yeast will have settled-out during lagering.

I'm not sure how effective lagering in the bottle is, though certainly kit beers will continue to mature in the bottle for several months.
I would think your sulphur smell will dissipate over the course or several weeks, so don't despair.

 

[JWB]

B)

Racking after 17 days seems a bit late to me. I do it the other way around ( and im not talking bedroom sport either )

Using lager yeast
I rack after 7 days and the leave for up to 3 weeks and I always bring the temp up to 18C for the last two days before bottling or kegging just to make sure that all fermenting has finished.
The first few lagers I brewed suffered greatly from Diatecyl but using the above method it isnt a problem anymore.

It works for me

Cheers

JWB

 

[Interloper]

Thanks all for the responses.

It was a reasonably cold ferment, 16-19 degrees for the majority. Never above 20 - hence the fact it spent a long time in primary as I waited for SG to stabilse before racking.

I guess I'll file these bottles away for another month and hope it improves. Great clarity and mouth feel, just the slightest hint of sulphur/eggy pong!

Interestingly I gave my LHBS guy every opportunity to upsell me on the yeast but he insisted the Thomas Cooper Pilsner yeast was en excellent 'true lager' yeast that would ferment as low as 14 degrees.

 

[Hutch]

It was a reasonably cold ferment, 16-19 degrees for the majority.

Interestingly I gave my LHBS guy every opportunity to upsell me on the yeast but he insisted the Thomas Cooper Pilsner yeast was en excellent 'true lager' yeast that would ferment as low as 14 degrees.

A true lager yeast will ferment down to 6-7 degrees, and 14 degrees is at the upper end for most lager strains.

16-19 degrees is ale temperature range, and should not really give you any sulpur from a lager yeast.
I would suspect you'd get more fruity character at these temps.

An important factor to note is that whatever temperature you ferment at, you should try to maintain a constant temp. Large temp variation is going to stress the yeast, and it will most likely stop fermenting early, and not attenuate properly. This is where fridges are invaluable for lager/pilsner fermentation, where a constant temp can be maintained for several weeks, so the yeast can do its job properly.

 

[Interloper]

I would suspect you'd get more fruity character at these temps.

Interesting that you say that as my previous Coopers European lager done with a saflager yeast at 18degrees was very fruity almost cidery when young.

Couple of months in the bottle and it has dried out a lot.

I expect the sulphur smell when fermenting but I was very surprised by the sulphur smell in the bottle.

 

[sumo]

Lagering is subjective to say the least when you discuss with 100 different people, or google it!

And for my 10 cents worth... I primary for 2 weeks @ 12C (3 - 4 weeks if i'm lazy or have no spare secondaries), secondary 4 weeks @ 4C then prime and bottle for three months (to get the carbonation). The test and smell between bottling and the three month mark can change a lot, I thought I lost my first couple of brews becuase of smell and taste, however they just needed a little longer.

Lagering can be done within 6 - 8 weeks, however when I did it I got a green tasting beer, which smelled like egg farts. As I can wait for my brews to age now (as I have a few.....) I seem to get better quality between 3 - 12 months in the bottle.