Brewed my second AG last night, an Oktoberfest, using a cropped/cleaned Kolsch yeast(I pitched the whole starter, it was only a third of a growler). I’ve been fermenting at 58F, its krausening and bubbling like it should, but upon checking today I noticed there’s an extremely harsh smell coming from it when I put my nose to the top, like nail polish remover or ether. Like a fumes-burning type of thing. Anyone know what this could be? Is it a problem? Thanks.
I’m actually just brewed a Koelsch, and stuck my head in the fermentation freezer a little too far. Definitely some harsh solvent smells. Beer tasted fine going into secondary. My thinking is anything coming out of the airlock is something not in your beer anymore, so it’s good the harsh smells are coming out.
If the fermentation is going on in a closed space and you then stick your nose in it you get…CO2 burn. Did that…ONCE. I have also noticed that Kölsch/German Ale don’t particularly smell nice while doing their thing… Not like an IPA with 1056… Always comes out OK though…RDWHAHB.
+1
Yeah, the important part is the end result… if you like what comes out of the bottle or keg, it doesn’t matter what the smell is during initial fermentation. I’ve had some awesome beers come out of a weird smelling fermentation.
Interesting, that might be it then. I have it in a chest freezer. I’ll take a sample in couple weeks and see how it is. I mean its really extreme, like it burns your nose and eyes if you put them up longer than a second. Is having the primary fermenter in an enclosed space like that a bad thing?
Nope, just don’t put your head in there.
Shouldn’t be a problem, fermentation always has wierd smells for me at least. Just give it time to ferment and it should be great!
This reminds me of a time in Lynchburg, Tenn when I almost passed out and fell off the catwalk into a giant vat of fermenting Jack Daniels mash after leaning over and taking a sniff. CO2 is powerful stuff. The tour guide was amused, but now that I think of it, he shouldn’t have been.
Falling into a giant vat of whiskey mash would’ve been an awesome story, if you lived to tell about it.
Reminds me of that old joke…
Old man Murphy had worked down at the brewery for years, but one day , he just wasn’t paying attention and he tripped on the walkway and fell over into the beer whiskey vat and drowned.
The foreman thought it should be his job to inform the widow Murphy of her old man’s death. He showed up at the front door and rang the bell. When she came to the door, he said, “I’m sorry to tell you, but poor old Murphy passed away at work today when he fell into the vat and drowned.”
She wept and covered her face with her apron and after a time, between sobs, she asked, “Tell me, did he suffer?”
“I don’t think so,” said the foreman: "He got out three times to go to the men’s room.
Put a smile on my face
One of my favorites from when I was a kid…the Smothers Brothers’ “Chocolate”…
Oh I think I’ve found my new favorite forum…