I was told today that when I boil hops, the smell goes down the stairs and into the office directly beneath my kitchen. The door into the office has a gap under it of approximately half an inch or so. They tell me they can smell whatever it is I’m cooking, as well. They tell me the smell of boiling hops is not too pleasant. I have never considered such a thing. I don’t think I’ve ever thought boiling hops was smelly. So, do hops have an unpleasant odor when being boiled in an open-top kettle? Can anybody offer a comparison with what they smell? I’m totally in the dark, here…
This is not a facetious answer. Are the family members familiar with the smell of cooking cabbage, eggs, liver & onions, fish sauce, greens, pickling brine, curry, or other strong smelling foods? Do the complainants enjoy craft beer?
To be fair a fair amount of yucky compounds boil off during wort boiling.
Only help I can offer is putting a fan in the window and shutting off the kitchen if the hood isn’t doing the trick.
Far as I know, there is nothing illegal about cooking in your kitchen. Shrug them off.
I enjoy the smell of brewing but I could see how some people might not enjoy those aromas.
It is possible that the aromas from brewing and cooking make their way down the stairs and under the door. It’s also possible that the exhaust from your hood on the roof is too close to an air intake for their office temperature control. If there is an airflow issue internally or externally, that’s not anything you can control and it’s unfair to expect you not to use your kitchen.
That has to be about what they are bravo-itching. Depending upon the weather, I can open the sliding door to my balcony and place a fan on the track to push out any odors. Ain’t too much more I can do…
If they enjoy beer, offer up a few HB’s as a peace offering. I must admit I have never noticed anything that bad, but to me, I am usually enjoying a few so the smell might be going away. LOL.
What smells bad is in the nose of the “be”-snifter. I would just tell them “Thanks for letting me know Karen.” and keep on brewing.
Paul
Yeah, my wife hates the smell of boiling wort (hops in particular), so this is an ongoing issue in my house. It’s a real thing and there’s not a lot you can do about it.
There are far stronger/worse smells you could be producing. Do what you can to mitigate the situation (within reason) and don’t overtly be an asshole, but in the end they chose to lease office space under occupied housing. They should understand the repercussions of that choice.
I agree that all you need to do is try to be a good neighbor, assuming they brought it up politely, and try to see if there is a solution that isn’t a hardship on you: a fan in a window, a towel at the bottom of a door. If nothing easy works just say you tried but you need to use your kitchen.
While the smell of boiling wort is pleasant to me, it is a pretty pronounced one.