I went to transfer an ESB to the keg, removed the airlock and took a whiff from the carboy to discover the aroma of sulphur. I drew a small sample of the beer to taste, but it actually tasted fine. So, I filled the keg up, and put it on a slow carb. I figure I can release gas from the headspace everyday, and see if the sulphur aroma dissipates. Not much else I can do. Anyone else had anything similar happen with WY1469?
Some of the particulars are that I made a 1/2 gallon starter, and fermented between 66-70F, hoping to get the stone-fruit esters.
I am curious – what was your original gravity and what was your approximate pitching rate? Did you oxygenate and, if so, for how long and by what method?
OG is 1.056. 8oz DME in a 1/2 gal starter. I’ve always used a wine degasser for aerating the carboy. Maybe 60 seconds of continuous aeration. It was a fast starting fermentation. I’ve emailed Wyeast to see if this yeast throw sulphur.
I received an email from Wyeast. They say this yeast can throw off sulphur during fermentation if stressed. I bled off the keg this morning and it was pretty ripe. I guess I’ll keep bleeding off the gas for a few days before I give up and dump the beer.
you can also try hooking the gas up to the beer out post (use some lube here so it comes off after) and push the co2 through the beer. keep bleeding it off as you do it and see if that speeds it up at all.
That’s been my experience with sulfur – tends to blow off after a week or two of purging and refilling the headspace of the keg.
Never turns out the best beer, but it is OK after sulfur dissipates.
My suspicion is that most sulfur comes from yeast stress due to over-pitching AND/OR insufficient FAN.
Recent Trial—German Hefe
Pitching rate: 15e6 cells/mL (common is 5–7e6 cells/mL)
Result: Complete loss of banana & huge sulfur production & green-beer diacetyl production.
Reasoning: Older (less healthy) cell population resulted in stressed yeast – coupled with lack of necessary nutrients to support such a large population of yeast (particularly amino-acids which may be lacking in wheat)
Yeah, this is a complete mystery. The Smackpack was about 30 days old. I think I played it by the book, but now I’m going to be reluctant to use that yeast again. I’m not blaming the yeast, it’s more of a head trip now. The aroma is dissipating already as I’m bleeding off the head space twice a day. I may still dump it.
I sure hope you are correct, Jeff. I’m not really expecting a “great” beer at this point though. I know you’ve used this strain before. Any wild speculations as to what likely caused the yeast to be stressed?
I just thought of a very real possibility, I think. I fermented out the starter over 4-5 days, because I was out of town. On my return, I put the starter in the fridge over night to drop the yeast from suspension. When it came time to pitch the yeast, I pulled it directly from the fridge, decanted most of the starter liquid, and pitched it into the 68F wort. Actually now, I pulled the starter from the fridge about an hour before it was time to pitch, not enough time for the ~40F starter to reach the 68F wort temp. Big shock, I think. I should know better.
Personally, I doubt it. You did exactly what I do and it doesn’t cause me any problems. Second, there’s evidence that as long as the starter is cooler than the wort, it may even be beneficial. Obviously I can’t say for certain, but I really doubt that was the problem.
Resurrecting this old thread to confirm that 1469 can throw off modest sulfur.
1469 has been my “go-to” English ale yeast for the past few years and has preformed like a champ. However, I think I rushed this last batch of bitter (OG=1.042) into the keg (barely 7 full days post pitch) and I was also using harvested yeast (so potentially stressed). The sulfur level is minimal and is no where close to many lager strains; it’s drinkable as is but I can get rid of it completely by dipping a piece of copper pipe into my pint glass for a few seconds.
Anyway, glad to have found this thread and for the confirmation from Wyeast that this is a known possibility with this strain.
