My brew smells very gassy help?

[BigBrewWill]

Hi there,
My brew as been fermenting for a bout 6 days now, All looking good the yeast head was a little thin about 2cm but the bubbles kept on coming. Anyway my problem the brew is that it has a very gassy smell not like rotten eggs, The hydrometer says that the beer is at 1010 which is what it should be. Also the head on the yeast has gone, I guess that the yeast is a doing all the work at the bottom. Or I can still see some bubbles now and then. Its the smell am not sure about, Can anyone help?

[Graham]

Hi there,
My brew as been fermenting for a bout 6 days now, All looking good the yeast head was a little thin about 2cm but the bubbles kept on coming. Anyway my problem the brew is that it has a very gassy smell not like rotten eggs, The hydrometer says that the beer is at 1010 which is what it should be. Also the head on the yeast has gone, I guess that the yeast is a doing all the work at the bottom. Or I can still see some bubbles now and then. Its the smell am not sure about, Can anyone help?

I assume you meant not unlike rotten eggs.
Hydrogen sulphiide is produced by the yeast under certain conditions.

Overenthusiastic use of the magic campden tablet will produce a surplus of sulphite which the yeast will convert into hydrogen sulphide. If you have any copper in your system, preferably in the boiler, then the copper will catalyse this and the yeast cannot convert it to hydrogen sulphide. If you are using a campden tablet to dechlorinate your water, and you do not have any copper in your system, then use the bare minimum necessary to do the job. More is certainly not better in this case. If you do have some copper in your system, then a surplus of sulphite is beneficial because it protects against oxidation.

Excessive gypsum will also cause this, in this case sulphate is being converted by the yeast into the so-called Burton Stench. Some yeasts are better than others at converting sulphate into hydrogen sulphide. Some yeasts can't do it, some yeasts always will.

Some wild yeasts will produce hydrogen sulphide, with or without the campden tablet, as will some infections. Brewers yeast under stress will also produce the same stench, which they seem capable of conjuring up from nowhere.

The good news is that if it is yeast generated, it will probably diminish with time.

The only time that I have experienced this was due to overenthusiastic use of a certain yeast nutrient. It did not diminish with time. I have never used a yeast nutrient since.

Take your pick.

Over to you in the studio.

[BigBrewWill]

Thnks for that.
I do have some copper in my mash tun and my wort cooler.
I did mean not like eggs.
the smeell is like a gassy gas not a egg gass. Im realy sorry i can't explain my self, but im not sure what the smell is.
Aga

[BigBrewWill]

Thnks for that.
I do have some copper in my mash tun and my wort cooler.
I did mean not like eggs.
the smeell is like a gassy gas not a egg gass. Im realy sorry i can't explain my self, but im not sure what the smell is.
Again thanks for the help..

[Graham]

Thnks for that.
I do have some copper in my mash tun and my wort cooler.
I did mean not like eggs.
the smeell is like a gassy gas not a egg gass. Im realy sorry i can't explain my self, but im not sure what the smell is.
Again thanks for the help..

Whoops! Sorry about that, I grabbed the wrong end of the stick as usual. It is probably nothing to worry about then, if it is not particularly offensive. It might be perfectly normal. Most of these things go away by themselves after a while anyway. Too soon yet to worry about it. Taste will tell.

[boingy]

Some of the smells generated during fermentation are a complete mystery to everyone so don't worry about it. The beer will be fine!

[BigBrewWill]

Thanks guys.
Its been 7 days now so its time to move to the king keg, I'm going to test taste today aswell before i leave for a week rest.
Or would you leave untill the gass has gone or just go for it.

Again thanks for your help...

[6470zzy]

I would most definitely not move the brew just because you have passed the 7 day mark. Have you taken gravity readings? That is the only trustworthy way to tell if it is time to rack the brew from your FV.. If you haven't taken any gravity readings then just go ahead and let it sit at least another week or so before you keg it.

Cheers

[BigBrewWill]

I have taken reading, the brew is at its right level 1.010 or 1010 the brew started at 1.040 or 1040, I might give the brew another day,

[BigBrewWill]

HI all fine the smell has gone after 9 days, I have just moved it my kingkeg, had aquick test nice ..
thanks for all your help.

[BigBrewWill]

Hi All

I'm back with this gassy smell, I have been doing kits and i don't have this problem,

I have just put the beer in my king keg, the smell is very off putting, It's a gassy co2 ish smell I think, If i pull a pint the smell stays with the beer, I have 2 weeks to go on secondary should I wait and see, or is it going in the sink.

I don't take ph measure or gravity reading, so the information i have is just the smell and taste ,

Fermentation was slow but when it got going, it got going.

The beer tasted nice with just a very little gassy smell when i added to the king keg, Could it be just co2 flavoring the beer.

please help

Adam

[NOZ]

Does the smell go if you leave the

[NOZ]

Sorry, does the smell disappear if you leave a glass of the beer in the warm for an hour?

[orlando]

It could be that it is CO2, which has an unpleasant smell. GW advocates unscrewing the cap when storing in a pressure barrel to expel the air but it will also expel some of the CO2 so worth trying. You don't say much about your brewing in the last 2.5 years but do mention kits, is this only a problem with an AG brew or all of the stuff you brew.

I wouldn't bin this yet, in my experience beer can change quite a bit over time and not always in the same direction they can get worse as well as, more usually, better. Give it time, package it and see how it turns out.

[Matt12398]

It's difficult to know exactly what you mean because gassy could mean a lot of different things to different people. Are we talking the smell when you lift the lid on a fermenter when it's in full ferment or are we talking something a little different? Is it more like what you smell when you haven't lit a gas hob?