Sulfur taste in hydrometer sample

[shewdawg]

Hello again all....

I recently brewed a Helles following Gordon Strong's recipe from "Modern Homebrew Recipes". When I put this together I followed his recipe in the book, not taking into account that he scales his up to 6.5 gallons and I make a 5 gallon recipe. Long story short this batch came out a little high in the ABV for the style at 6.0%. For this batch I made a 2L starter with WLP833 (German Bock Lager) and dumped the whole thing into the fermenter once I hit the pitching temp. I held it at 55 deg F for about 10 days then warmed it to 62 over a four day period for a d-rest. When I would walk by the fermenter there was a strong sulfur odor and when I transferred this Sunday into the secondary the hydrometer sample had a strong sulfur taste. My wife called it sour but smelling the sample it definitely smelled like sulfur to me. I've made a Kolsh before and had a similar but less pronounced experience and was just wondering what others have experienced in the past? I'm planning on keeping it in the secondary at around 35 deg F for about a month before bottling.

Any one experience the same thing or advice on if I should leave it in the secondary longer? One other interesting note is that the yeast seemed to really stay in suspension in the primary and didn't know if that played a part in what I'm seeing or not.

thanks,

[RayF]

A long cold lagering will help eliminate most of the odor or perhaps all of the odor. Most Lager yeasts if not all, produce the sulfur smell.

[BigPapaG]

In my experience, I don't think it's done fermenting... Once in secondary, I would give it another week or so at 62°F or so before commiting it to the cold lagering. Keeping the yeast active longer will go a long way to cleaning up any off flavors, including some of the sulfur.

Then, as Ray mentioned, many lager yeast strains throw off some sulfur and a good cold lagering period will finish the job nicely!

I generally ferment my ales for 14-21 days even though the hydrometer is stable at FG because in my experience, it results in better tasting ales.

Lagers ferment slower, so I generally go longer, usually 21-28 days...

It's just how I roll...

That's not to say that some beer with some yeast aren't done sooner, they certainly can be. I just think the extra cleanup time works for me.

Your beer, your process, YMMV...

Cheers!

[Kealia]

I'd also recommend dropping the temp slowly when you do get back to the lagering. Large temp swings can cause the yeast to excrete some of the compounds they have absorbed.

I'm sure some more time will allow it to clean up more.

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[BigPapaG]

I'd also recommend dropping the temp slowly when you do get back to the lagering. Large temp swings can cause the yeast to excrete some of the compounds they have absorbed.

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Excellent point!

[shewdawg]

Thanks for the pointers. I did not throw it right into the keezer yet so it sounds like I should give it another week, then go into the long cold lagering phase. Appreciate the tips!

[shewdawg]

I'd also recommend dropping the temp slowly when you do get back to the lagering. Large temp swings can cause the yeast to excrete some of the compounds they have absorbed.

I'm sure some more time will allow it to clean up more.

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I read this somewhere... or heard it on one of the podcasts about the yeast and not dropping the temps too fast in secondary. I did this with my Vienna lager and it seemed to work out well and the beer turned out to be a clean lager.

[braukasper]

Remember that most lager yeast do throw sulfur compounds. That is one of the reasons I secondary my lagers. To this day I am amazed on how much junk settles out in secondary.