smelling the gas given off by airlock

Hey guys, I have my vanilla coffee porter in primary. It is bubbling roughly once every 30 seconds at the end of day 3, everything seems to be going well.

My question is, when I put a little bit of pressure on my fermenter to give off gas, the smell isn't really all that great. Really, all I smell is hops.

I remember about a year ago my first batch, I had a similar experience, then after about a week suddenly it started to smell like a pale ale.

My question is, what smell(s) are normal? I don't think this is contaminated or anything, I'm not asking for a diagnostic, more like a "what should it smell like?"

Should I be smelling vanilla or coffee in my vanilla coffee porter?

Fermentation is ugly and smelly even when it's completely normal. Usually the fermenter smells like crap, sometimes even like rhinofarts. You can't judge a beer by smelling the airlock......Walk away and quit sniffing, all it does is make you were about no-existant boogeymen.



You really don't want the "good" smells coming out during fermentation, if they're going out, they won't be around when you want them, when the beer is done.

The vanilla and coffee aromas won't come through till after primary fermentation, no worries man

Some of the best beers I've tasted smelled horrible -- I mean, horrible -- during fermentation. Belgians are the worst, I think. Don't worry about it yet.

White Labs California V isn't a very good smelling fermenting yeast, a bit of sulfur, most German strains have even more of a sulfur smell, yuk

I'm wondering if the person that coined the phrase "rhino fart" has actually smelled a rhino fart?!

But seriously, don't worry about what it smells like during fermentation. Like everyone above said, it can stink! What matters is how it tastes after all is said and done.

Read this about how it's really useless to stress about how a beer smells OR TASTES until AFTER it's been carbed and conditioned. That your beer has a LOOOOOOONG journey to go on before it actually tastes like it should.

thanks guys, I know all new brewers get "the yips," and I guess I'm no exception.

Well, to be fair the OP didn't say "Smells bad therefore I conclude will be bad" but instead asked the legitimate question "what *should* fermenting beer smell like". After all, we know what fermenting cabbage is supposed to smell like (it's supposed to smell bad; but a very specific bad), so it's a reasonable question to ask what fermenting beer smell like. Should I worry if my beer *doesn't* smell like rhino farts?

And I guess the answer is, it varies so much that there is no known answer. (Various yeasts, various ingredients, who knows?) At least I assume that's the answer.

Some of my beers have smelled kind of nice. But some have smelled like fermenting grain in some sort of yeasty bacterial growth

Yeah YIPS are right! Yeast smells are no indication of how it will taste. In my experience, some of my most difficult beers that I totally stressed out about have been the best tasting! Let it do its thing, and then do your thing, and then see how it tastes. Make notes, and adjust it next time. If a batch sucks, redo it. It might cost some more money but hey, hobbies are never cheap.

Good luck!!!!

If you are making the same beer for the second or third time then it should smell similar each time. Usually I look for more quantitative measures though. How fast the specific gravity drops and lag time can tell me if this batch is on par with the last one more effectively than my nose. This is all for the same beers though. A wit can't tell you anything about a porter.

this is all great info- when is the first time you take a gravity reading or taste it? I'm anxious to taste it but only 3-4 days into primary.

I don't taste or take gravity readings for at least 14 days. Sometimes even longer.

I actually like the smell coming out of my airlocks. I don't tend to get a lot of stinky fermentations, though. If that's what rhino farts smell like, bring on the rhinos!

There's no need to take a taste or take a gravity reading until you have reason to believe the fermentation is over after at least a week maybe two. (A gravity reading at this time will tell you nothing; it's lower than original and higher than final-- so what).

And you shouldn't taste because you risk oxidation and/or contamination and again a taste won't tell you anything. However (!!bad advise alert!!) if your fermenter has a spigot... well, you didn't hear it from me. [*whistles and non-challantly walks away*]

Just before I pitch the yeast, I take my OG reading with a thief, and then empty it into a glass and taste it. After enough brews, you get to know if your wort tastes like potential or if you have a "hmmm" batch. I wait to try it again until bubbles have stopped + a day or two. Once fermentation happens you don't really want to keep opening the bucket and exposing it to oxygen so I would rather wait with the lid on, as opposed to check it the 3 straight times and expose it to air.

My Hefe smells like a wet dog on the 4th day. Not even close to pleasant, so you cant tell a book by it's cover or a brew by it's yeast farts. Be paient and wait till at least two weeks has passed befor you even consider opening it to test the gravity. I would wait a minumum of three weeks and observe the air lock. If it is still happilly bubbling, leave it another week or two. No bubbles for a while, let it sit another day or two, then test the gravity, reseal it, wait a couple and see if they are the same reading. Bottle and age it, then taste. Odor is not a predictor of taste as a rule of thumb.

Bob

Guess I am the odd duck here. I take grav readings at 5, 8 and 10 days. These are logged and tastes are noted. If a beer has a slow drop in gravity compared to the last time made then it may be heading for a stalled fermentation. I like to learn more about the process and actively observing it seems to be the best way IMO.

HOWEVER, if you don't have good sanitation or don't feel like it is worth the risk then don't do it. 99% of fermentations go off without a hitch. I take these readings because I want to learn about the black box. They are by no means necessary for making good beer.

Well,since yeasties pee alcohol & fart co2...doesn't that make airlock sniffers fart sniffers? Seroiusly though,I usually waited 2 weeks to take a 1st FG sample. Lately,I've been waiting 2-3 days before the end of the 3rd week to do so. Then again on the day the 3rd week ends. They're usually done & clearing by then. And the smells from begining to end change quite a bit. I think I've had one that even came close to dinosaur farts,& it wasn't even German yeast...

My saison smells pretty funky but I'm choosing to view that as a good thing.

I brew a lot of IPA's and they always smell good while fermenting. I can't really think of any brews I've made that I haven't taken a whiff of the airlock and thought it didn't smell good.

I usually take a gravity reading after about 7-10 days depending on whether the airlock is still bubbling. If I'm dry-hopping, I usually do that after 7 days so I just do a gravity reading at that time and then again when I'm ready to bottle in another 5-7 days to make sure I've reached FG.

I prefer to let mine hit Fg & clear up before dry hopping. Loose less hop oils that way ime.

My belgian Dubbel gas smelled like well...bad gas! Pretty much like sulfur and cow crap. Beer came out great!

the only beers I make that smell great as they ferment are the IPA's!

I guess, now that I think about it, if I'm brewing a Belgian using Belgian yeast, it doesn't smell all that great...

unionrdr said:

I prefer to let mine hit Fg & clear up before dry hopping. Loose less hop oils that way ime.

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Nothing wrong with that. I just threw 7 days out there as a round number because fermentation is usually done by the time you get to 7 days. At least mine are for the most part...

Mine usually take about 2 weeks to finish. then another week to clean up/settle out.