Some sulfur aroma in finished wheat beer

[marubozo]

Ok, here's one. So I brewed an American wheat back in early May, but here it is almost two months later and it's giving a detectable sulfur aroma, although it tastes very good. Problem is, the aroma does kind of get in the way of enjoying the beer because it does hit you every time you put the glass up to your mouth.

The recipe was simple. 6.5lb wheat, 4.5 pale, 0.25 honey malt. An ounce of hallertauer at 60, 0.5 oz Saaz at 15 and 0.5 at flameout. OG 1.052, FG 1.010. Used Wyeast 1010 and fermented at about 63 degrees for 20 days before kegging where it's been for nearly 4 weeks now.

So, WTF? Why the sulfur aroma? I mean, it isn't so objectionable you don't want to drink it, but you can tell it isn't right. My wife had a sample and said it's one of the best beers I've brewed, but she also has some allergies right now so I can't trust her opinion fully. So, any ideas? Ferment on the cool side or something? Can't really think of anything else I could have done wrong.

I'm going to just let it sit for a few more weeks and see if it changes, but I'm still curious to know what may have caused that, or if that's a common characteristic for this style or yeast strain or something I wasn't aware of.

 

[passedpawn]

A brewpub near me made a batch of wheat beer that came out rediculously sulfury.

It went away after a month.

 

[944play]

You can likely accelerate the process by purging the headspace a few times or even bubbling some CO2 through the beer.

I believe sulfur is more apparent at lower ferment temps. Either it gets produced more or scrubbed away less.

Personally, I like a hint of sulfur in a Bavarian weizen, more in a witbier, but none in American wheat.

 

[marubozo]

Hey, thanks. I'll try purging the headspace as that seems like an easy task that may help. Like you said, I wouldn't mind a hint of it in another wheat style so much, but the whole point of this recipe was to get something dry, crisp, and refreshing, hopefully like North Coast's Blue Star wheat. The aroma is just enough to distract you and think twice about what you're tasting.