Dunkel Sulfur smell, remove airlock?

[KevinAthas]

Hello all,

I brewed an AG Dunkelweizen (first attempt) this weekend, and pitched WL Hefe IV with no starter Sunday night. It's been at approx 63-64 bubbling away nicely, from what I read on the forum I know the yeast are probably strained at that temp and that the sulfur smell isn't necessarily out of the ordinary. My question is once airlock activity slows, should I remove it to allow the sulfur smell to leave the carboy, or should I leave the airlock on?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bluebrew17]

No way dude. let it go with the airlock on. I've brewed light lagers that had that smell too, it definitely wont affect the final beer to leave it airlocked.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

leave it on. the sulphur smell is what we like to call 'rhino farts', totally normal and won't make your beer smell or taste like a rhino's @$$. but please, leave the airlock on unless you're taking a quick gravity reading or ready to move the brew.

 

[hamiltont]

Leave it on as the others have said, Also, after a week has gone by you can ramp the temp up to the upper 60's to low 70's to help the yeast finish. Cheers!!!

 

[KevinAthas]

Thanks everyone! Will do.

 

[Steelers77]

Welcome to Hefe brewing!

 

[Veedo]

brewed a dunkel last saturday, and it smells like ass too! i used 3068, fermenting around 64, things have slowed down so i warmed it up to around 68. we shall see how things turn out.

 

[KevinAthas]

So fermentation is coming to an end, and this still smells like sulfur. Not as bad as it did originally, but still noticeable. I am going to rack to a keg next week, should I leave this in the primary for another week-10 days? Will any of the smell leave the carboy if there's no activity from the yeast?

The other question I have is can I purge the keg a few times once I rack to see if that may help?

I've never had a beer with a smell this noticeable, if you can't tell
Thanks for the help!

 

[Veedo]

i am in the same exact boat. fermentation is complete, but there is still a sulfer smell, no where near as bad during active fermentation, but still there. i was planning to keg this one soon, but i think i will put it on the back burner for a while to see if it ages out. i would hate to keg it and have a stench beer.

 

[KevinAthas]

If this doesn't improve by the end of next week I'm thinking about doing a splashy transfer into a bucket, letting it sit there for a day or two shaking occasionally, and then a splashy transfer into the keg. I know there's risks involved, but who wants a rotten egg Dunkel?

 

[beerman0001]

:

If this doesn't improve by the end of next week I'm thinking about doing a splashy transfer into a bucket, letting it sit there for a day or two shaking occasionally, and then a splashy transfer into the keg. I know there's risks involved, but who wants a rotten egg Dunkel?

not sure how that is going to improve the beer.

 

[KevinAthas]

I'm not either, that's why I'm looming for ideas. I was thinking it would aerate the beer allowing the smell to dissipate.