My beer smells like trub?

[bigskygreg]

Just opened my first bottle of a Surly bender clone. It has a smell like trub. It's kinda a yeasty, hop gunk kinda smell. It tastes quite good with no discernible off flavors.

This was my first time not using a secondary vessel. It was in primary for 3 weeks, bottled for 3 weeks. I used WLP007.

Any ideas? This certainly isn't a wanted aroma.

Thanks!

 

[k_mcarthur]

I'm not sure what you mean by "smells like trub". Trub is a part of the beer, we just separate it from what we drink. Not using a secondary wouldn't cause that, but if you moved it and then racked to bottling bucket right away you roused anything that settled. Either crash cool to make yeast cake as solid as possible or move fermenter in position to rack then let it sit overnight. Also I've noticed bottles with what seems to be clear beer from my keg will have some yeast settling in the bottom after a few weeks in the fridge. You could try leaving in fridge longer and see if its better. Just some ideas.

 

[bigskygreg]

I'm not sure what you mean by "smells like trub". Trub is a part of the beer, we just separate it from what we drink. Not using a secondary wouldn't cause that, but if you moved it and then racked to bottling bucket right away you roused anything that settled. Either crash cool to make yeast cake as solid as possible or move fermenter in position to rack then let it sit overnight. Also I've noticed bottles with what seems to be clear beer from my keg will have some yeast settling in the bottom after a few weeks in the fridge. You could try leaving in fridge longer and see if its better. Just some ideas.

Thanks for the quick feedback! Hopefully you're right and the smell will fade with longer refrigeration. As far as "smells like trub" goes: It smells (less pungent) like the yeast cake and gunk left over in my carboy after racking. Again the taste is fine, just a somewhat unpleasant aroma. I am still pretty new, but my previous 10 batches or so have not had this aroma after bottling.

 

[Chupidacabra]

I agree with above post. Your trub should smell pretty similar to your beer regardless.

Where you from? Noticed your big sky name. I'm in billings.

 

[bigskygreg]

I agree with above post. Your trub should smell pretty similar to your beer regardless. Where you from? Noticed your big sky name. I'm in billings.

I live in WI, but used to live in Missoula.

My trub always has a much stronger Oder than my beer. Very yeasty. If someone held a glass of trub under my nose while blindfolded, I definitely wouldn't drink it. My beers have turned out well, so I don't think I'm doing anything wrong?

It's just this one beer that has this aroma. It's my first batch with WLP007, so maybe it's the strain. I actually have another batch fermenting with WLP007 right now, but it's only been there for 4 days. It will be interesting to see if this other batch has the same odor?

Thanks

 

[Chupidacabra]

Ah, well let us know what you find out.

 

[Yooper]

I pick up that aroma in many beers, if they spend more than about 2 weeks in primary. That's why I prefer a shorter primary, although I've gone longer when I had other things going on.

Leaving in the beer in primary for a longer time is a matter of personal preference- some like the subtle yeast characteristics provided by spending more time on the trub, while others (like me) do not.

I was listening to a Basic Brewing Radio podcast about a year or so ago where they had done an experiment. Three beers, same recipe, but with one with a traditional primary/secondary, one a long primary, and one a short primary only (I think). All of the beers were a bit different. There were preferences among them, as well- and all of them had their proponents (without knowing which was which). It was about evenly divided on which was preferable.

It'd be an interesting experiment for people who have a preference for a long primary (or a short one). Make the same beer, and divide it. Then, pitching the same amount of yeast at the same temperature in each, to keep one in primary 7-10 days and one 3-4 weeks and see which finished beer you prefer. For me, I prefer a shorter primary.