Yikes, Yeast Starter Turned Bad.

[Ntwkdsnr]

Hi Folks,
I'm not sure what happened. I made a 1 liter starter using WLP001, 1 can of Propper Starter (dated 04/15/19 on can bottom), and 16 oz of purified water.

This is in a 2 liter flask and on a stir plate. Room temp between 65-70F.

After 36 hours, the most awful sulfur smell developed. Had to dump it and not take any chances pitching it into my new cooled wort. Everything was sanitized prior, flask, stir bar, scissors, aluminium foil....

The WLP001 was right in the middle of the date range and I didn't notice any funky smell when I put into starter.

any idea what could have gone wrong?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Ralphie0523]

Hi Folks,
I'm not sure what happened. I made a 1 liter starter using WLP001, 1 can of Propper Starter (dated 04/15/19 on can bottom), and 16 oz of purified water.

This is in a 2 liter flask and on a stir plate. Room temp between 65-70F.

After 36 hours, the most awful sulfur smell developed. Had to dump it and not take any chances pitching it into my new cooled wort. Everything was sanitized prior, flask, stir bar, scissors, aluminium foil....

The WLP001 was right in the middle of the date range and I didn't notice any funky smell when I put into starter.

any idea what could have gone wrong?

Thanks,
Ed

A few ideas in order of likelihood:

1. Sanitation was not kept as well as you think. Not a criticism of what you have posted or a definite cause, but something that just either didn’t stay sanitary or never got sanitary could be the cause. I am a bit crazy about it but did you boil water and/or wort started beforehand?

2. In general, yeast is capable of processing and creating sulfur compounds, some more pronounced than others. Could have been (for whatever reason) a high enough amount of sulfur that it became detectable. We humans are quite sensitive to it so what we perceive as an awful smell could be just enough coming through from natural and ok fermentation processes.

3. Tiny chance of simply a bad batch or bad packet. It happens. Even to White Labs.

Suggestions for future:

1. Deep clean of all equipment involved. Can’t be too careful. Boil liquids. Fermcap is your friend here.

2. Sulfur is a natural byproduct of fermentation. Maybe build starter earlier and decant into hyper-sanitary or sterilized Mason Jar and refrigerate until ready to pitch into cooled wort. Cold yeast into normal temp wort will not cause the earth to fly off its orbit into the sun. See if it dissipates as a smell or taste and see if it tastes like beer.

3. Keep a dry yeast (US-05 or Nottingham) on hand. It may not be the beer you wanted but it will make beer. This is the backup plan, cheap, effective, and you will be very glad you had it.

 

[Ntwkdsnr]

Thanks Ralphie0523,

I know that some of the lager yeast will give off sulfur odors when fermenting. This was really bad and not normal for WLP001. I cleaned and sanitized everything after and made a new starter with no problems. The instructions on the propper starter can does not say to boil the concentrated wort. The next starter I will boil everything.
Thanks Again,
Ed

 

[IslandLizard]

The instructions on the propper starter can does not say to boil the concentrated wort. The next starter I will boil everything.

Isn't the whole idea of spending good money on fancy Propper to avoid boiling (and chilling) starter wort?
If you go that route, may as well save the money and stick to making DME starters in a stainless pot with a well fitting lid. I usually chill the pot in the sink first, then in a plastic dish wash tub with cold tap water and stir the chilling water a few times. Maybe refresh it once or twice.

Make sure the can is sanitized before opening and pouring. Where did the purified water come from, a bottle? If you use a bottle of water, the outside is definitely not sanitary. After sanitizing it, I'd also wipe/spray the threads with Starsan after removing the cap, for all security.

Maybe you missed something in cleaning/sanitizing, but if this were a wild yeast or bacterial infection I would be surprised it getting a foothold so fast (in 36 hours). I've never experienced a starter infection that quickly. I do occasionally get greeted with a pellicle on the starter beer when cold crashing and leaving it in the fridge for a few weeks or longer.

 

[monkeymath]

Sulfur smell is not necessarily a sign of infection. Some yeasts throw a lot of that in the early stages of fermentation (had a wit yeast do that),.in particular when unhappy with the available nutrients.

I'd say you dumped too early to tell.

 

[wepeeler]

I've made dozens of yeast starters and never had a sulfur/egg smell until the one I just made on Monday. I used Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast. My starter had a wicked smell 24 hours after, but it's slowly going away today. I actually found this thread by Googling "Yeast starter smell like sulfur". I've been reading through a lot of information, and most people say the smell is normal and not to worry, especially with German and Belgian yeasts. But I'm worried.

Do I wait it out? Do I buy extra smack packs for brew day?

 

[IslandLizard]

Sulfur smell is not necessarily a sign of infection. Some yeasts throw a lot of that in the early stages of fermentation (had a wit yeast do that),.in particular when unhappy with the available nutrients.

I'd say you dumped too early to tell.

It may be due to stress. On both counts.

I would have let it go for another day or 2 (or longer).
That's what I normally do anyway. For me, a starter isn't done until I see the color becoming significantly lighter, looking creamy. For older cultures/packs, that could take a week.

 

[monkeymath]

Seriously, guys, what happened to RDWHAHB?! People seem to be murdering innocent yeast left and right.

 

[wepeeler]

I let the starter go an extra day, and the strong smell of sulfur almost dissipated completely. It was still there, but I decanted nearly all the liquid and just pitched the yeast. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks.

 

[Ralphie0523]

Thanks Ralphie0523,

I know that some of the lager yeast will give off sulfur odors when fermenting. This was really bad and not normal for WLP001. I cleaned and sanitized everything after and made a new starter with no problems. The instructions on the propper starter can does not say to boil the concentrated wort. The next starter I will boil everything.
Thanks Again,
Ed

Just my two cents. Again, order of likelihood. It is entirely possible that for whatever reason things happened in the starter fermentation.

Sulfur smell is not necessarily a sign of infection. Some yeasts throw a lot of that in the early stages of fermentation (had a wit yeast do that),.in particular when unhappy with the available nutrients.

I'd say you dumped too early to tell.

Definitely another possibility, if not a higher probability than anything I listed.

Seriously, guys, what happened to RDWHAHB?! People seem to be murdering innocent yeast left and right.

I hear you but also know lots of people think that anything less than perfect conditions will lead to terrible beer. There are definitely those of that persuasion out there but home brewing has progressed to the point that “good enough” will usually yield a good result, not everyone takes home Gold at competitions. If you are making beer that you are happy with, keep rocking in the free world!

I let the starter go an extra day, and the strong smell of sulfur almost dissipated completely. It was still there, but I decanted nearly all the liquid and just pitched the yeast. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks.

The good about sulfur is that it dissipates quick. I usually swirl my fermenters when I do lagers on day 3 or 4 (I ferment warm like the Heathen I am) to allow the CO2 in the fermenter to rebuild but also get the sulfur compounds mostly vaporized. So far this is working for me. Just in case this happens for you at scale.

 

[Kickass]

I don’t make a lot of starters but I commonly get Sulphur from fermentation. It dissipates and everything is fine. I suspect you dumped a perfectly good starter too early.

 

[IslandLizard]

I made 4 starters this week, 2 of them were WY1318, from a 5th generation ranched starter.
Not sure if it's because of this thread, it was the first time I smelled something different than proofing bread dough from that yeast. Not quite hydrogen sulfide, (rotten) eggs, H2S, but more pungent than usual.

The Belgian Ardennes (WY3522) smelled fine, as did the Fullers ESB (WY1968). Now the previous starter the Fullers came from attracted a small infection, so I got to see if that persists. If so I'll start with a new pack.