sulfury smells

Well, I just popped open another bottle of my yummy Christmas Ale... however I can't keep from noticing the nasty sulfury smell, at least for the first few minutes. The beer tastes wonderful, and the smell completely fades after about 5 minutes, giving way to a nice malty and spicy scent. It is a high-gravity version of a Belgian witbier, however with tons of ginger and other spices added during bottling. The only reason I can think of for the sulfury smell is that it took about 2 months to ferment this brew to completion (and I was only expecting it to take about 10 days!). The yeast got off to a bad start I guess. I aerated the heck out of it initially, but not during secondary. I didn't make a starter... I probably should have. I did rack the brew about 3 times during the course of the 2 months, maybe that wasn't enough?

My question is, do you guys have any better idea of what might have caused the sulfur? Was it yeast autolysis? Or is it something else? And would it have been worth my while to use a yeast starter? I used Nottingham ale yeast (dry), which I've always had excellent success with in the past, but for some reason this time, it took forever. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I don't want this fiasco to happen again. (Luckily, the beer tastes wonderful after 5 minutes anyway!)

-- Dave "Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" -- Genesis, 1973-ish

Reply to
David M. Taylor
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Are you sure you're not just noticing the spices? And, BTW, how can you make a wit with Nottingham? The yeast profile should be a large part of the flavor of a wit. It should be spicy, tart, and phenolic.

--------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

Oops, I missed one detail. I did start off with WLP400 Belgian wit yeast, but when that refused to start after about a week, then I dumped a packet of Nottingham ale in for good measure, which took another week to get started itself. The resulting beer is cloudy, so I assume the wit yeast eventually began working to some extent, but I can't be sure. The scent is definitely sulfur, not spice. It's an off-scent. Where did I go wrong?

-- Dave "Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" -- Genesis, 1973-ish

Reply to
David M. Taylor

The cloudiness is typical of a wit from the unmalted wheat...which I don't recall if you used! If you let it sit for a week without any action before repitiching, it's possible that it's infected and that's the source of your strange aroma.

----------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

from htb.com Symptom: It smells like rotten eggs. Cause 1: Yeast Strain Rotten egg odors (hydrogen sulfide) can have two common causes: the yeast strain and bacteria. Many lager yeast strains produce noticeable amounts of hydrogen sulfide during fermentation. The smell and any sulfur taste will dissipate during lagering. Cure: Let the beer condition or lager for a few weeks after primary fermentation.

Cause 2: Bacteria Bacterial infections can also produce sulfury odors and if you are not brewing a lager beer, then this is a good sign that you have an infection. Cure: Let the fermentation complete and then taste it before bottling to see if it is infected. Toss it if it is.

Reply to
Dr. Flouride

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