First biab smells "alcohol chemical like" after pitching pro

Gordon · Mar 19, 2014

Hi all, i was wondering if anyone could help with the following problem, (I think!!)
I've been doing quite a few extract kits, with great results, thanks to a lot of the info and tips on this forum! Thanks to everyone!

Wanting to progress in to some AG I decided to try my first BIAB, a simple IPA with 4kg of pale malt .5kg of crystal, 50g of fuggles bittering, 20g of styrian goldings for aroma. I used beer smith 2, which was really impressive, as it seemed to get everything spot on 90min mash at 66c, 10 mins at 76c, cooled in 20mins to 25c, I had 19 litres of 1048SG wort that smelt and tasted great. I then pitched a wyeast London ale 1275 smack pack which I had activated 5 hours earlier, best before, 07/14. (After struggling to get it into my fermenter with a syphon!)

I left it for 36 hours and there was no activity what so ever, I tested the gravity, it was the same, I roused the yeast, but nothing, it resembled a pint of flat beer, with lots of coagulations of protein I assume?
I decided to try pitching again, I only had a safale 04, so I rehydrated it and pitched. I looked at 8 hours later, there was a lot of activity, everything going everywhere, however the krausen was only about a cm thick and creamy looking. After another 4 hours It didn't look quite right. I took the attached photos. I had a sniff, it's not horrid, but definitely doesn't smell how I imagine it should. It has like a slightly a clinical/chemical alcohol ish smell, is this normal? Or does it sound and look infected?

Thanks in advance

Rivvo · Mar 19, 2014

How close to the surface did you stick your nose in?
I only ask because when I brewed an IPA recently I stuck my nose too close and took a big sniff, nearly blew my sinuses out :shock:
It smelt chemical like as well, almost medicinal, I think this was the co2 layer?
It also looked like yours with bits of stuff floating in it but I think this was the extra fermentambles I put in it. From what others say on here I think you would really notice any infections!

Dave1970 · Mar 19, 2014

Gordon said:
(After struggling to get it into my fermenter with a syphon!)

Do you mean getting the brew from boiler to fermenter with a siphon? This isn't ideal - once the brew is cold you want to get plenty of oxygen into it, plenty of splashing from a tap - the yeast needs oxygen at this stage to multiply, this could be why your smack pack didn't take off. Also without a hop filter you're going to get more proteins into your fermenter which could explain some of the floating stuff.

However. Don't Worry - the protein should settle out and you'll just end up with more trub at the bottom. It's normal to have some slightly dodgy smells during fermentation, it's possible it's an infection but your pics look OK to me. Give it time and it'll be OK :thumb:

Gordon · Mar 19, 2014

Cheers guys, I did get a lot of protein material with the syphon, I did have a hop bag on it, but appears it was useless. A valuable lesson!! I have spent the last 2 days researching on here for hop filters and false bottoms ! Any advice between them? After siphoning I transferred it twice from a height between two sanitised fermenters, whilst whisking with a wine degasser in a cordless drill, so there was lots and lots of foam and I'm hoping lots of O2. I had bought the smack pack from a local health food store, it was the first time they had Liquid yeast in and they had it on the ordinary shelf, afterwards I read the instructions, as we men do! And it says store at 1-4deg c and preferable to use in first few months of packaging. Mine was 7months old and in a warm shop. It's comforting to hear about the dodgy smells though. I haven't actually tried a whiff before! So wasn't sure what to expect. I was just panicking I had wasted 6 hours and lost a brew!

rpt · Mar 19, 2014

According to Mr Malty you would need 17 smack packs with a yeast that old. And that's assuming it's been stored properly.

Do you still have the packaging? You ought to take it back for a refund.