Slight solvent smell to young ipa

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Mugatu78

Mugatu78

Active Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2019
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Location
Saline , fife. Scotland
Hi new brewer here still on steep learn curve, made my first big batch dead pony club per diy dog and couldnt resist a taaste and it has a slight solventy nail polishy type smell and tinge to the taste, i used almost exact as diy dog but s04 yeast, its finished at 1009 fg from 1042 , any advice greatly appreciated, hoping this will clear with time ? Worried i bottled to early (after 1 week) i thought jut bottle it as had hit my fg target, should i habe waited longer ? Is it ruined ?
 
Pretty sure you fermented too warm - solventy, nail polish flavor and smell is the text book definition of Ethyl acetate. It is a common byproduct of fermentation, and in lower amounts gives fruit flavors - fruity esters. But too much results in what you describe.

As for whether or not it is ruined - time will tell. Leave the bottles to condition for a couple of weeks, then try one. If the solventy character is still there, leave them another couple of weeks.

To avoid this in future brews, chill the wort as best you can, do whatever you can to keep the fermentation temp in the range recommended for the yeast.
 
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I would have waited 3-4 to be sure it had finished fermenting at 1.009 if so would have bottled then. I personally like to cold crash mine for 3-4 days in garage. This mean, symphony off sediment in fermenting barrel and putting in garage to clear again. Hope this help, as I am fairly new to brewing myself.
 
I had a brew last year with this taste to it. It wasn't brewed at too high a temperature but carbonated too high.
I made the mistake of putting a radiator on and the brew under a built in unit reached well in excess of low thirties Celsius.
There was a definite raw alcohol taste in the brew. Sorry to say 5 months later, the brew didn't mellow or change. It went down the drain bottle by bottle.This was also the last kit I ever made with LME and have never gone back....
One thing I know for certain, temperature control whilst brewing and carbing is critical.
 
Thanks very much folks. I did read about the high temp thing. I jist had it in spare rm which is usually
About 21-22deg C , i didnt notice the smell as i bottled it which i cant fathom but the bottles i opened to test def had that smell/taste. I will give it another couple weeks and hope for the best. Yes i did lift it from the trub for a few days about 4 days in. Maybe i should hv left longer. Frustrating as its so close to being what was intended. Ah fingers crossed
Thanks again
 
Oh i left out i let the wort cool overnight as didnt have hoses for my chilling coil. I saw on youtube this is usually fine but maybe that was my problem ...i jst cooled overnight and pitched in the morning
 
The spare room may have been at 21-22 degrees, but I bet the hungry yeast were operating a few degrees higher than that at their most active. Yeast generate their own heat while chomping through sugars, so you could be reaching 24-25 degrees in the FV.

For my last two brews I have held temperature of the FV at 18-19 degrees for the first 5 days before increasing to 20. There is a marked difference in quality and cleanness of taste than fermenting everything at 20 degrees as I used to. That's with both dried and liquid yeast.
 
Thanks very much. I def take that on board. Makes a lot of sense. I may have to invest in a fridge/temp control set up afterall. Hopefully that sharp taste will go with time but with what im hearing i cant say im too confident it will clear. I will let you know how it goes. Again all advice greatly appreciated, great forum this.
 
Just do what I do, brew like crazy over winter and spring before the warmer weather arrives....
No need for brew fridge.
 
Well ive waited a few days and thought id try another bottle and the solventy smell is gone !? :) im assuming inwas too eager to drink it. Will wait two weeks now after bottling minimum. Its not perfect and has a lot of yeast/hop debris in there haha but itsnot a million miles away. Excellent. Very happy with that. On the contrary my other batch of scottish 80 has stalled at 1020 so i just repitched yeast in the hope it starts up again fingers crossed. Thanks again
 
Well my second attempt at ipa has same cider/vinegar solventy smell as last one. Trued to keep room bit cooler this time. At a total loss. Not sure if its a water quality thing as i dont do any water adjustment or still too high temp in room. Only way to know for sure is get a fermentation fridge i guess. Feel ready for packing it in now. Gutted. Really smells disgusting this time
 
No signs of infection that i can tell and cant be oxidised as i only opened it once. Smelled amazing during initial fermenation. Fruity hoppy smells were great. Two weeks later it smells like poison. Didnt transfer to secondary this time to avoid oxidation and its still rank. Gutted
 
Mugatu78 said:
No signs of infection that i can tell and cant be oxidised as i only opened it once. Smelled amazing during initial fermenation. Fruity hoppy smells were great. Two weeks later it smells like poison. Didnt transfer to secondary this time to avoid oxidation and its still rank. Gutted
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that @Mugatu78. I still strongly suspect that it is indeed a fermentation temperature issue. Before investing in a fermentation chamber of some sort, you could try a yeast that works well at higher temperatures. Omega Yeast has a couple of Kveik strains that work well up to 35 Celsius (Omega Hothead, for example). Maybe try a batch or two with one of those yeasts to eliminate other possible variables like contamination before investing in more kit? Would only cost a tenner.
 
Thats a good idea. I may hv sourced a fridge second hand cheap and looking at inkbird controller on ebay 29.99 , your right though i cpuld try the yeast and see how it turns out. Tried to keep room under 20 but im reading the fb temp could be 10 degrees higher than room temp so yes it would seem to be temp related as im sure my sanitisation etc is fine. Thanks again
Appreciated
 
Mugatu78 said:
No signs of infection that i can tell and cant be oxidised as i only opened it once. Smelled amazing during initial fermenation. Fruity hoppy smells were great. Two weeks later it smells like poison. Didnt transfer to secondary this time to avoid oxidation and its still rank. Gutted
Click to expand...
I had a batch of stout 2 years back which I fermented in the kitchen without heat/cooling control and used So4 yeast.This had a solvent ester like nail polish but I did notice the temperature rise one day I was off work which was due to the ambient heat in the kitchen and that particular yeast does not behave too well over 23 degrees Celsius.
I would also suspect that you have a temp control issue.
 

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