Sulfur smell and lagering

[Burtsbeets]

Hey HBF!

So, I had a little search around the forum and couldn't quite find the answer I needed so thought I would post a thread.

As the title says, I am brewing a pale lager with Saflager 34/70 and got that sulfur smell going on (Recipe at the bottom). I have never brewed a lager before but have read about the smell so was not too worried, as the compounds are fairly volatile, my question relates to once the primary has finished. The primary still smells quite a bit and I am planning to put it into a secondary to batch condition for a bit, then place at 10 - 12 degrees (coldest I can get) for a while before bottling.

Do people tend to leave it in the primary until the smell dissipates? Or will transferring to secondary then leaving it be alright as well?

Also, I am worried about the volatiles getting out without an active fermentation. Is this what happens or does the smell dissipate due to yeast clean-up at the end of fermentation?

A lot of questions I know and thank you in advance!

Cheers.

Batch Size	12.500 L	Boil Size	14.000 L
Boil Time	1.000 hr	Efficiency	70%
OG	1.035 sg	FG	1.006 sg
ABV	3.8%	IBU	15.2 (Tinseth)
Color	2.6 srm

Fermentables
Total grain: 2.100 kg

Name	Type	Amount	Mashed	Late	Yield	Color
Briess - 2 Row Brewers Malt	Grain	1.500 kg	Yes	No	80%	1.8 srm
Rice, Flaked	Grain	600.000 g	Yes	No	70%	1.0 srm

Hops

Name	Alpha	Amount	Use	Time	Form	IBU
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus	13.0%	4.300 g	Boil	50.000 min	Pellet	12.8
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus	13.0%	2.100 g	Boil	10.000 min	Pellet	2.4

Yeast

Name	Type	Form	Amount	Stage
Saflager 34/70	Lager	Starter	5.5	Primary

Mash

Name	Type	Amount	Temp	Target Temp	Time
Mash	Infusion	0.000 mL	65.000 C	65.000 C	1 hr
Sparge	Infusion	0.000 mL	67.000 C	67.000 C	10 min

 

[crescent city Mike]

Transfer to the secondary. After it seems to be done, raise the temp to 60/64 degrees F for a few days, then cold crash. I generally leave my lagers at 33 degrees F for 3 weeks. The sulfur will usually be taken up by the yeast during the higher temp "vacation."

 

[Gerryjo]

What was your fermentation temperature as I know lagers give an eggy/sulphar smell but does sound it was fermenting slightly warmer than it should though should clear up as suggested by @crescent city Mike if conditioned at 10°/12°.

 

[An Ankoù]

W-34/70 is a very versatile and "forgiving" yeast, but it can pong a bit. I think that rather than the smell being driven off by an active fermentation, it's the yeast that cleans itself up. I've never had these bad fermentation smells persist in a lager so I shouldn't worry too much.

 

[Burtsbeets]

Transfer to the secondary. After it seems to be done, raise the temp to 60/64 degrees F for a few days, then cold crash. I generally leave my lagers at 33 degrees F for 3 weeks. The sulfur will usually be taken up by the yeast during the higher temp "vacation."

Cheers for the info. I don't have any temperature control yet, but my porch is around 10 degrees Cat the moment so this may have to do.

What was your fermentation temperature as I know lagers give an eggy/sulphar smell but does sound it was fermenting slightly warmer than it should though should clear up as suggested by @crescent city Mike if conditioned at 10°/12°.

The coldest I could get it during primary was 9 - 12 degrees C in the aforementioned porch. After 4 days it was 50% attenuated so I brought it into a "chilly" part of the house and it's been bobbing along at 16 - 18 degrees.

W-34/70 is a very versatile and "forgiving" yeast, but it can pong a bit. I think that rather than the smell being driven off by an active fermentation, it's the yeast that cleans itself up. I've never had these bad fermentation smells persist in a lager so I shouldn't worry too much.

This is exactly why I chose this yeast, without any temperature control I was worried about knackering up a lager brew.

An update on the lager, it is smelling a lot less sulfury and much more like beer now. The warm "vacation" as @crescent city Mike put it, seems to have done most of the job. The plan is, once my Golden Ale is bottled, to move it into another fermentor for secondary at 9 - 12 degrees for a week or two before bottling.

I am very interested in this brew as its a style I never really thought too much about trying to make. But hopefully, it will win more favour with the OH for when an expansion of the brewery is due

Cheers for the guidance guys, I will update in a bit on how it turns out!

 

[ppsmith]

I guess the others have answered your question, but just a +1 from me. I brewed a lager with w34/70 just before Christmas and it absolutely reeked of sulphur during fermentation but cleaned up towards the end and produced a really clean result.

 

[Gerryjo]

I guess the others have answered your question, but just a +1 from me. I brewed a lager with w34/70 just before Christmas and it absolutely reeked of sulphur during fermentation but cleaned up towards the end and produced a really clean result.

I brewed a light lager at the end of October using WLP810 San Francisco lager yeast and earlier in the year with Lallemande Diamond lager yeast first liquid and the second dry and had no off smells at all both turning out excellent though preferred the dry Diamond.

 

[Burtsbeets]

I guess the others have answered your question, but just a +1 from me. I brewed a lager with w34/70 just before Christmas and it absolutely reeked of sulphur during fermentation but cleaned up towards the end and produced a really clean result.

Nice to know you managed to get a clean result out of it. What was the fermentation temperatures and did you rack it off and leave it to crash?

I brewed a light lager at the end of October using WLP810 San Francisco lager yeast and earlier in the year with Lallemande Diamond lager yeast first liquid and the second dry and had no off smells at all both turning out excellent though preferred the dry Diamond.

Good to know not all smell, I almost put the SO off my homebrew for good when she got a whiff of it!

 

[ppsmith]

Nice to know you managed to get a clean result out of it. What was the fermentation temperatures and did you rack it off and leave it to crash?

I had it at 16 degrees for 5 days, up to 21-22 for a day or so, then cold crashed at 1-2 degrees, all in primary.

The sulphur had already started to fade before I ramped the temperature up, but I’d read that was supposed to help clean up any off flavours so it seemed a good idea.

Too impatient to lager properly I transferred it to the keg after about 8 days and it did the rest of its conditioning there - it was okay after another week and it’s got better since.