Sulfur smell and lagering

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Burtsbeets

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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 Size12.500 LBoil Size14.000 L
Boil Time1.000 hrEfficiency70%
OG1.035 sgFG1.006 sg
ABV3.8%IBU15.2 (Tinseth)
Color2.6 srm
Fermentables
Total grain: 2.100 kg
NameTypeAmountMashedLateYieldColor
Briess - 2 Row Brewers MaltGrain1.500 kgYesNo80%1.8 srm
Rice, FlakedGrain600.000 gYesNo70%1.0 srm
Hops
NameAlphaAmountUseTimeFormIBU
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus13.0%4.300 gBoil50.000 minPellet12.8
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus13.0%2.100 gBoil10.000 minPellet2.4
Yeast
NameTypeFormAmountStage
Saflager 34/70LagerStarter5.5Primary
Mash
NameTypeAmountTempTarget TempTime
MashInfusion0.000 mL65.000 C65.000 C1 hr
SpargeInfusion0.000 mL67.000 C67.000 C10 min
 
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."
 
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.
 
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 :laugh8:

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