fast primary, autolysis, sulfar aroma

[YamahaXS]

ahh, just thougth I would share.

Last batch I made, I pitched ontop of yeast cakes from previous batch... Primary was finished in 36 hours.

I racked over after 48 hours.

Result was that my beer initially had a strong sulfar smell. It has since completely gone away, but for a while I was pretty bummed.

[danno]

sulfur is a natural byproduct of some yeasts, especially lager yeasts. and autolysis is something you need to worry about after 48 days, not 48 hours... (and I'm sure that Yamaha knows this, that last statement is more of a PSA...)

[YamahaXS]

right danno, autolysis takes a while, BUT i had put that wort ontop of a pre-existing yeast cake (from a secondary vessel) and I believe that in doing so I disturbe the cake enough to let loose the byproducts from deep in the muck.

I have racked ontop of yeast cakes before, and never a sulfar odor problem. Probably because yeast will reabsorb what ever the byproduct if they are given a chance.

By racking over to secondary too soon I believe I prevented that from occuring.



eventyally the by product was reabsorbed (after I had kegged, chilled, and carbonated) and now I have a good beer.

[brewmonkey]

You racked on top of yeast that came from a secondary? That is where your autolysis came from. You would get a lot more autolyzed yeast during secondary IMHO then from primary. You would however also get enough viable yeast to ferment, like you did.

Racking onto a secondary is something I would suggest only as an extreme measure, like running out of yeast or brain cramps. Since we have all had both happen...

I am interested in what the strain of yeast was, about how much slurry was in the carboy when you racked and what the grain bill was of the wort.

[YamahaXS]

it was White labs London Ale
(WLP013)
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The first beer left about 1/2 inch of trub in the secondary vessel.
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The recipe of the second beer:

10 gallons
7# pale malt
1# carapils malt
1# biscuit malt
mashed at 151 for 3 hours
sparged at 170 --> 6 gallons 1.051

7# light LME
1 ounce Nugget hops at 60
1 ounce Saaz hops at 5
1 ounce Saaz at 2

timeline

day 1: brew, chill, rack ontop of yeast cakes from first batch
day 3: rack over to secondary vessels
day 17: keg
day 20: sample, strong sulfar aroma
day 24: sample, no sulfar aroma at all