Nail varnish remover

[admin]

Opened the primary fermenter today after two weeks to be greeted by this smell. According to our wiki it's ethyl acetate.

The top of the beer was slightly fuzzy looking as if it had been dusted with some sort of mold.

First time I've had this, has anyone else had it?

Funnily enough the beer (a porter) tastes fine.

[Lugh]

I had a wheat beer that had that phenolic smell (like old hospitals) and it just got worse and worse as time went on. Only beer I've had to chuck yet

[Jacob]

What was the fermentation temp.?
Had it once or twice last year where the beer was fermented above 24-25 (strange cause it was dubbel and should be fine).
Last week opened a bottle from that batch and the smell was still there. Not drinkable
Interesting is that I've used slurry from that batch and made a really nice triple. Still good over after a year.

[Jacob]

Yep, with that temp. range I woudn't expect varnish remover.
In that case keg it, force carb it & drink it fast if it's still ok

[MAF]

I brewed a batch of nail varnish remover porter in my kitchen too. Turned out where I had left it got direct sunlight at one point in the day. So it was definitely high temps that caused it.
Yours sounds slightly different though with the mould growth, and it tastes ok...

[Eoin]

I'd ditch it myself, that stuff won't be good on the liver at all.

[Spud395]

Did you have a sizable sugar addition or mash low?
Glucose will cause yeast to produce more esters than Maltose particularly ethyl acetate.
You really should taste ethyl acetate as well as smell it.

[Spud395]

Thats a regular brew you do?