I have a batch of APA that was fermented for 3 weeks in primary, at a pretty stable temp with WLP-001. It has now been refrigerated for 2.5 weeks in a corny and has also been dry-hopped in the keg. The thing is that it smells like a wet dog, and this is not very appealing to the nose at all.
My first thoughts were that it was the dry-hopping in the keg, as this was the first time I have tried this method. I've read that you can get grassy aromas initially that dye down after a while, but I'm not sure this is the case now. After looking around the net I think it may be a Brettanomyces infection. Anyone any experiences with wet dog odours in their beer?
It tastes fine, just smells bad.
Maybe, the cliche is that brett is like a horse blanket. But brett takes months to really express itself - it's gets to the point an ale yeast gets to in 2 days after 100 days. A key indicator for brett is if your beer ferments down to 1006 - 1008 without adjuncts or another highly attenuative yeasts - but again that takes months.
Have you had Orval, or the Snakedog Wild IPA - those are two fairly common beers that owe a lot of their character to brett.
It could be another bacteria or wild yeast but to be honest your description does sound a bit like brett although I'm puzzled that it's cropped up so early in the process.
Thanks for the reply mr happy. What's the cliche about the horse blanket?
I've never tried those beers but I have heard of brewers employing this yeast in their brews. My FG was 1012 by the way.
Wet dog or cardboard is normally oxidation.
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I'd say Eoin's closer to the mark.
The cliche about horse blanket is that Michael Jackson, the beer writer, once described brett as smelling / tasting like horse blanket and it's stuck because it's so evocative even though I'd say not so many people who use it as a descriptor have much experience of smelling horse blankets.
I'd describe Brett as being a bit like a very dilute whiff of a slurry pit.. Farmyard.
I suspect Michael Jackson had experience of horsey farmyards not dairy and slurry pits.
Yep, farmyard. When they talk about "farmhouse ales" the emphasis is on the farm not the house.
If it's just a smell and not on the pallet then it might just be wet hops. If light was able to get at it whilst it was being dry hopped it might be a touch light struck.
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Quote from: iTube on November 30, 2013, 08:34:59 PM
We were talking about that the other night at the meet. Like wtf is a horse blanket, and is it anything like Spanish fly?
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EVH never wrote a song called Horse Blanket
I've never had the privilege of smelling a horse blanket but I get what he means. I'm only a commoner from the north-side of Dublin and all the horses over here don't have blankets. I can relate a bit more to a smelly wet dog.
Could be oxidation alright: I might have been a bit too vigorous with the immersion coil when dropping the temp after boil, I was attempting a world record drop, in my mind anyway. Although it didn't have the aroma before kegging, and I only dry-hopped in the corny. The fermenter was never exposed to intense light. Makes me think something occurred during transfer from fermenter to keg. So it could be oxidation, a keg related problem or a problem with the hops.
There was no splashing from transfer and the kegs were gassed and purged of O2 straight away. The hops were dry as a bone, in date and smelled lovely. The kegs were cleaned and sanitised. There was a bit of Starsan foam still in the keg when I transferred, but I thought it's a no-rinse sanitiser? Jaysus, there's so many areas to go wrong in a brew.
Anyway, at least it's drinkable....for the moment..who knows what a week or two will do.
Are your taps and lines clean?
Rule out star san as an issue, nothing happens with that stuff.
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The fermenter would not need exposure to intense light, any light over a reasonable period would be sufficient.
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Taps and lines are clean. Fermenter wasn't really exposed to light.
Now I'm thinking it may be the muslin bag I used. I did sanitise it with Starsan but I've smelled the other bags I have and they seem to hang on to odours. I think I will have to pre-boil the muslin bag next time.
Use voile instead of muslin.
Custom BIAB do bags.
I use muslin, never had a problem. I do rinse thoroughly and hang on the washing line for a few days after use. Hickeys sell muslin cloth cheap enough you can bin it without a second thought after a few brews. Each to their own though.
I found the main issue with muslin was that it rots after a few uses.
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