Too soon to panic?

[martyn142]

You may have read my previous topic about the trouble I had with a Wherry. Basically I did just about everything wrong - brewed at too high a temperature, left in the FV far too long after it had finished, etc... Anyway the ale smelled fausty and tasted a bit off too. I was advised to leave it to see if it matured to a nicer smell/taste. It didn't after about a month and my patience ran out.

Anyway I was happy to put it down to experience seeing as how I'd made some pretty schoolboyish errors. However, I am currently maturing a Coopers IPA which has some of the same symptoms, although not so bad. It was fermented at 18C although it may have fallen to about 17C now and then overnight. I left it in for 7 days by which time it was stable and below 1010. However it smelled very sulphury while fermenting and while the smell has died down it is still there now its been kegged. It was made with spray malt and brewing sugar btw.

So... firstly, can I expect it to mature to a nice brew? And what does a sulphur smell usually indicate, and what therefore am I doing wrong? I've seen that brewing lagers at low temperature produces these smells but mine wasn't that cold and I got the impression that by the end of fermenting they should have gone.

I've only made a few kits up to now and my failaure rate is at 40% so I need to sort it out if I am going to continue.

[sparky Paul]

You can get a sulphurous smell from lager as it's fermenting, but shouldn't be a very strong smell, such as the smell you can get from a cider kit. From what you've said, I can't see anything wrong with your method, and providing sanitisation was good and everything was properly rinsed, I can't see why there should be any problem.

It's also worth bearing in mind that lagers often do not reach their best for a few months...