I made a basic wheat beer from extract and used Cascade and Citra as flavor/aroma hops. .5 oz Cascade at 15m, .5 oz Cascade at 10m and 1 oz Citra at 5m. I was obviously going for a citrus/floral nose. It's been bottled for a little over two weeks and when I tried one the aroma was nothing like I expected. It was almost rotten smelling (best way I can think to describe it). Taste is good though. Does the aroma get better the longer it's in bottle or is there something I might have done wrong? Thanks everyone.
Citra gives a strong "catty" or almost "BO" smell at first...give it some time to mellow...will round out into floral/tropical notes as you are expecting.
What kind of yeast did you use? Fermentation temp? Both of these can contribute to a sulphur/rotten smell.
It's off gassed hydrogen sulfide, not the hops. Some yeast strains produce some sulfury notes during fermentation (primary & bottle conditioning) that will fade with time, unless you didn't control fermentation temperature well, in which case if could be permanent.
I agree it sounds like sulfur production from the yeast. What strain of yeast did you use and what temperature did you ferment it at? Typically time / cold conditioning will make the sulfur quality dissipate.
I used California Ale yeast (WL001). The fermentation temps did get a little high due to a surprise heat wave in my area (72 - 74), so that's probably my problem. Thanks everyone!
I have brewed a lot with Wyeast 1056/US-05 (the equivalents of WLP001). I have never experienced sulfur issues when brewing with this strain. Kbuzz makes an interesting statement of: “Citra gives a strong "catty" or almost "BO" smell at first …” I made an all Citra hopped IPA that was too intense in a ‘funky’ way after two weeks of bottle conditioning. After several weeks of additional bottle conditioning this beer was much more drinkable; the Citra hop aroma ‘mellowed out’ Even after lengthy time in the bottle some people who drank this beer smelled “cat pee’ with this beer. I personally never perceived this smell; Citra smells like tropical fruits to me. Bottom line: just give your beer more time for bottle conditioning. Cheers!
Yeah WLP001 isn't a big sulfur producer and its actually fairly tolerant of high temps. Give it some cold conditioning time.
Yeah, unless your ferment temp is REALLY high (higher than 72-74 I would think for this yeast) I wouldn't expect that type of aroma, its a pretty damn clean yeast- which is why I love it. I will say though that I had a similar situation using a touch of Citra dryhopping. Combined with the wheat and the cascade hops, the aroma didn't turn out exactly what I was hoping for, but mellowed with time. I sometimes find that Citra can impart some flavors I don't like as much as I thought I would when combined with other aromas (like, from the wheat). I would say just give it a bit of time for the aroma you don't care for to taper off and it'll be tasty.
