April 19, 2011

The scent of a carboy

I have an olfactory compulsion which you may find weird. Perhaps deviant. Here goes:

I love the smell of a freshly-cleaned primary fermenter.

But not just any primary fermenter that's been rinsed and then shown the PBW (I may be deviant, but I still have standards): it depends greatly on what just got cleaned out. A hoppy American ale fermented with 1056? Heaven. A dark lager brewed with WLP833? Seductive. British strains? Meh. Non-Brett Belgians? Not so much.

That scent ... it's beery but clean, with suggestions of a cold oven after the bread is baked, hops and CO2 echoing in the nasal cavity. Sometimes on a brewery tour I'll catch a whiff of it near the conicals or the bright tank and wander off ...   

Am I on my own here? Anybody else? Stand up, we're among friends. There's no shame.

And I know a whole lot of you sniff airlocks.

18 comments:

  1. I just cleaned a primary carboy yesterday after two weeks of fermenting a hoppy IPA. I think i understand what you are talking about. That smell that fills the room when you empty the PBS solution from the carboy and right before you rinse it. Yes, I doo understand, my fellow beer geek.

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  2. I picked a bad week to quit sniffing airlocks...

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  3. I have a batch of Waldo Lake Amber going in my fermentation chamber (an old chest freezer). That thing gets so full of by-product CO2! Last night I stuck my head in at high krausen and took in a few lungfuls. Glorious.

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  4. I did sniff the hell out of a giant trash can full of Surly Furious blowoff during a tour...I was in heaven.

    Airlock sniffer; guilty as charged, and I also like to sniff a clean fermenter. You are not alone.

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  5. The three hearted airlock is by far the greatest smelling airlock ever to pass by this set of nostrils.

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  6. Hoo-ah!

    I love the smell of a beer-soaked yeast cake after transferring from a primary.

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  7. That smell is permanently etched into my bottling / primary ferment buckets.

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  8. I wholeheartedly sniff my fermenters!

    Unfortunately, I have no fermenters to sniff right now, but that's gonna change this weekend! Can't wait to sniff my SMaSH IPA of Golden Promise, Centennials fermenting with WL001. Gonna smell phenomenal!

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  9. I love the fresh smell of fermentation when you first open your fridge that has been closed for a whole week...

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  10. My name is Jacob, and I sniff airlocks.

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  11. My Dog Loves the Smell of my Carboys full or empty...

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  12. I ferment my Wits completely open in 6 gallon buckets. Right at the peak of fermentation is a perfect blend of fresh orange zest and banana esters. It is my favorite brewing odor.

    Coming in at a close second is Allagash's barrel room: huge odors of Jim Beam bourbon, oak, vanilla, and hints of whatever beers that are in the barrels. If they can find a way to bottle that aroma into an air freshener or cologne, I will buy a case!

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  13. I'm not alone....

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  14. The White Labs English Cider yeast throws so much sulfur, it made the room with the fermenter smell like apple-scented farts for two solid weeks. Great cider, though.

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  15. I don't generaly sniff airlocks, but when I do I prefer IPA's. Keep brewing my friends!

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  16. I love the smell of fresh fermentation in the morning. It smells like........beer.

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  17. Smoked brown Ale is one of my favorites

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