I am only on my third and fourth wash. They are at day 10 and 8, respectively. According to my wife, they both smell like 'stomach acid'. I am trying to figure out why.
These are the ingredients:
BW3: 5kg plain sugar, 210 gr tomato paste, 84 grams fresh baker's yeast, pinch of epsom, 1/4 teaspoon yeast nutrient, filled up to 25l. SG = 1,080
BW4: 4kg plain sugar, 140 gr tomato paste, 84 grams fresh baker's yeast, pinch of epsom, 1/4 teaspoon yeast nutrient, filled up to 25l. SG = 1,060
At around day 6 (day 4 for BW4) the pH meter I ordered, had arrived. After calibrating the meter, I measured the washes and they read 2,9 and 3,1 pH. I understood that this was too low, so I added three tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate (food grade) to each bucket. pH rose to 4,0 and 4,2. SG at that time was 1.004 and 1.010.
The washes are fermenting out quite well. Today BW3 is at 0.990 (day 10), BW4 at 0.989 (day
. They are still bubbling slowly.Today my wife complained about the 'stomach acid' smell. You should know there is quite a disparity in our olfactory capabilities: I almost can't smell because of allergies. The wife can smell really well: she can even tell which familiar place (friends/family) I visited just from my clothes (not always a good thing
. So I need to rely on her sense of smell.I don't see any obvious source of infection: it is just a sugar wash, the buckets have their lids on and are stored in the bathroom. Before, I washed the buckets out with hot water and some citric acid, then rinsed again with hot water.
Could the bicarb have caused the smell? Could the (tiny) remains of the citric acid be the cause? Or is there always a faint smell of butyric acid in every BW wash and is the wife just overly sensitive?
