Help with FUNKY Rye wash

[Panamigo]

Two days ago I made my first all grain wash for a rye whiskey. This is my first attempt at any kind of whiskey recipe and I threw it together on a whim, just felt like brewing something spur of the moment and I figured it couldn’t turn out too bad, so in all honesty it’s rather ham fisted and unrefined, please be merciful

11 lb malted rye
4 lb raw Red Wheat (unmalted seed wheat)
2 lb 2 row Barley malt
.25 lb light DME
1 lb white table sugar

Mashed at 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 85 minutes (meant to do the standard 60 minutes but got distracted at the end) brew in a bag with a 20 minute batch sparge just to wash out any leftover sugars. Cooled to 70 degrees and pitched a yeast starter that had been going for about four hours (Nothing fancy, just Fleishmann’s activated yeast, i would usually give it longer and use a better yeast, but again, spur of the moment) plus a pinch of dry yeast on top and 1/2 tsp of Wyeast yeast nutrient.

No gravity readings for you unfortunately, I was dumb and rolled my hydrometer onto the tile floor that very night and it was too late to run to my LHBS.


This brings me to my problem. When I transferred it to my fermenter it smelled and looked delicious, a nice dark brown color and great, malty brew-smell. It took off fermenting like a rocket, crazy bubbles in the airlock, but after about 48 hours the activity has really died down, although still present, and when I bent over to take a closer look at it, I got a whiff through the air lock and it smelled a little strange. I popped off the air lock briefly to take a proper smell and discovered it has got a crazy funk to it, almost bordering on flatulence or sewer smell although not quite, just REAL funky. There’s no other signs of infection or anything weird at all, the brew itself looks fine although much lighter in color, more a a dark tan (i’m thinking that’s due to a bunch of yeast in suspension) but no oil slicks or other tell-tale signs, and besides diminished activity and that crazy smell, it seems to be performing as good as could be expected given my unbalanced recipe. My main question is, should I be worried about it? I know that with rums and whiskeys sometimes more funk can be better, but I have never quite smelled anything like this coming off of a wash or a wort of any kind. I’m inclined to just let it run and see what happens, maybe the smell will change as more esters and things are produced, but I really don’t want any of that smell coming through as a taste and I am slightly concerned about the risks of contamination. Any insight you all might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated and if I have left anything out or you need more information just ask.

[still_stirrin]

… Mashed at 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 85 minutes (meant to do the standard 60 minutes but got distracted at the end).
This brings me to my problem … I popped off the air lock briefly to take a proper smell and discovered it has got a crazy funk to it, almost bordering on flatulence or sewer smell although not quite, just REAL funky.

My main question is, should I be worried about it?

Well, yes. If it smells like shit, it just might be.

You mashed too hot...and denatured any active enzymes in your mash tun. Only fermentable material was the sugar you added. That was done in 2 days, so what took over from the low alcohol and grainy wort was probably an infection.

First all grain mash, huh? Me thinks you need to do more “homework” and read how to do a cereal grain mash.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here, but you should always start with a Tried & True recipe. And follow the procedure exactly. Then, keep doing that until you know what you’re doing.
ss

[still_stirrin]

“Funky” is a poor descriptor. You mentioned “sewer smell” and “flatulence”, so that implies sulfur.

In a beer, rotten eggs, sewer gas and sulfur qualities reminiscent of burnt matches is typically caused by hydrogen sulfide and/or sulfur dioxide. The off-flavor manifests itself in the aroma of beer. While rotten egg-like aromas are rarely desired in beer, they are sometimes present in some lagers. This is because certain lager strains are known for producing sulfur qualities. In other instances this issue is caused by poor yeast health or tasting beer while it’s still considered young. Brewing water composition can also play a role in instilling rotten egg aromas, as well as bacterial infection.

Before chalking your brew up as flawed, try to remedy the situation by allowing the beer to age a bit longer. The rotten egg characteristics may subside in time. If not, you’ll have to make efforts to prevent the off-flavor from happening in your next homebrew.

Ensure you are pitching lots of healthy yeast, and allowing the wort to ferment on the yeast cake long enough. That being said, sulfur aroma can be a sign of yeast autolysis which is caused by wort being on the yeast cake for too long, but probably not the cause of your stinky ferment. However, consider the possibility that you introduced an infection into your beer during the mashing process.

Another possibility for the odor is mercaptan (rotten vegetables, skunk). Found in most beers at low levels, methanethiol, or methyl mercaptan, forms as yeast metabolizes at the end of fermentation. It is one of the main chemicals responsible for bad breath and flatulence. The sulfury odor usually dissipates, but it occasionally persists if there’s too much of that sulfury odor to start with and can even become more pronounced during secondary fermentation if too many yeast cells kill themselves off. Mercaptan may be introduced by dry hopping, and can be dramatically reduced by introducing copper sulfate.

Mercaptan is the same chemical skunks release from glands on their backsides and that it can be blamed for the skunky smell that’s emitted when a beer is exposed to light, most often after it’s packaged in clear or green glass. This smell is the by-product of the chemical reaction that occurs when the hop alpha acids are exposed to light. While it won’t make you sick, beer is never supposed to smell like a skunk, and any detectable level means that the beer has already been light struck. Brewers tend to avoid this by canning or bottling in brown glass.

So, review you mashing procedures. And your recipe formulation. Then, ensure a healthy yeast culture and pitch into a properly aerated wort. Manage the fermentation temperatures and rack the beer from the trub when it is done fermenting.

Good luck.
ss