Oktoberfest Ale

Took a sample of Oktoberfest Ale. The gravity reading is 1.017. So we have beer.

When I opened the fermenter to take a sample I noted a slight sulfur smell. So now I scour the internets looking for what causes that. I guess all yeast kick off a little sulfur but it is usually not detectable. This seems more common for lager yeast though. Internet searches show that some folks detect some sulfur with WLP036. I've also read that stressing the yeast can kick off some sulfur. It's been temperature controlled at 70F the whole time. And I mean the fermenter itself has been at that temp (not the chest freezer). I read a little more and found that sometimes Pilsner can produce some sulfur but the only people to have issue were extract brewers. Of course there is the serious concern that this is from a bacteria infection in which case things will only get worse. Finally, it seems if the yeast are left too long in the fermenter they will eat each other and give off sulfur type smells. This is not really a concern for homebrewers. If it is simply from the yeast then we are in luck. Sulfur is one of those beer flaws that will go away with age. The beer is currently 2 weeks old. We'll try it again next weekend.

Other than that I tried some of the sample. It tasted...different. Not bad but it's flatness was bothersome. Of course it's not carbonated at this point but I never tasted a beer from the fermenter at 2 weeks and thought this needs carbonation bad. Ellie felt the same way. Not sure what that is about. The beer has a medium to light body and a light color. And finally, finally, finally the beer is not bitter. That's one thing that I can say that went as planned.