Does Homebrew Smell? (Dealing With Fermentation and Boil Odors)

Those thinking about getting into homebrewing (and their spouses) probably wonder if homebrew smells. Whether it’s the boil or the fermentation, nobody wants to have a beer that is stinking up the house or apartment so I thought I would address this topic and let you know what to expect!

You will notice a smell from homebrew on both brew day and during the first few days of fermentation but it is normally a pleasant aroma that doesn’t linger. On brew day, the aroma of the boiling wort will be sweet, spicy, and generally pleasant. During active fermentation it is common to smell a yeasty, fruity aroma.

Since this is a topic that could potentially cause a lot of friction in the house between brewer and spouse – even to the point of vetoing a homebrewing hobby – I thought it would be a good idea to describe exactly what to expect using my experience and the experiences of others that have been brewing for a while.

Does homebrewing beer smell bad?

Generally speaking, homebrewing beer doesn’t smell bad to most people.

With that said, smells are pretty subjective and it’s entirely possible that one person will think homebrew smells bad and others (like me!) think it smells absolutely wonderful. At this point, I should also explain that even though the process of brewing beer can take weeks (or months!) there are really only about 4 days that it might produce enough of an odor for someone to notice and it’s pretty easy to control things to minimize the smell.

The only time that you will ever really smell anything during the homebrew process is on brew day during the boil and during the first few days or so of active fermentation. During the boiling process, there will be a heavy aroma because of all of the steaming rising out of the kettle. During the active fermentation, the yeast will be busy converting sugar to alcohol and producing carbon dioxide as a by-product which will escape from the fermenting vessel.

While I personally enjoy the smells happening during both of these points of the brewing process, it’s possible that you might not. Plus, certain yeast strains or ingredients could produce more or less funky aromas so it’s hard to say exactly what you can expect.

Does the homebrew boil smell?

The first time that you’ll have to deal with potential homebrew smells is on brew day.

On brew day, you will be adding all of the various ingredients together and boiling them for about an hour. If you are doing partial-grain or all-grain then there will also be the mashing and sparging steps before the boil takes place. This process has the potential to produce a lot of different smells depending on the ingredients that you are using.

Generally, the aroma of the mashing process will be a mixture of grassy and grainy with a hint of oatmeal. During the boil, you are likely to smell sweet, spicy, floral, and herbal notes, depending on your ingredients.

Many beginning homebrewers worry about the smell of the homebrew process because they know that they will be brewing inside on the kitchen stove for their first few batches. This was definitely the case for me and, luckily, my wife enjoyed the smell! I found that the smell disappeared pretty quickly after the boil was through and I never heard any follow-up complaints or comments from my wife!

Worst case scenario, you can always invest in a propane burner and do your boil outside. If you want to get into all-grain and other advanced techniques, you will likely find the need to move outside anyway as the size and volume of your equipment grows.

Does homebrew fermentation smell?

The second time that you will encounter stronger smells while making homebrew is just after you’ve gotten your wort into the fermenter and active fermentation starts happening. This process generally most intense for the first several days or so and then calms down for the remaining several weeks.

During fermentation, the yeast that you’ve added to your wort will start the process of converting sugar into alcohol – the most important part of beer! During this process, they will also produce carbon dioxide and various other byproducts that could smell a little funky to someone that doesn’t know what is going on.

What does fermenting beer smell like?

Personally, I love the way fermenting beer smells!

Generally, you will notice a yeasty and somewhat fruity aroma during active fermentation. Usually, the aroma will be stronger if your fermentation temps are on the higher end (over 70° F or so) and less noticeable if your temps are on the lower range. In my personal experience, you can only smell active fermentation if you are very close to the fermenter and I’ve never had an issue with the smell lingering in the room.

A simple solution to avoiding any fermentation smells would be to put your fermenter outside or somewhere out of the way inside your house.

Since the temperature of the fermentation is the most important factor, it will need to be someplace where you can control the temperatures. This usually leads homebrewers to put their fermenters inside a closet or other dark place near the middle of their house to ensure lower temperatures.

If you have access to or are willing to build/buy a fermenting chamber, they are a great way to both keep your fermenter at the right temperature and keep the smells at bay if they are something you don’t enjoy!

If you want to learn more general knowledge about homebrewing and beer in general then check out more articles like this right here!