Is sulfuric smell and sour taste common on wheat beers?

I brewed a 100% wheat beer, left it on primary for 15 days then secondary for 10 days more, all at room temperature (around 22 C here).

When sampling it during the process it had a very strong sulfuric smell and sour taste, which led me to believe the beer was contaminated. I pushed forward nevertheless.

Bottled it, waited 2 weeks and tried one, it was still sour but the smell had diminished a bit.

Waited 1,5 month more and the sourness almost disappeared, together with the smell. It still doesn't taste like commercial wheat beers but those usually max at 70% wheat.

So the question is, is this normal on full wheat beers or is the sulfur and sourness being caused by something in my process?

Topic wheat homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

What yeast did you use? Most Hefeweizen yeasts are known for strong sulfur production, and as you noticed, it usually drops out. My rule of thumb is to wait for the sulfur to completely dissipate before I bottle or keg the beer.

I get sulfur from WLP 300 & 380, but I had a sulfur BOMB on a batch with 351, I even posted a question here about it: Strong Sulfur from WLP 351 - how to clear it up quickly?. Fortunately, it cleared up with time.

Regarding the "sour" flavor, that can be yeast-specific too. That batch with 351 was fairly "sharp" tasting, and I guess one could have called it "sour". I get that flavor from wheat beers sometimes, not 100% sure why. In your case, a 100% wheat malt beer would probably have a bit of a lactic character.

In summary, I don't think you had an infection, especially if the sourness developed fairly quickly, like with your first samples. I suspect it was due to Hefe-style yeast and your 100% wheat grain bill. I am unaware of what process to use to reduce the sulfur to begin with, but it always seems to age out for me, so its not an issue (I get a lot of sulfur from lager yeasts too, and its NEVER in the finished beer).

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