I'm fermenting a NEIPA at the moment. It's 5 days in. At first the fermenter snelled great, the usual sweet and hoppy smell but now it smells weird like a cheap lager that's been left out all night. Is this normal?
I'm planning on dry hopping it tomorrow. I do 12l batches and they usual finish up in 5 days and I let them sit and dry hop fir another 4
So there is no definitive way I will be able to tell whether your beer is having an issue or not from what you have stated above. However, it doesn't sound like one of the biggies:
Butter - Sweet Corn - Metallic (penny) - Rotten Eggs - Bananas - Skunk - Cardboard - Musty / mildewy - Cloves - Green Apples - Vomit - Vinegar - Cheese - Plastic Band-aid
So the fact that 'cheap lager that has been left out all night' is at least not close to one of these should at least give you some hope. It may be a combination of two or more of those above but I'll remain optimistic and assume that the smell you are getting is one of the many strange (but normal) smells given off by our little friends. There are many online resources to help with off flavors and smells online. My search brought up this one which seemed to explain each of the smells I knew of and more: http://www.belgiansmaak.com/off-flavours-in-beer-off-flavours/ Good luck and cheers!
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