What Did Scott Eat Last Night??!

or

Who Pulled St. Francis' Finger??

I don't often think twice about it.  One gets used to the sounds and smells of the Brewery.

The staff on the other hand.....

So where is this going?  I've mentioned before that I seldom brew lagers.  I wish I could brew them more often, but it is hard for me to tie up one of my three fermenters for a month or more with a single beer and keep the other house beers in stock.  However, the restaurant industry slows down a bit in January and February and I can plan for lagers.  It also follows Bavarian tradition to brew lagers in the colder months.

Without getting overly technical, lagers use a different type of yeast than ales.  This yeast tends to produce a lot of sulphur during the early stages of fermentation, and much of this sulphur vents out with the carbon dioxide, thus lending a particular pungent smell to the Brewhouse.  The rest of the suphur drops out of solution with time and actually lends some beneficial characteristics to lagers the longer they age.

I brewed January's Seasonal beer, the Doppelbock earlier this week and the Brewhouse now smells like the campfire scene from "Blazing Saddles"!  This morning, I mentioned to the GM and the bartender, "The brewhouse may smell a little like farts.  It's not me."  Both ladies immediately smiled and said "I was wondering what that was!"