Does Sweet Gum Smell like Beer

[shopteacher]

 Just got done cutting a 18' log that the tree trimer said was sweet gum.  I've never cut any of it before, but the odor coming of the wood smelt yeasty pretty much like beer.  As I don't drink much I can't pin down the brand though.   The log was about 24" and only had a heart of about 3" and was very heavy.  Wood look a lot like maple.  Does this sound like sweet gum?

[Larry]

Look something like this?  If it wasn't for the red color it would look a lot like soft maple.



Haven't cut a lot of it but don't remember any beer smell...but iffen it did I bet I could pin the brand down. ;D  Do remember it likes to squirm a lot as it dries.

[Daren]

It has a sweet smell, I kinda get a hint if apple. I smell alot of beer  :, never really thought gum smelled like beer unless it was starting to spalt.  Ditto what Larry said about getting it to dry flat, I like sawing it and working with it, but dread trying to dry it.

[Bro. Noble]

We have sawn a little black gum.  The fresh boards smell like someone cleaned their fish on them--------last week

[SwampDonkey]

Sweetgum specs link

[ronwood]

The sweetgum that I sawed did not smell. But when it dried it sure did twist.

Ron

[Minnesota_boy]

Trees that have been for a while will smell like a brewery as wild yeasts attack the sugars in the sap.  I've had some so strong that I thought I'd pass out from too much alcohol.  ;D

[shopteacher]

The sugar turning to alcohol sounds about right.  The beer odor is gone now that it's stickered and stacked.  I have it under about a ton of ash to try and keep it flat while drying.

[woodbowl]

Hey shopteacher,  sometimes Sweetgum down here in the SE smells like polyester resin.  I blew it off for a while thinking my nose was playing tricks on me. One day on a job I cut into a really pungent sg log that had some wet pockets and I asked the owner what it smelled like to him. He said he didn't know, just something different. Told him it smelled like polyester resin to me. Then he said yea...... it does. But then when it dries the smell goes away too.

[beenthere]

Smells are interesting.
My old hunting partner (long time sawmill man) used to say that coffee smelled like skunk smell when the can was first opened.  At first I thought he was on too much medicine, but then over the years I could see the similarity. 

[shopteacher]

Well Beenthere I've worked in someplaces where there smells would be characterized as more than interesting. :D

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D

Shopteacher, what kind of work was that again ???

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Every now and then while splitting wood I will get a yeasty smell... er the wood smells yeasty that is.
It's usually damp oak that has been dead a while.

If you take a sweet gum ball that is green and crush the ends a little and smell that. It smells like pine.

Jon

[rebocardo]

I guess you could say it smells a little bit like fresh beer, I think it smells nice and sweet. The ones I have cut you usually have a splating like effect of black and white streaks. Before it is dried, it weighes about 50-60 pounds per cubic foot depending on how juicy it is.