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BobbiLynn · 01-11-2013, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumpsteak

Could be chlorophenols from chlorine in your water or fusel alcohol from too high of a fermentation temp and stressed yeast. I've had both and they both cause me strange and numbing/burning mouth sensations. If it tastes like cloves and medicine it is chlorine in your water, if it tastes like taking a shot of whisky with your beer and burns all the way down it is fusels.

It was a very dry taste, like a clove, not like whiskey.

BobbiLynn · 01-11-2013, 01:43 AM

Now hubby is trying to tell me that draining the hot tub, the last 4 years, 10 feet from the well could not possibly haved caused chlorine to get in our water. We even had a flood this past year, do you think it is chlorine in my water causing phenols? Tomorrow, I'll try to pick up a chlorine test kit and find someone to taste it...

BobbiLynn · 01-11-2013, 01:48 AM

Not taste the test kit, taste the beer! And thank you for the help and support.

**terrapinj** · 01-11-2013, 05:49 PM

does your husband have the same reaction when he tries it?

itsernst · 01-11-2013, 08:22 PM

I would imagine allergies. You can certainly be allergic to certain types of hops or grains that could cause this.

ctrlpabrewer · 01-11-2013, 08:34 PM

Emptying your hot tub that close to a water source could cause contamination, but I would think that if you took a drink of water you should get the same numbing feeling if that were the case?

Either way, maybe next time empty the tub further away from the well. It is recommended that you keep potential contaminates 100 ft. from your well head.

BobbiLynn · 01-13-2013, 04:24 PM

It's not allergic, I have drank some beer using the exact same recipe since this and no reaction. Never could get hubby to try it. And actually now, I have tried the batch again and the numbing sensation does not seem to be as intense. I'll taste it again in a week. But seems to be getting better already.

I did try a pool chlorine test strip, which I already had, on our water, it shows no chlorine, but I don't think those tests are too accurate, plus they are old strips. And I am going to get the hot tub moved away from the well before it is used again, it's actually empty now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrlpabrewer

I would think that if you took a drink of water you should get the same numbing feeling if that were the case?

No, because I think it may have been a reaction between the yeast and the chlorine, not the chlorine by itself.

And about the shelf verses the dark corner of the room... there is a 2 degree difference. The kits says ferment between 72-78 degrees(temp of the wort-not room temp) and on the floor the day I tested it was 77 degrees, on the shelf, which sun from a window comes in(but carboy covered with dark sheet), it was 79 degrees. Could two degree higher fermenting rate cause a reaction with a trace about of chlorine and produce phenols, I don't know.

**wilsojos** · 01-13-2013, 04:35 PM

That seems way too hot to me. I think the high fermentation temp probably did it because I had one batch ferment that high and it had the same taste as you've noted. It did mellow out after a couple months and didn't burn, but the taste never changed. What type of yeast was it?

BobbiLynn · 01-13-2013, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilsojos

What type of yeast was it?

Just cheap dry yeast... dry ale yeast... Safale US-05- Now I see, I am using the wrong yeast for this kit, or maybe a misprint on the kit or I misunderstood fermenting temps? I just looked it up and this yeast says temps up to 74 degrees. So I have been fermenting at too high a temp all along? ... I'm such a noob.

BobbiLynn · 01-13-2013, 05:02 PM

I am thinking now, the first 6 batches I did from these same kits, I may have gotten the more expensive liquid yeast($7 versus a couple of bucks), but these last 2, I just got the cheap yeast with it. But the other batch doesn't have the same problem(the one on the floor in a dark corner), it was the one on the shelf that developed the taste/numbing sensation.

Thank you so much for the help figuring this out. I know most of my questions are things I should already know, and I often miss the obvious... but I am trying!!!

Brewing the same old extract kits for 4 years, just following instructions, you don't learn much that way. I look forward to learning more from this site, so happy I found it. Thanks again.