SH!TE! I have a keg full of Band Aids

My first batch that I am going to have to throw out

To make matters worse, it's a double batch. It was one of my regular brews, a munich lager with a cascade hop addition.

It's a BAD taste.

Considering all the time and money spent buying, sanitising, brewing, Lagering, racking into secondary, sanitising kegs, conditioning, carbing and finally getting it hooked up to the keggerator, I am pretty unhappy that it's undrinkable.

It's crystal clear, and looks the part, but it tastes like about a dozen bandaids have been addded to every glass.

My guess is that I didn't rinse the keg well enough after cleaning and sanitising it with bleach?

GAWD I want Star San to start being distributed here in AUS!

Is there anything I can do with this besides pour it out, or drink it with a clothespin on my nose?

Distill it, that's about all that's left.

Pete- When I get back I will ship you some starsan if you still need

MikeFlynn74 said:

Pete- When I get back I will ship you some starsan if you still need

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Thanks for the offer mate! Jim says it will hopefully be available here by July, and I have family coming to visit in August, so I will definitely have some soon, but let me know when you get back and I might take you up on the offer.

This is my first issue in nearly 30 batches, and It's just due to my carelessness when rinsing and not getting all of the bleach out of the keg. I will be a LOT more careful in the future, but will definitely welcome the star san when I finally have it in my hands.

Im sure you could also use cheap vodak (Vodka) too

Cheapest Vodka I can buy here is $25 for 750ML The tax here is based on ABV%, so nothing strong is cheap, regardless of brand name.

*cough*make*cough*your own*cough*

Sorry to hear about the beer - that's a real pisser . But I did want to commend you on your use of the word "sh!te". It's criminally underused.

Im sure there are alot of members here that would be willing to ship you some star san.

Thanks Mike and Buff... I might go trolling for a helper if I get itchy and can't wait 90 more days. I have made it thus far without it, but definitely want to go the Star San route.

This batch would have been fine using the bleach if I had just been a little more meticulous with the rinsing..... I'm an idiot

Pete - any word on the Oz hop harvest this year?

OK, so I was in the LHBS last weekend, and I mentioned to the owner (Who belongs to the local Home Brew Club, and has been brewing for almost 20 years) about this keg full of bandaids.

I told him I thought it was caused by bleach residue, but he disagreed. He said "You hear about that alot on the internet forums, but I will guarantee you that it was an infection"

Any thoughts?

PeteOz77 said:

OK, so I was in the LHBS last weekend, and I mentioned to the owner (Who belongs to the local Home Brew Club, and has been brewing for almost 20 years) about this keg full of bandaids.

I told him I thought it was caused by bleach residue, but he disagreed. He said "You hear about that alot on the internet forums, but I will guarantee you that it was an infection"

Any thoughts?

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Could have been. But not likely. Usually those flavors are caused by bleach, or chloramines in the water supply. I've noticed that sometimes warmer ferment temperatures will make it worse. Some yeasts also produce more phenols-notably Belgian strains, and in water supplies with chlorine or chloramine, it can combine into something really bad.

From howtobrew.com: Medicinal off-flavors
These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.

Sorry to hear about the band Aid beer . Damn wish I knew you needed Starsan. I was just in AUS in April I would have gladly brought some with me.If you need some just IM me I'll send some to ya

PeteOz77 said:

I told him I thought it was caused by bleach residue, but he disagreed. He said "You hear about that alot on the internet forums, but I will guarantee you that it was an infection"

Any thoughts?

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I've tasted that in many beers from people. Each time I ask them if they used bleach to sanitize. Each time, they said YES. (one guy used pool chlorine).

It comes from not rinsing enough with HOT water.

I'd bet Starsan would solve this problem in the future. It's all I use now.

springer said:

Sorry to hear about the band Aid beer . Damn wish I knew you needed Starsan. I was just in AUS in April I would have gladly brought some with me.If you need some just IM me I'll send some to ya

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Thanks Springer, I might take you up on that. I have family coming in 2 weeks and they are SUPPOSED to be bringing me 2 bottles, but if they don't, I'm tired of waiting.....

EdWort said:

I've tasted that in many beers from people. Each time I ask them if they used bleach to sanitize. Each time, they said YES. (one guy used pool chlorine).

It comes from not rinsing enough with HOT water.

I'd bet Starsan would solve this problem in the future. It's all I use now.

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Yeah, I was pretty convinced that I knew what the problem was, then this bloke made me question it....

I didn't use ANY hot water, but I used a LOT of cold water, fully rinsed each keg 4 times and though I had removed all traces of odour. Needless to say, I won't be using Sanke kegs anymore.... too heavy and too hard to clean properly.