anyone know what this taste is from?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

thebamaking

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
173
Reaction score
1
Location
Birmingham, Alabama
so i just bottled an extra pale ale (or an ipa depending on what you want to call it) and i sampled a sip of it afterwards...it tasted exactly like plastic. i am just praying its not a contamination. the recipe is...

6.6 lbs muntons light lme
6 oz corn sugar
1/2 ounce of chinook at boil
1/2 ounce of anthanum (prob. spelled wrong) at 30 min
1 ounce of anthanum at 60 min
used a simple dry yeast (muntons gold)

does anybody know why this sample would taste like plastic?

fermentation temps were around 68 (a bit high)...could this taste be indicative of fusel alcohol? will it go away? has this ever happened to any of yall?
 
could be from using water from a hose, could be from chloramines in the water... i doubt if it has anything to do with fusel alcohols, i don't think those taste like plastic.

but don't let it sway you yet, let it condition and carb like it should and taste it again, i bit it will fade.
 
The plastic-like taste in your beer is likely from either chlorinated water or from contamination. If its the water itself, next time you could try using bottled water or you could pre-boil all of your water to get rid of the chlorine. I don't think the fermentation temperature is to blame though-fusels tend to taste hot rather than plasticy. 68 is plenty fine for fermentation-I've fermented beers at 75 with without major taste flaws. Hope this helps!
 
yep that explains it completely it is definately from chlorine because i didnt use bottled water for that batch.........hope it will fade a little bit and i learned a valuable lesson (a bit too late unfortunately because i have 2 other batches i did the same thing with)
 
Boiling works but throw a campden tablet for 5 to 10 gallons of water and will work just as well at removing chloramines. I used to boil but as an all grain brewer this was a pain so next to filtering water buy a bunch of tablets and use 1 for each batch crush the tablet and mix well into 5 gallons.

Jay
 
Right, as I understand it, boiling will remove chlorine, but not chloramine. If you're in a large municipality, you can probably figure out what they use. Here, it's chloramine, so I use campden tabs.
 
Back
Top