Can elements or weldings give the beer a metallic taste?

Hi guys

For my first e-BIAB I brewed a belgian IPA. It is ending fermentation and I just took a taste and it has a strong metallic flavor. I have been brewing decent beer for a few years, and don't think it is an issue of the beer becoming oxidized.

My initial thoughts are: the weldings where the heating elements are leaked in off-flavors or the heating elements tainted the taste of the beer. Could it be all the new cams and hoses?

I have a stainless steel 52 quart system, 2 1500w elements, recirculating pump, etc.

I cleaned the pot before use and etc...this is a disapointment for my new system. Any thoughts?

I have brewed for a long time in my brew pot & it has one of the 1650 watt zinc plated elements installed through the side and I have not had any issues.

I use the plug-in element along with my stove top to brew my beer.

I could see an issue if you did not thoroughly clean all the welds, new fittings and such, but otherwise you should not have a problem with normal welds and fittings.

I use starsan, is there something better?

Out of left feild - how old was your grain? and how long did it sit around crushed before you brewed with it? Metalic taste could be from stall grain (and if you were building a new system I could see how grain could sit around longer than it should, always takes me 2x the time I allow to actually complete something )

Patricknobles said:

I use starsan, is there something better?

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Starsan is a sanitizer, not a cleaner. Soak in Oxyclean or PBW, scrub if necessary, then rinse thoroughly, then Starsan. The Starsan is not really necessary if we are talking about the hot side of the brewery.

mattd2 said:

Out of left feild - how old was your grain? and how long did it sit around crushed before you brewed with it? Metalic taste could be from stall grain (and if you were building a new system I could see how grain could sit around longer than it should, always takes me 2x the time I allow to actually complete something )

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I bought the grain the day before from the LHBS. I believe it's fresh. Good thought though.