How to explain a bad metallic taste???

Upon racking a belgian amber ale I found it had an awful metallic taste. I'm sure there are several explanations for this, but I'd like to narrow it down and hopefully avoid this problem in the future. Here are the possibilities I've come up with:

1. I used 5.2 for the first time and possibly added too much (container kind of spewed some into my water when I first opened it)

2. I used a homemade copper wort chiller for the first time. I rinsed it thoroughly in 150 degree water before the first use, then put it in the wort as soon as I took the heat off the boil which should have killed anything else on it. Is it possible the copper could have been treated with something that would have come off into my wort during chilling?

3. I used Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey for the first time, is it possible that the yeast caused the taste?

4. Primary fermentation was only for one week, then moved to secondary and re-pitched for two more weeks. Is it possible that it wasn't given enough time in primary?

5. Finally is it possible the batch was contaminated? The gravity went from 1.046 to 1.011, so the yeast did work, but could still have gotten some bacteria in at some point.

Lastly, if it's not contaminated, is it possible that the metallic taste will condition out in the bottles?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I would say either #1 or #2, or possibly your water source.

Did you use a enamelware brew pot?

What kind of water did you use. How about the actual recipe - did you use liquid extract? The taste might recede in time - mine did and turned out fantastic.

#1 no
#2 perhaps
#3 no
#4 probably not
#5 nope

Check out this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/metallic-taste-63393/

I know some of you are going to blast me when I say this but I think its the yeast! I get this same taste when I use Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey and White labs Trappist yeast strains.

I actually pointed it our to my wife the other day after tasting a Rye IPA I made with 1214 and it was there.

I've been using the same water for all my batches, so unless something changed recently with the Minneapolis city water I doubt that's it.

Primevci, I did indeed use an old enamelware pot, a 33 gal that I've used for at least 3-4 other batches. It has a couple spots where the coating is rusting off the bottom, but I was assured by a much more experienced brewer friend that it shouldn't be an issue...I was hesitant to believe him, maybe for good reason.

It was a Midwest kit - the Flat Tire.

My biggest concern is that it was the chiller that did it, and I've since used it to chill two ciders that are currently fermenting. But I also used the enamelware pot to boil them, so that could be it also.

Either way, I think I'll try and sanitize the crap out of my chiller, and invest in a stainless brewpot.

drewski said:

I've been using the same water for all my batches, so unless something changed recently with the Minneapolis city water I doubt that's it.

Primevci, I did indeed use an old enamelware pot, a 33 gal that I've used for at least 3-4 other batches. It has a couple spots where the coating is rusting off the bottom, but I was assured by a much more experienced brewer friend that it shouldn't be an issue...I was hesitant to believe him, maybe for good reason.

It was a Midwest kit - the Flat Tire.

My biggest concern is that it was the chiller that did it, and I've since used it to chill two ciders that are currently fermenting. But I also used the enamelware pot to boil them, so that could be it also.

Either way, I think I'll try and sanitize the crap out of my chiller, and invest in a stainless brewpot.

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Look over it real well if it chipped and you have exposed iron thats whats under the enamal it will give you a metallic taste...just reading over the rest of your post i think this your problem espcially if its showing rust.

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No way it was a copper chiller. I use one, I also use copper in my tun. A lot of people use a copper chiller with no issues.

I had something similar. And comparing with a friend who also had that problem, I've narrowed it down to sanitizer while bottling. We both used starsan, I carelessly used a vinitor, pumping it till it was almost filled & not letting it all drain out, therefore leaving some left in the bottle. My friend told me that he mixed the ratio wrong (adding too much sanitizer) in the bottling process.

KayaBrew said:

No way it was a copper chiller. I use one, I also use copper in my tun. A lot of people use a copper chiller with no issues.

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Right the problem is if it is "new". I know at least with aluminum pots, for example, you need to passivate/season them before using them because they will otherwise give your beer a nice layer of metal ions the first time you use it.

I've now racked the second batch I used the new chiller on. I used the same enamelware pot, and there was no noticeable metallic taste. It was a cider, so it's possible that the sweetness somewhat hid the taste, but this confirms the theory that it was the "new" chiller that caused the metallic taste.

drewski said:

I've now racked the second batch I used the new chiller on. I used the same enamelware pot, and there was no noticeable metallic taste. It was a cider, so it's possible that the sweetness somewhat hid the taste, but this confirms the theory that it was the "new" chiller that caused the metallic taste.

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its hard to believe the copper did this for me anyways, its a non ferrous metal

weirdboy said:

Right the problem is if it is "new". I know at least with aluminum pots, for example, you need to passivate/season them before using them because they will otherwise give your beer a nice layer of metal ions the first time you use it.

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Good point, WB.

Update for anyone interested, I tried a bottle of the problem Fat Tire clone last night, ten days after bottling. The taste isn't distinctly metallic, but it's still pretty bad - barely drinkable. I think whatever came off of the new copper into the beer may be slowly conditioning out. I'm going to shelve it for awhile and maybe try a bottle in another month or so.

I'll be bottling the cider (2nd batch with new copper chiller) this week so we'll see if there's any weird taste there.

i'm pretty sure that it would take A LOT of oxygen and time to get that flavor from an infection