Plastic strawberries....

I brewed up the Strawberry Alarmclock wheat beer in the recipe section a month ago. I just tasted the FG hydrometer sample and it tastes awful. It has a very strong medicine/plastic taste. I’d say it’s undrinkable. I’m going to sit on it for 2 or 3 months and see what happens but in the meantime I’d like to pinpoint the problem. My guess is that I got a wild yeast contamination from adding the strawberries to the secondary. The day I brewed I washed, halved, and froze the berries. I added them to a secondary and racked, once fermentation was done. When I racked off of the berries, there was no clear sign of anything out of the ordinary. The berries looked pretty good, the beer was crystal clear. I’d say it definitely has a phenolic/plastic taste. So I’m wondering if there is something other than a wild yeast that could be to blame. I’m very confident that my sanitation is sound. Also, I’m somewhat considering getting a microscope to try and confirm the wild yeast theory. Does anyone know where I could find one locally? As in, who the hell sells used microscopes, other than online?

I'd be surprised is you could differentiate between wild and beer yeast in your product with only a microscope.

I'm no expert on fruit beers (having only made one and learned my lesson from that), but isn't some sort of heat pasturization neccessary before adding to beer?

I never pasturize the fruit I add. I buy it frozen, thaw it, toss it in the bucket and rack on top of it. I figure between the Ph, alcohol and strong yeast presence nothing has a chance.

That's what I thought. I've added fruit to ciders before with no issues but those are normally around 7% ABV where this beer was about 4.5%. My understanding is that most people don't do anything to the fruit prior to adding it. This was my first attempt with beer so I really don't know. My LHBS sells 3lbs cans of fruit. I wonder if I can pasteurize those prior to adding them?

Those 3lb cans of fruit should be already sterilized as part of the canning process. If you are worried about infection, that could solve that.

Freezing fruit won't kill any bugs or bacteria, it'll just make them go dormant. The alcohol and pH *should* keep infections from happening, but it's not 100% (if it was, there wouldn't be many infections!).

If you do heat the fruit, you don't want to go too high or you'll get pectin haze. The cans are a good option, as was noted they're sterilized as part of the canning process.

I only froze the berries to break up the cell walls, thinking that would enhance the absortion of the strawberry "essence." I really though that the alcohol would keep me safe but I don't see any other point for infection, outside of something on the berriers. As noted above, chlorine could be to blame. But, I don't use chlorine. Unless the trace amount in my tapwater is to blame.

Fruit can harbor bacteria/yeast in places that might not contact the beer or wort for a while (unless maybe your fruit is pureed). Under the right conditions, these can then begin feeding on the fruit itself. Unless it's sanitary (boiled/pastuerized), there's a chance for infection.

It could also be that the water you used to wash the berries was either contaminated or high in chlorine. I typically boil all the water that I use for 10 mins and then allow it to cool in a covered pyrex dish. Chlorine can cause plastic flavors to develop.

Are we totally sure the phenols weren't present or forming prior to the strawberry addition? Bleach, over-mixed sanitizer, chlorine and Chloromine can all cause the dreaded band-aid beer issue.

Was the knife you used to cut the berries sanitized? Did you wear gloves while dealing with the fruit? I'm surprised anything survived past freezing the strawberries, but that might help.

SWMBO and I made a strawberry blonde with some commercially frozen strawberries and it came out great. Our only pitfall was using a carboy instead of a bucket for secondary fermentation, as cramming those berries in the little neck of a better bottle would be a great way to infect a batch. Didn't happen for us, though. I suppose it's always a crapshoot.

I didn't sanitize the knife or the cutting board or my hands when I cut the strawberries, no. The beer tasted fine before the strawberries were added. I mixed my iodophor at the same ratio I always use, but even if I did over mix it, there isn't any chlorine in it. At least that I'm aware of. That's why I keep going back to my wild yeast conclusion. I just don't think there is that much chlorine in my tapwater. I wish I knew for sure which it was. That's why I was considering the microscope direction. My understanding is that brewing yeast does look different than wild yeasts. Oddly enough, I think I'd now prefer to make a blackberry wheat than a strawberry wheat. And I now have a 3lb can of blackberries that I picked up from the LHBS on my lunch break. Guess I'll see in about 6 weeks how it goes. What are the chances that this cleans itself up and is drinkable in 2 - 3 months?

BWRIGHT said:

What are the chances that this cleans itself up and is drinkable in 2 - 3 months?

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My understanding is: not great. This is one off flavor that tends to get worse over time. I still wouldn't dump it yet if i were you, but I wouldn't get my hopes too high either.

I'll be pretty motivated to hang on to it. I've never dumped anything, going on 3 and half years now. I've also never had anything that tasted this awful either though.

I had the same issue. Bought the strawberries frozen and racked on top without even letting them thaw first. The beer tasted fine before that so I'm guessing it has to be wild yeast.

I was hoping it would mellow out but it's been a couple months in the bottle and its still not drinkable. Thinking of dumping it, mostly just to free up the space. I might hang on to a few just to see what happens.

Damn it.

You may have been bitten by the DPW (or whoever is in charge of your water supply) dumping a load of chlorine or chloramine into your water.
I've never heard of an infection tasting like plastic. It's always funky, or like rotten meat (thank god I've never actually experienced that :cross, or something similarly weird or gross.
I always charcoal filter my tap water, just so I don't get bitten.
And yeah, like probably a lot of people here, for strawberry beers, I get a bag of frozen from the store, and rack on top. Two weeks later, and friends are like "Dang! I'd buy that!"

I don't understand how using frozen instead of fresh strawberries changes anything. Wouldn't they be washing their strawberries with water before they're frozen? I find it hard to believe their using anything other than tap water. I didn't even consider the water I washed them off in because I don't usually use tap water at all. I use bottled spring water for everything I make.

CHLORINE BLEACH or OTHER SANITIZER is the culprit I would bet.

It NEVER goes away.

I finally dumped an EPIC IPA after 2 years.

WE cant TELL how epic it IS by the capital LETTERS!

BWRIGHT said:

I don't understand how using frozen instead of fresh strawberries changes anything. Wouldn't they be washing their strawberries with water before they're frozen? I find it hard to believe their using anything other than tap water. I didn't even consider the water I washed them off in because I don't usually use tap water at all. I use bottled spring water for everything I make.

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food processing plants are fairly sanitary. I'm not saying that contamination doesn't exist in frozen fruit, but it is about a million times "cleaner" than picking from a vine and rinsing it off. The freezing isn't the important part, it's the washing and sanitizing practices used at the processing plant that make a difference.

ilikethetrees said:

I'm surprised anything survived past freezing the strawberries, but that might help.

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Freezing doesn't kill bacteria. It slows down its metabolism. Warm the bacteria back up and it's more than happy to infect your beer.

bigbeergeek said:

Freezing doesn't kill bacteria. It slows down its metabolism. Warm the bacteria back up and it's more than happy to infect your beer.

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in fact, there are bacteria that are quite happy even at sub freezing temps

http://www.i-fink.com/articles/articles/lonely_old_bacteria/

wolfman_48442 said:

You may have been bitten by the DPW (or whoever is in charge of your water supply) dumping a load of chlorine or chloramine into your water.............

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THIS GUY pointed it out

BWRIGHT said:

I don't understand how using frozen instead of fresh strawberries changes anything. Wouldn't they be washing their strawberries with water before they're frozen? I find it hard to believe their using anything other than tap water. I didn't even consider the water I washed them off in because I don't usually use tap water at all. I use bottled spring water for everything I make.

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THIS GUY missed it (along with EVERYONE)

cheezydemon3 said:

CHLORINE BLEACH or OTHER SANITIZER is the culprit I would bet.

It NEVER goes away.

I finally dumped an EPIC IPA after 2 years.

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I made it more CONCISE AND NOTICEABLE....

Guess42 said:

WE cant TELL how epic it IS by the capital LETTERS!

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You were fascinated by the SIZE of my letters

shafferpilot said:

food processing plants are fairly sanitary. I'm not saying that contamination doesn't exist in frozen fruit, but it is about a million times "cleaner" than picking from a vine and rinsing it off. The freezing isn't the important part, it's the washing and sanitizing practices used at the processing plant that make a difference.

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Again begins the fascinating discussion of sanitizing strawberries..........

shafferpilot said:

Are we totally sure the phenols weren't present or forming prior to the strawberry addition? Bleach, over-mixed sanitizer, chlorine and Chloromine can all cause the dreaded band-aid beer issue.

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Hey, I said it too.... but yes, the strawberry convo is fascinating... just not directly related to the OP's problem