my apfelwine tastes like the rubber stopper on the carboy

Its just an aftertaste - but its definitely there. It is really bothering me. Is there anyway to fix this? its been in the carboy for 7 weeks and it will really tick me off if that flavor is just stuck in there.

Think it will go away if I keg it and carb it?

In my experience this stuff really benefits from a month or so of bottle/keg conditioning.

I thought it was $hitty at first, but after some conditioning it was pretty good.

add some non fermentable sugars to it so it will take away from the tanic after taste which is associated with a 'rubbery' mouth taste.

Thor the Mighty said:

add some non fermentable sugars to it so it will take away from the tanic after taste which is associated with a 'rubbery' mouth taste.

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I'll give this a shot. What would you suggest?

Well, I"m of the opposite opinion. I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and I dislike sweetened ciders and wines and even hard lemonade!

The rubber stopper taste and smell is not related to tannins- I actually add tannin to my apple wines to provide "bite" to them. I would think there were be no (Or at least very little tannic taste with apfelwein).

That taste/smell will fade, and you won't even notice it after a while.

That said, if you want to sweeten it because it's too dry, you can sweeten a sample to taste. And then add a proportional amount to the rest of the batch. Keep in mind that a month after bottling, it'll taste even sweeter. So, sweeten it just a tad to under where it's "just right".

Yeah - I would like to keep it dry. I'm just nervous it took on the taste of stopper and that it won't fade at all.

How much longer should I wait? Its been 7 weeks.

When it's clear and ready to bottle, go ahead and bottle it, or keg it.

did you by chance sanitize with bleach?

Sean said:

did you by chance sanitize with bleach?

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Lord tell me you didn't use a black rubber stopper from the hardware store. This mistake should be in a sticky somewhere.

And my favorite method of sweetening....mix with Ginger Ale.

Sean said:

did you by chance sanitize with bleach?

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yeah - just normal bleach. the apfelwine is the first thing I have put in this carboy - so I didn't make a very strong solution. I also made sure to rinse it really well.

BigKahuna said:

Lord tell me you didn't use a black rubber stopper from the hardware store. This mistake should be in a sticky somewhere.

And my favorite method of sweetening....mix with Ginger Ale.

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I didn't do the black rubber stopper. Although I had no idea the black ones could do damage. I feel like a dodged a bullet having read your post.

drsocc said:

I didn't do the black rubber stopper.

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Then any off flavor you're experiencing is from the yeast and will go away with some time.
And keep in mind, you may just not like Apfelwein....In which case, I'll just think you're odd.

Is there something really wrong with using bleach in a carboy dedicated to apfelwein?

I had a problem with bleach infecting a batch of beer. It creates a 'bandaid' aroma and flavor. Putrid. So maybe I think about that too much, but it is a similar aroma to new rubber. If you rinsed well, hot water, or vinegar, or just used it properly, it probably is just the yeast, like BK suggested.

Luck

my guess is the black variety are nitrile which is unsuitable for food service.

BigKahuna said:

Lord tell me you didn't use a black rubber stopper from the hardware store. This mistake should be in a sticky somewhere.

And my favorite method of sweetening....mix with Ginger Ale.

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drsocc said:

Is there something really wrong with using bleach in a carboy dedicated to apfelwein?

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I use good 'ol Clorox for everything, and I have for years. Rinse till you can not smell it, then you are GOOD TO GO.
Or you could just spend $8.00 and get some starsan

I'm a new brewer, but I still prefer using 1-Step. I've heard too many horror stories with bleach, so I decided to go with a no-rinse cleaning solution, just in case.

I went ahead and kegged it tonight. I siphoned a gallon into a growler and the rest went into the keg. I'm just going to carb the hell out of it and turn it into apfelchampagne and serve it up for final four viewers at my casa.

I also kegged that Irish Stout.

I think I am going to let the stuff I put in the growler sit for a good long while and see what it does.

just reading through this and I am wondering why nobody has asked this question:

"How do you know what the rubber stopper tastes like?"

whats real tastey is a cider (carbed apfelwein should work too) and stout mix... real tastey

savion47 said:

whats real tastey is a cider (carbed apfelwein should work too) and stout mix... real tastey

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That sounds like a snake bite to me, but I'm not so sure about a snake bite dry-hopped with a rubber stopper