kmudrick
Well-Known Member
Hey all,
I recently started homebrewing and my first two batches came out with a plastic / band aid taste. Both were extract with steeped grains - first was an IPA, second was a belgian wit. Both worts were cooled via an immersion wort chiller relatively quickly. Both were in a food-grade bucket for primary and racked to a 5 gallon carboy for secondary via an autosiphon. Sometime in secondary, both beers ended up developing the offtaste. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I use idophor for sanitizing and have been pretty conscious of letting things soak (and not rinsing, just air-drying.) Both fermented in the desired temp range in my temperature-regulated chest freezer.
I've read that this taste is often caused by chlorine in the water or bleach residue. Since I don't use bleach, that can't be it - however, my city (Philadelphia) does use chloramine in its water, which does not boil off or go away like chlorine. If that is indeed the culprit here, how long would it take for that flavor to develop? Would I see the nastiness of chloramine wreaking havoc on my beer fairly immediately?
My LHBS guy thinks there was something in the air around here during late summer / early hot fall that led to a more than average number of infections (he's had many complaints.) He thinks it is an infection, not due to the chloramine in the water.
Both batches dropped in gravity the expected amount in primary and pretty much no drop whatsoever in secondary (as expected.) If I introduced an infection when I racked to secondary, would I have seen a gravity drop due to the wild yeast or bacteria feeding on the beer?
Any suggestions on what else it might be or supporting/dismissing the theories here? I really want to try another batch soon but I am not so optimistic about blowing more time and money (since I am extract brewing, the money part really adds up.) My next planned batch is papazian's "dubbel your pleasure" from the Joy of Home Brewing, which does not suggest even using a secondary vessel. I also bought several gallons of spring water to use this time also.
I also want to do a starter but I fear yet another possible source from infection. The first batch, I did no starter, pitched white labs wlp023 and had to add a second vial 4 days later after no activity. The second batch, I did a starter with a 1L pyrex flask, boiled the wort in it, cooled down in ice bath with the opening covered with tin foil, and pitched a swollen wyeast smack pack - which worked very nicely.
Thanks,
kevin
I recently started homebrewing and my first two batches came out with a plastic / band aid taste. Both were extract with steeped grains - first was an IPA, second was a belgian wit. Both worts were cooled via an immersion wort chiller relatively quickly. Both were in a food-grade bucket for primary and racked to a 5 gallon carboy for secondary via an autosiphon. Sometime in secondary, both beers ended up developing the offtaste. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I use idophor for sanitizing and have been pretty conscious of letting things soak (and not rinsing, just air-drying.) Both fermented in the desired temp range in my temperature-regulated chest freezer.
I've read that this taste is often caused by chlorine in the water or bleach residue. Since I don't use bleach, that can't be it - however, my city (Philadelphia) does use chloramine in its water, which does not boil off or go away like chlorine. If that is indeed the culprit here, how long would it take for that flavor to develop? Would I see the nastiness of chloramine wreaking havoc on my beer fairly immediately?
My LHBS guy thinks there was something in the air around here during late summer / early hot fall that led to a more than average number of infections (he's had many complaints.) He thinks it is an infection, not due to the chloramine in the water.
Both batches dropped in gravity the expected amount in primary and pretty much no drop whatsoever in secondary (as expected.) If I introduced an infection when I racked to secondary, would I have seen a gravity drop due to the wild yeast or bacteria feeding on the beer?
Any suggestions on what else it might be or supporting/dismissing the theories here? I really want to try another batch soon but I am not so optimistic about blowing more time and money (since I am extract brewing, the money part really adds up.) My next planned batch is papazian's "dubbel your pleasure" from the Joy of Home Brewing, which does not suggest even using a secondary vessel. I also bought several gallons of spring water to use this time also.
I also want to do a starter but I fear yet another possible source from infection. The first batch, I did no starter, pitched white labs wlp023 and had to add a second vial 4 days later after no activity. The second batch, I did a starter with a 1L pyrex flask, boiled the wort in it, cooled down in ice bath with the opening covered with tin foil, and pitched a swollen wyeast smack pack - which worked very nicely.
Thanks,
kevin