chlorophenol after bottle conditionning? Louisvile water

Hi everyone,
I have onbly brewed 2 batches so far, but I had the same off-flavor on both of them. It kinda reminds me of a plastic burned-rubber type of flavor so I suspect chlorophenol. I can taste it on the roof of the mouth.
I suspect chlorophenol, but I am not sure because I only noticed the taste after carbonation (in the bottle). Shouldn't it be present before botteling?
I'm from louisville, KY and the water is said to be good for brewing, but is it after removing chloramine? (we have about 2.7ppm).
Does anybody have any experience with this water? If people can make good beer with the same water and without removing the chloramine then I will have to find anoth cause for the off-flavor.

I also thought about an infection but my final gravity and carbonation were spot-on on both batches... so I don't know what to think...

Thanks for your help.

I'm also conscious that I could have more than one issue...

It does sound like chlorine/chloramine in the brewing water that is causing that taste (one of my friends called it "plastic burps").

You'll need to remove the chloramine since it doesn't boil off.

You can use 1/2 campden tablet per 10 gallons of water. Stir in a crushed and dissolved halved tablet, and let it sit for a few minutes. That's it!

Plastic like could quite possibly be chlorphenolics. Does your water authority use chloramine? See the Sticky on Campden tablets.

Burnt rubber, OTOH, suggest yeast autolysis. Was the beer transferred to the bottles clear? Is it carbonated by live yeast? Have the bottles been kept cold?

thanks for the quick repply.

I was just concern about the fact that I didn't notice it before bottling. Is it normal not to detect it in the fermenter?

(Oh, and I forgot: The 2 beers were a Belgian Wit and an Irish Red Ale, two fairly light beers. So, low alcool, low hoppiness etc...)

ajdelange said:

Plastic like could quite possibly be chlorphenolics. Does your water authority use chloramine? See the Sticky on Campden tablets.

Burnt rubber, OTOH, suggest yeast autolysis. Was the beer transferred to the bottles clear? Is it carbonated by live yeast? Have the bottles been kept cold?

Click to expand...

Yes they use chloramine (2.7ppm, I have no idea if it's a lot or negligeable).
The beer transferred clear. I suspected the yeast on the first batch so I tried to be really careful about it on the second batch. I used Irish moss. I made a good starter (1.5q). I did a good week in primary and 3 weeks in secondary finishing with the last week around 45F. The beer was fairly clear. After bottling I kept the bottles at room temperature for 4 weeks they have now been in the fridge for a couple more.
Carbonation was good after only a week in the bottle. The yeast settled well in the bottom of the bottle and the beer is clear. I am actually pretty happy with the appearance (the colour is really good too). I didn't notice the taste after a week in bottle (it was slighty yeasty though).
When I said burned rubber, I might have been a little extrem.
It's a taste that I can detect in the middle of the roof of the mouth. (if it can help...)

Actually that's quite a bit of chloramine and that's enough to focus attention as chloramine as the culprit. The 1 Campden tablet per 20 gal. recommendation is based on 3 mg/L so be sure to use that amount or follow the 'titration' procedure in the Sticky.

OK thanks. I will definitely do that. I read your sticky too by the way, thanks for sharing.

Does it seem normal to you that I didn't notice it at bottling time for both beers?

Now that I couldn't say. The only times I have ever tasted chloramines have been when judging competitions and I never, obviously, got a chance to taste those beers just out of the fermentor. Carbonation often brings out subtle flavors and convey aromas that wouldn't otherwise be noticed. That's one of the reasons we like carbonated beer. Perhaps that's behind it. OTOH we haven't proven it is chloramine yet though with your level if you don't do something remedial I would certainly expect you wind up with it. A couple of brews done with Campden tablets that are free of this taste should pretty much settle the question as to whether it is chloramine or not.

Be sure that I will use campden tablets on my next brew... It can only be better. And if it doesnt solve the problem I will know it doesn't comme from it.
But yeah, as you said: "we haven't proven it is chloramine yet". So if someone from louisville is passing by and have brewed without filtering chloramine, I would love to hear about the result. I would hate to screw a 3rd batch...

After 3 months and a half in the bottle the off taste disappeared... For what I understand chlorophenols are not supposed to fade with time, am I right? So it might have been an infection of some sort. Or some bad yeast management.
It really disappeared on the 3 months mark.

An interresting beer by the way, not what I was expecting but interresting. It's an irish red with 90.5% MO, 9% crystal medium (55L) and 0.5% roasted barley (550L). It taste like bread crust. Not really sweet or caramelly (even if it's under-attenuated).