Off flavors

The last couple batches I have brewed have had a very bitter almost medicinal aftertaste on the back of the tongue. I have been doing a lot of reading and getting some mixed messages as to the cause and therefore solution to the issue. Is the problem sanitation, oxidation, water chlorine, etc.??? Help me!!

Welcome, good to have ya. Thermometers jack everything up, make sure your's is on the money. Make sure your yeast is new and use a lot of it. Can you tell me about how you brew? Is their any point rules are broken?

mikescooling said:

Welcome, good to have ya. Thermometers jack everything up, make sure your's is on the money. Make sure your yeast is new and use a lot of it. Can you tell me about how you brew? Is their any point rules are broken?

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At the moment I brew with extract. I would love to make the plunge into all grain but I'd like to dial in the fermentation process before investing the added time/money. I'm no sure what you mean as far as breaking rules.

For example, most kits give instructions, like steep the bag of grains under 170F for 30min. Or they say to use a carboy buy all you have is a big pot. What I'm not doing a good job of asking is, are you flowing the instructions? or improvising?

mikescooling said:

For example, most kits give instructions, like steep the bag of grains under 170F for 30min. Or they say to use a carboy buy all you have is a big pot. What I'm not doing a good job of asking is, are you flowing the instructions? or improvising?

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No, for the most part I follow the instructions. I just pulled the dry hop off an IPA I made and tasted a sample. It was spot on. I used distilled water instead of tap so I have to believe that that was my main issue, hopefully anyway.

Chloraphenols from chlorine can cause all kinds of strange off flavors from cloves to medicinal to burnt plastic. Use campden tablets.