Plastic flavor

Hi all,

I brewed up an all grain Irish Red from NB. (here http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/irish-red-ale-all-grain-kit.html)


I fermented it in my food grade plastic fermenter bucket that I have never had a problem with. (same as this http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...ipment/buckets/7-9-gal-fermenting-bucket.html)

I fermented at 67 degrees.

The beer has harsh plastic taste. Kinda like plastic, with a HINT of bitterness that you would get from soap.

When I cleaned the carboy I soaked it in Oxyclean for an hour and then rinsed a couple times. Then let it soak in Sani-Clean.

This is what I do for all my fermenters. (I have one glass, and one BB as well)

I know its hard to understand with the simple description of Plastic, but I have looked at the BJCP page about off flavors. None really seem to be it.

What do you guys think could have been the problem? I'm worried about re using this fermenter for my next batch.

Thanks!

Try http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

-a.

What water did you use? Chlorine/chloramine is a likely culprit. Campden tablets (1/2 tablet per 5 gallons) can fix that.

Thank you for the reply sumnerH,

I used albertsons spring water that I have used for about 10 batches without problem. I use the standard 5.2 PH stabilizer on each batch.

Also possible that you over sparged, or your sparge water may have been too hot.

Hmm. Try reading through the How to Brew link above and see if any of those flavor descriptions seem accurate to you.

It's possible that Albertson's recently switched to a source with chloramine, but somewhat unlikely; I'd investigate other alternatives first.

Thanks once again for the replies guys.

Slomo, you are correct I did sparge around 174. ( I had to look in my brew journal) Is this hot enough to create a plastic taste? I know that it can lead to tannins, but I never imagined it would taste like plastic..... the taste is a little bitter, as described above

I do not believe that albertsons changed water, because I have used it on more recent batches with out problems.

Where is the Link that you mention SumnerH?

The link ajf posted.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html