What to do about band-aid flavor/aroma

So I made a fat tire recipe found here. Only difference was that the LHBS was out of US-05 so I used Nottingham instead and this was my first time using this yeast. The beer is now just reaching week 6 and has spent 3 weeks in primary and almost 3 in the keg. I have made many many batches of beer and never come across this medicinal/band-aid off flavor/aroma. In fact my beers have been getting pretty damn good as off lately and the only off-flavors I can detect in my beers anymore are recipe-related. The only thing I did different with this beer was that I racked to keg after 3 weeks in primary as opposed to my usual 4 and put it directly into the keezer. Fermentation was well done and over with for at least a week. So one question is, why all of a sudden did I wind up with this off-flavor/aroma? I use filtered tap water and even make my star-san with filtered water just to be sure that its cleaner than my tap water when the residual foam mixes with the beer. I also pitched the yeast in the low 60's and fermentation temps never exceeded 64-68. So another question is, should I take the keg out of the keezer and allow it to age at room temperature for a few more weeks to see if the medicinal notes dissipate? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

it could be some kind of spoilage bacteria, it probably will not go away whatever the source.

It could be chloramines. Usually filters don't get rid of chloramines but camden tablets can quickly take care of them. I would check with your water provider to see if chloramines are used on your water supply. That is usually the most likely cause to band aid/plastic beer.

@jtejedor. If that were the case, then wouldnt all of my beers have this off-flavor? As stated, I have been making countless batches of decent-to-really good beer and this is the first time I have encountered it.

Bisco_Ben said:

@jtejedor. If that were the case, then wouldnt all of my beers have this off-flavor? As stated, I have been making countless batches of decent-to-really good beer and this is the first time I have encountered it.

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It's probably something else, but it's always possible they could have just started using chloramine.

Look under phenolic:

http://www.kroc.org/Links/TroubleshootingGuide.htm

Relate it to your process and go from there. IMO your filter is off . Try a batch using bottled water or RO and see if it goes away

What to do?

Dump it. Save yourself the trouble. Time doesn't fix it.

ONLY possible exception is a BITTER IPA. Last bandaid beer I had, I was ready to dump. Due to my lupuline shift, or "hop desensetivity"..all I tasted was band aid.

Everyone else loved the beer, I guess the bitterness masked the band aid.

If I remember correctly its the yeast. Nottingham can have a band aid like taste. Did you ferment at the correct temp? I would leave it sit for another 2 weeks about 70 for a temp, then revisit. As said before dry hoping in that 2 week time period will also help.

From the BJCP:

e) phenolic

This is an aroma and taste often compared to Band-aids (tm), medicine chest or disinfectant. Chlorophenols are particularly offensive members of this family with bleach-like flavors in addition to the ones listed above. High levels of phenols are generally produced by bacteria or wild yeast, both of which indicate a sanitation problem. Phenols may also be extracted from grain husks by overcrushing, oversparging or sparging with hot or alkaline water. Chlorinated water or sanitizer residue are possible sources of chlorophenols. Phenolic flavors are generally never desirable, the exception being the clovelike, vanilla-like or slightly smoky flavors and aromas in Bavarian wheat beers and some Belgian ales.

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In my own experience, Band-Aid comes from chloramines (some water suppliers have started using them recently in the Midwest due to the extreme drought we've had) or from poor sanitation.

@shadows69, I think you have the right idea here. I feel that this may have come from the Nottingham yeast because the band-aid like aroma has seemingly been fading as the beer has reached the 6 week mark. I will note what happens over the next few weeks as the beer continues to condition, although the keg is in the keezer and not at room temp. I fermented right around 62* just as i would with us-05, and i have to say that I am not very impressed with nottingham so far. However, if the aroma/flavor persists and doesnt completely fade I will consider another cause.

Is there a noticeable clove like smell to the batch? I had this happen to a beer once and I believe the cause was using liquid yeast that was way too old and became contaminated. Hopefully your batch improves but in the batch I had trouble with the flavor just kept getting worse.

The only band-aid beer I've ever made was obviously infected.

BAND AID = FU[KED.

Save some time.

It won't hurt to wait it out, particularly closer to fermentation temps, before you dump it.

Chlorine in your water is the usual cause. It doesn't have to be chloramine. Chlorine that isn't removed by filtering or boiling will do this as well. As for the reason that it doesn't happen to all of your batches, water treatment facilities routinely chlorine bomb the systems to keep them clean. The chlorine levels will fluctuate. If you're using unfiltered tap water, it's just a matter of time until it happens. My water is about as close to spring water as you can get out of the tap. But every couple of months the chlorine is much stronger than normal.

Sorry to be the dick here....IT NEVER GOES AWAY.

I am a devout "never dump it" brewer. This is the exception.

Nothingham tend sto be a fast eater (faster than US05). In order to avoid offs with it you should ferment it lower than with US05. Let it sit and try it in a couple of weeks. If it doesn't go away then you can dump it.

Let's hope its the yeast. I'm no fan of Nottingham myself.

Wanted to jump into this thread and hope someone is still monitoring it who can be of some help.

1. If the odor is associated with an infection, should we not expect it take time to develop, getting worse with the passage of time?
2. By the same token, if it associated with water wouldn't it be apparant immediately or, at least soon after, brewing?

If you are interested, here is the history behind my questions:

I've just completed a stretch of 5 batches down the drain due to the bandaid smell/taste - completely undrinkable. Had done a number of outstanding beers before this started and then, once it hit, it took me quite a while to realize I had a problem and then to try to figure it out. Threw away a Better Bottle and a 6 gal. fermeter bucket thinking they were the source of an infection, only to learn now that perhaps I had a water issue. The guys at the lhbs tasted the beer and said it was an infection and, being a complete noob, I took their word as gospel. (hmm)

Our city does treat the water and their treatment varies. Taste of tap water can change significantly over several month's time. I do not know what they put in the water but can certainly find out. However, I also own a property that has a well. I made several batches of beer using that well water and the beer was fine. It is a bit of a pain hauling water from there to my house so, at the suggestion of the lhbs, I decided our city water was probably OK to use. It was the second batch after shifting to use of city water at my house that I began to get this bandaid issue.

I have completely overhauled my sanitation procedures. I think I may have scratched my primary bucket with a scrubby pad while cleaning it and then, using dishwashing soap (not PBW or OneStep), thought a good soaking in StarSan would sanitize the bucket. (My current opinion is that this was the source of an infection.) The plastic primary has been replaced with a glass carboy and I am using PBW and StarSan religiously. I have three batches of beer in various stages at present, and they all smell OK so far. But it's going to be a real burr under my saddle if these brews get that bandaid smell and it turns out the city water was the source of all my bad beer.

Any opinions on my rather long-winded story would be appreciated.

Puddlethumper said:

Wanted to jump into this thread and hope someone is still monitoring it who can be of some help.

1. If the odor is associated with an infection, should we not expect it take time to develop, getting worse with the passage of time?
2. By the same token, if it associated with water wouldn't it be apparant immediately or, at least soon after, brewing?

If you are interested, here is the history behind my questions:

I've just completed a stretch of 5 batches down the drain due to the bandaid smell/taste - completely undrinkable. Had done a number of outstanding beers before this started and then, once it hit, it took me quite a while to realize I had a problem and then to try to figure it out. Threw away a Better Bottle and a 6 gal. fermeter bucket thinking they were the source of an infection, only to learn now that perhaps I had a water issue. The guys at the lhbs tasted the beer and said it was an infection and, being a complete noob, I took their word as gospel. (hmm)

Our city does treat the water and their treatment varies. Taste of tap water can change significantly over several month's time. I do not know what they put in the water but can certainly find out. However, I also own a property that has a well. I made several batches of beer using that well water and the beer was fine. It is a bit of a paid hauling water to my house so, at the suggestion of the lhbs, I decided our city water was probably OK to use. It was the second batch after shifting to use of city water at my house that I began to get this bandaid issue.

I have completely overhauled my sanitation procedures. I think I may have scratched my primary bucket with a scrubby pad while cleaning it and then, using dishwashing soap (not PBW or OneStep), thought a good soaking in StarSan would sanitize the bucket. (My current opinion is that this was the source of an infection.) The plastic primary has been replaced with a glass carboy and I am using PBW and StarSan religiously. I have three batches of beer in various stages at present, and they all smell OK so far. But I'm going to be really pi***ed if it turns out the city water was the source of all my bad beer.

Any opinions on my rather long-winded story would be appreciated.

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1. No, not necessarily
2. No, not necessarily

1- infections that cause phenols don't get worse usually but they don't improve either. The off flavor may become more apparent once hops aroma and flavor fades, but it doesn't seem to get worse.

2. Since it's the yeast and chlorine that cause this flavor, it won't be apparent until after fermentation


An easy fix is to buy some campden tablets, and stir 1/2 of a tablet into 10 gallons of brewing water in the morning before brewing. That will get rid of the chlorine and/or chloramine in the water.

If there is still a problem, it could be infection related.

Yooper said:

2. Since it's the yeast and chlorine that cause this flavor, it won't be apparent until after fermentation

An easy fix is to buy some campden tablets, and stir 1/2 of a tablet into 10 gallons of brewing water in the morning before brewing. That will get rid of the chlorine and/or chloramine in the water.

If there is still a problem, it could be infection related.

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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I don't really understand the chemistry involved and I appreciate the input from those who do. The bandaid smell seemed to increase with time so it seemed reasonable that it might be associated with the growth of an organism.

But from a correction standpoint, at least in my case, the simple solution seems to be to go back to hauling the water from my rental property. Nothing added - nothing to overcome.