Medicinal taste?

I started my first homebrew (Scottish ale) and it went through the primary for one week, the secondary for two weeks and has been in the bottle for 8 days. I decided to chill one and give it a taste. I don't think it tastes to bad by my wife says it has a medicinal taste. Has anyone every had the same experinece? Is there a possiblity of contamination?:rockin:

The first thing I would ask, what temperature did you ferment it at? High fermentation temps (75+) can lead to the production of fusel alcohols and other compounds that could be described as medicinal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is an extract recipe right? Did you steep some specialty grains with it? If so, did you leave the grains in the pot during the boil? I only ask because doing that will extract tannins from the grain husks that can lead to an astringent (medicinal) flavor. Like what happens to a cup of tea if you leave the teabag in too long.

John

Band-aid or medicinal taste can be caused by contact woth chlorine. What type of sanitizer do you use?

Give it at least another month & try it again.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Band-aid or medicinal taste can be caused by contact woth chlorine. What type of sanitizer do you use?

Click to expand...

... and another source could be unfitlered/un-boiled tap water if the water contains a lot of chlorine.

-walker