Rubber smell and taste

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andypenning

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My homebrews often smell and taste like the rubber Fermenthaus stoppers I use. Is that a common off flavor? I should mention these beers are high gravity and brewed in 1 gallon batches. I use about a half packet of dry yeast and am very careful about sanitation. What could be causing these flavors?
 
What do you ferment the beer in? Do you do any transfers that use hose or anything?

fermented in 1 gallon amber glass with stopper and 3 piece airlock filled with StarSan solution. Then transferred using siphon hose from LHBS. I use the same type hose for lautering, racking after boiling, racking to secondary, and bottling. The taste is strongest after primary fermentation, but never quite goes away.
 
Pay close attention to your fermentation temps. You may also be stressing your yeast depending on the gravity of the wort. What kind of yeast and what gravity?

Gordie
 
Sorry to thread necro, but yes even a stopper can flavor a batch, especially with just 1 gallon jugs. I just did some different ciders in 1 gal jugs and a couple stank like rubber. I didn't feel like sanitizing the thief so I just poured samples... right across the glass the stoppers were in contact with. They tasted like fresh asphalt. The good batches has silicone stoppers. The noxious ones had stoppers that I ran out to a local brewing section of a grocery store for. The entire siphoned jugs tasted off too, not just the samples I poured. It leeched across the headspace right into my cider.

I looked at the brand on them. "Fermenthaus".

I tried boiling them, and the smell just got worse. It gives me headaches. And on the top of the water and all over the pan was a sticky, oily film of rubber stank. Just everywhere. The stoppers are getting thrown out and the cider given to some less picky friends. Never again with these Fermenthaus stoppers. Silicone only for me now.
 
The hose you are using may not be able to handle the high temperature of the wort when you are lautering and transferring after the boil. You might want to try purchasing silicone tubing that is designed to handle those temperature.
 
I can't speak to anyone else's problem, but mine was the stoppers for sure. I decanted some and it was awful. After wiping the neck, it was less noticeable. My batches touched nothing but glass, an auto siphon and The Thief.
 
This post was originally started in 2008 and they continue to sell those fermenthaus stopper/bungs that make your brew stink like rubber and totally undrinkable. I had a few stinky batches thanks to the fermenthaus rubber stoppers. The longer the beer stays in the fermenter the stronger the odor will be. I have seen other post on the internet saying the same thing about these stoppers. I suggest using silicone stoppers if you can find them.

My homebrews often smell and taste like the rubber Fermenthaus stoppers I use. Is that a common off flavor? I should mention these beers are high gravity and brewed in 1 gallon batches. I use about a half packet of dry yeast and am very careful about sanitation. What could be causing these flavors?
 
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