Aftertaste in brews

I've brewed 2 batches so far and I'm getting a almost plastic aftertaste and even a slight smell of the same caliber. I'm at a loss as to why this is happening to my brews. I've done some searches and they all point to water. I used bottled water for both brews and as far as I'm aware, bottled spring water (arrowhead to be specific) doesn't contain any chloramines and doesn't require campden tablets or similar.

Both were extract brews. Different recipes, one was an Irish Stout and the second a Honey Kolsch.

I know I had the fermentation temperature a little high on the first batch so I thought that was the problem, I lowered the temp on the second batch to about 62 for about 3 weeks and had it about 68 degrees for the fourth week (US-05 yeast). Although it's not as strong, It still has the same aftertaste.

I'm usually pretty sensitive to any plastic taste in bottled water, this doesn't exactly taste the same but the closest thing to describing it. I tasted the bottled water pre-brewing and I didn't detect any off flavors.


Could it be the fermentation bucket? Both my brews were month long primaries in a plastic bucket I got from my LHBS.

First batch I just used a single pouch of wyeast so I suppose it's possible I under pitched but I don't think I under-pitched the yeast is the second batch, no starter since it was dry yeast... I re-hydrated per recommendations.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe pitching at the wrong temperature. I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly what that temperature should be.

Thanks.

Sounds to me like it may be the bucket. I've only used glass carboys for fermentation, so I haven't had that issue at all. I don't think it is your water. Arrowhead tastes good. I use the $0.88 a gallon spring water from Wally-world and there isn't any plastic taste.

Are you bottling? How long do you let them condition? It's probably just your beer being green. Check out this thread. The post Revvy makes on the first page should just about sum it up for you. Good luck and cheers!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/plastic-taste-109824/

First batch was bottled (stout). Tasted at 3 weeks and 6 weeks at 70 degree conditioning, same aftertaste.

Second batch was keg'd, and is about 2 weeks old in the fridge.

I know stouts can take a few months to condition and the recommended minimum for keg condition is around 3 weeks but I have never read young beers as having this sort of aftertaste.

Also, I used iodophor for the first batch and starsan for the second batch.

I aerated the second batch's wort with o2 before pitching.

carbonic acid (due to over carbonation) can sometimes be described as "plastic-y" tasting.

how are you priming/force carbing?

pitch around your fermentation temp. ~70f. I would also make sure your fermetation area is not damp. i believe plastic is a little more suspect in damp conditions.

Sounds to me like it may be the bucket. I've only used glass carboys for fermentation, so I haven't had that issue at all.

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Plastic fermentation vessels DO NOT give off a plastic taste in the brew. I've done about 75 beers in plastic fermenters. The only way this would be possible is if the OP were using some sort of cheap chinese plastic bucket from the 1980s that he found at the dumpster or anything else that common sense would flag as suspect for homebrewing. Pretty much anything you can find in bucket/fermentor form these days is going to be Polyethylene or Polycarbonate plastics, neither of which leech chemicals up to temps much higher than fermentation temps.

Unless you are fermenting in your grandmother's tupperware, you aren't getting that aftertaste just from having a plastic bucket.

brewski08 said:

carbonic acid (due to over carbonation) can sometimes be described as "plastic-y" tasting.

how are you priming/force carbing?

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First batch was bottled so I boiled priming sugar/water. Doesn't seem over-carbonated.

Second batch was carb'd by the set and forget method. I think my fridge is somewhere around 38 deg. at 10psi (per chart I found floating around here)

mrclean said:

pitch around your fermentation temp. ~70f. I would also make sure your fermetation area is not damp. i believe plastic is a little more suspect in damp conditions.

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Interesting... well I do keep the fermentation bucket in a tub of water with ice so I suppose this could be the case.

swallace said:

Interesting... well I do keep the fermentation bucket in a tub of water with ice so I suppose this could be the case.

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It's not the case at all. I use swamp coolers like that to maintain temps and I never get plastic flavors in my beer that ferments in a plastic bucket. I'd like to see where MrClean gets his information on this.

To me, 'plastic' screams chlorophenols, but you say you're using spring water, so it's not the brewing water. How's your yeast health? Are you making appropriate sized starters and aerating your wort properly? And are you pitching yeast at fermentation temp or pitching warm and bringing it down to temp in the swamp cooler?

NordeastBrewer77 said:

How's your yeast health? Are you making appropriate sized starters and aerating your wort properly? And are you pitching yeast at fermentation temp or pitching warm and bringing it down to temp in the swamp cooler?

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I just pitched the Wyeast packet for the first batch, no starter. The second batch was dry, so I just re-hydrated and pitched, no starter for dry yeast.

For the first batch I just poured the wort through a strainer for aeration (that's all my LHBS said to do). The second batch I used bottled o2 with a diffuser, around 50 seconds.

Again, the second batch has a more subtle aftertaste, but it's still there, and the same taste.

I'm pitching the yeast slightly warmer than fermentation temp and letting it cool down in the tub of ice/water. My LHBS told me that anything between 80 degrees and fermentation temp would be OK. I'm guessing that is inaccurate.

If I pitch at fermentation temperature I would have to let the wort sit for quite a while prior to pitching. I have a immersion chiller now, but didn't for these for the first 2 batches but I don't think my water temperature is cold enough to get the wort to pitching temp anyway.

I can try and match both the wort temp and the starter temp to the fermentation temp when pitching next time if that's what needs to be done.

swallace said:

I'm pitching the yeast slightly warmer than fermentation temp and letting it cool down in the tub of ice/water. My LHBS told me that anything between 80 degrees and fermentation temp would be OK. I'm guessing that is inaccurate.

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Yes, in my experience that's not the best idea. Mind you, it's ok, and may or may not be the cause of your flavors, but nothing else seems to match up. I try to get both my starter and my wort to fermentation temps +/- a few degrees before pitching. Temp fluctuations can be as harmful to the yeast as fermenting too warm or too cool.
All that said, pitching in the 70's and fermenting in the 60's is common practice and doesn't tend to produce phenolic flavors. Have you completely eliminated the chance of infection? As those, too, can produce chlorophenolic (plastic-y) flavors.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

It's not the case at all. I use swamp coolers like that to maintain temps and I never get plastic flavors in my beer that ferments in a plastic bucket. I'd like to see where MrClean gets his information on this.

To me, 'plastic' screams chlorophenols, but you say you're using spring water, so it's not the brewing water. How's your yeast health? Are you making appropriate sized starters and aerating your wort properly? And are you pitching yeast at fermentation temp or pitching warm and bringing it down to temp in the swamp cooler?

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I was basing the "damp" conditions as suspect in plastic containers when you have mold issues. I understand that "plasticy" and "moldy" don't really go hand and hand but for some reason that is where I digressed