Band Aid Smell/Taste

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Jaehnig

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First batch just bottled. Smells and tastes like band aids and veggies (not good ones). This is probably a water issue or fermenting temp issue or both.

Can this taste be remedied? Longer bottle conditioning times?
 
Sounds like it could be DMS in the beer. Did your grain bill have a lot of pilsner in it? If you an post the recipe and process that will help us narrow down the problem.
 
It was actually just an amber ale extract kit that I added roasted pumpkin during the boil and some spices during the last few minutes to try to turn it into pumpkin ale. So quite simple. It could very well be DMS though. Hard for me to know that smell because this is my first beer and am newer.

Used water from tap. Only boiled 2.5 gallons (should have tried more but worried stove was too weak to boil a larger volume). Dry yeast. Had a yeast starter which worked incredibly well. Star San sanitizer. 10 days primary. 18 days secondary. Just bottled last Friday. Very very strong smell though.

Fermentation temps were at about 72 degrees for almost the entire process (little warmer at first maybe 76 until evened out)
 
JonGrafto said:
Did you have the lid on when you were boiling? That could cause it.

Only for part of it. Good portion was open boil. I plan to make fermentation chamber. Use bottled water. Keep cover off during boil.

I practiced good sanitation as well.

Can this be fixed?
 
Those fermentation temps are kinda high but that usually throws off more of a fruity ester type off flavor. Did you top up with tap water or leave it to cool for a long period of time? Sounds like it maybe be an infection.
 
FastAndy said:
Those fermentation temps are kinda high but that usually throws off more of a fruity ester type off flavor. Did you top up with tap water or leave it to cool for a long period of time? Sounds like it maybe be an infection.

Topped with tap in primary. Cooled in primary in tub of water. Was covered during this process.
 
Hmm. I suppose tap water could cause an infection, seems unlikely but it does seem like its an infection of some sort. Was there much lag time between pitching an signs of fermentation? Did you take readings during fermentation (could be the exposure from a not so clean thief or hydrometer)? What are you using as a sanitizer?
 
Medicinal: These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.
 
FastAndy said:
Hmm. I suppose tap water could cause an infection, seems unlikely but it does seem like its an infection of some sort. Was there much lag time between pitching an signs of fermentation? Did you take readings during fermentation (could be the exposure from a not so clean thief or hydrometer)? What are you using as a sanitizer?

Not much time. Hydrometer was sanitized well before every use. Star San. Fermentation happened within a few hours and airlock was a rolling boiling practically. Completed within 24-36 hrs I believe.
 
FastAndy said:
Hmm. I suppose tap water could cause an infection, seems unlikely but it does seem like its an infection of some sort. Was there much lag time between pitching an signs of fermentation? Did you take readings during fermentation (could be the exposure from a not so clean thief or hydrometer)? What are you using as a sanitizer?

Fermentation began 3-4 after pitch. Lasted 24-36 hrs. Airlock liked like rolling boil. Hydrometer sanitized very well. Used star San.
 
dbrewski said:
Medicinal: These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.

Yes I read all of them. I plan to change up my procedure. Guess its best to learn now so all
Others are better.
 
That's the best attitude to have. This beer may turn out to be fine, but your future brews will be solo for sure.

Cheers!
 
FastAndy said:
Let it ride and see how it tastes in a three weeks when carbed I guess.

I was planning on it and also learning now so my next brew is better and to see how to fix or prevent this.
 
That was my plan. That, controlling temps better and no top on kettle during boil. Any other ideas?
 
Pull your local municipal water report. Most cities use Chlorine or Chloramine in their municipal supply. If I remember right Chlorine will evaporate out of water, but Chloramine will not and has to either be filtered out, treated with potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) or use RO water and add brewing "salts" as needed.
 
Store bought water and temp control should fix the issue. You don't need starters with dry yeast (just throw in a second pack if gravity requires it) and read up on late extract addition. That last part is unrelated to the current issue but will help you make better beer with partial boils.
 
Jukas said:
Pull your local municipal water report. Most cities use Chlorine or Chloramine in their municipal supply. If I remember right Chlorine will evaporate out of water, but Chloramine will not and has to either be filtered out, treated with potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) or use RO water and add brewing "salts" as needed.

Checked it. There is chlorine but didn't seem too high. It was last years bc I couldn't find this years.

What is RO water?
 
dogbar said:
Store bought water and temp control should fix the issue. You don't need starters with dry yeast (just throw in a second pack if gravity requires it) and read up on late extract addition. That last part is unrelated to the current issue but will help you make better beer with partial boils.

I was going above and beyond with the starter. Learning as I was beginning. It went well and now I can do it in the future.
 
Checked it. There is chlorine but didn't seem too high. It was last years bc I couldn't find this years.

What is RO water?

RO=Reverse Osmosis, you can generally get it at water stores or from machines for about .40 per gallon. It is essentially free of ions and chlorine and just about everything else.

I'm betting it's your water and or temp control with the yeast. You don't have DMS issues with extract, only all grain (pilsner malt in particular).

There may be some issue with the pumpkin but you boiled it so that should have killed any critters there.
 
Try your next beer with store bought water that doesn't contain chlorine. See if that helps.

Yep, or treat w/ campden tablets.

Checked it. There is chlorine but didn't seem too high. It was last years bc I couldn't find this years.

Chlorophenols have an extremely low taste threshold, much lower than the taste thresholds for the chlorine and chloramine that create it. You really need water with virtually no chlorine or chloramine in it. Chlorine is much more commonly used for municipal water systems, and is very easy to remove through a number of different methods. Chloramine is a bit tougher to get rid of.
 
At which point in the brewing process do you add the campden tablets?
 
At which point in the brewing process do you add the campden tablets?

Add it first thing. I crush it and drop it in while the water's heating up. It doesn't take much, one tablet per 20 gal of water will treat even relatively high levels of chlorine.
 
JuanMoore said:
Add it first thing. I crush it and drop it in while the water's heating up. It doesn't take much, one tablet per 20 gal of water will treat even relatively high levels of chlorine.

What if you top it off out with the tap? Add it again?
 
Jaehnig said:
What if you top it off out with the tap? Add it again?

Yes, it's actually even more important then. A lot of the chlorine from the brew water will evaporate as it's being heated even without adding campden tablets. The top off water doesn't have a chance to lose any of it's chlorine before coming in contact with the yeast.
 
Thank you all for the help! My next batch ought to be pretty good now. Lol.
 
Will this flavor improve? I've got about 8 gallons of bandaid brown and clove de garde and I don't know if it's worth holding onto or if I should just dump it now...
 
Will this flavor improve? I've got about 8 gallons of bandaid brown and clove de garde and I don't know if it's worth holding onto or if I should just dump it now...

In my experience, no. But it may not get worse, and you may find that it does improve with some time. I kegged the last 10 gallon batch, just to see. I dumped it after about 2 months or so, as it was just as bad then as the beginning.
 
Get a water filter, i had a beer that had bandaid flavor, traced it to the cholorine in the tap water. I have a water filter i run my water through now and fixed the problem. Good luck with the next one! Keep at it.
 
Yep, next brew had full on swamp cooling and spring water. Hopefully no more clove bombs.
 
I plan to just buy better water... I opened a bottle last night (about a week later, doing one a week to record progress) in the bottle smelt okay. Cup was band aid smell. Taste was veggies and band aid. I think it was better than a week ago.
 
the bottle smelt okay.

Fish-y smelling beer isn't a good thing, man. :ban:

Really though, it sounds like chlorophenols. It can come from an infection, but is much more likely due to high levels of chloromine in your tap water. Like others have suggested, a crushed Campden tab in your brewing water will do the trick.
 
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