crushing grains and off flavors

I'm trying to track down the source of a "plasticky" taste in one of my extract brews. The band-aid burps are a real drag!

The recipe was simple: Amber DME, 40L steeping grains, hops, and Safale-04 yeast.

I crushed whole grain for this batch using a plastic freezer type bag and a rolling pin. I'm noticing that the bag is filled with tiny holes afterward.

Is there a chance a plastic taste, or even tiny bits of plastic could have made it into the wort this way?

Thanks.

Do you sanitize with bleach? That's a real culprit for giving the band-aid taste. I've crushed up grain like you have, and never gotten a plastic taste from it.

No, I use Starsan or OneStep. The bag theory is a long shot. I just need to rule it out.

I would say no, bag is not likely the culprit.

Very common problem.

Chloramine in your water is the most likely culprit. Even some bottled water has chloramine! Treat it with Campden 1/4 tablet per 5 gallons and let it sit 15-20 minutes before brewing with it.

Also could be chlorine on your equipment, not necessarily from bleach. I kept getting this off flavor even treating my water and it took me a few batches to figure out where the **** it was still coming from (head slap) .... I was rinsing out my kegs with a garden hose!

The bag as culprit theory seems to be a long shot. The source of this is probably one of the better known explanations.

I brew with Ozarka bottled water (no guarantee). But our tap water has chloramines. And I think I may have done the boil for this one with RO water when the RO filters were a year old and due for servicing. Maybe one possibility.

Also, the yeast for this batch was pitched dry onto a wort with a thick layer of StarSan foam. It mostly clumped in the foam, and sat there quite a while before it dispersed. In crystal clear hindsight, I probably should have shaken the carboy to mix in the yeast.

I may never know what caused this band-aid brau if it doesn't happen again. Which would be just great.

Sodium Metabisulfite is the active ingredient in Campden. You can measure out 1/4teaspoon and add to 5 gallons of H20, same result as Campden. Sach was right its the Chloramine in city water. Even the smallest traces of Chloramine will produce the same bandaids as water with high concentrations. Doesn't matter the amount, if there is a trace you will get bandaids.

Sodium Metabisulfite is the solution. Treat your brewing and cleaning water with it.

-WW

I have city plus well water I can use, city water is good but I have been brewing 3 years with well water only. It's slightly flat in taste but does not kill the Koi fish, what does that tell you about tap water? There is no chlormine smell either. This well is almost 60 years old, dad dug it I mucked it out every two years as it collects some sand. The island must have thousands of wells. It's clean, clear and rather stable in temp year round from 61 to 63 degrees at the peak of summer. It was tested 15 years ago and told safe for drinking, this at 72' deep with a water table at 8' 7" in the summer. Heck on an island surrounded by saltwater, freshwater for watering the yard on a 1 1/2 by 4 3/4 mile island.

years ago I never did notice difference in which water I used for brewing, back then chlorine was used by the city and was boiled away.