My first (and last) batch with chlorophenols. Is this salvagable?

I made a wit that finished bottle conditioning about mid-June. First time I tried it was on July 4th, along with a few other batches I had made for a party. The other batches were fine, but I must have neglected to rinse the bottling bucket thoroughly for the Wit because every bottle has this nasty chlorophenol chemical flavor that just stays in your mouth after you drink it.

For the party, we managed to get through a decent amount of that wit anyway because some people just don't give a **** so long as there's alcohol in it. But, I still have about one and a half cases of this stuff sitting in my pantry. I thought I'd give it some time to see if the flavor mellowed out a bit, but I just cracked one, now a month later, and it still tastes like ass. It's a crying shame because the beer looks and tastes just about perfect otherwise.

So, is there any chance this stuff is going to be drinkable at some point in the future? I'm seriously considering giving this batch the heave-ho just so I can open up additional storage space and free up some bottles for better tasting beer.


FWIW after that experience, despite 2 years of brewing with bleach and never having a problem up until now, I went out and bought myself a 32oz bottle of star san and am not looking back.

Bump for Monday crowd.

I'm no expert, but from what I've read, the bleach flavor is one that tends to not mellow out without extensive aging.

However, I have had zero experience with bleach flavors as I use Star-San, so don't dump until a more experienced brewer chimes in.

Give this batch away to whoever will drink it and re-brew. It won't go away with age, it will soften a bit but if it bothers you now it won't completely go away.

A witbier doesn't have a long shelf life anyway. I've found that off flavors tend to get worse not better, although there are a few exceptions.

Sometimes you gotta cut your losses.