-TH-
Well-Known Member
I have had two batches in a row now have a terrible off flavor, one that only gets worse with time (and I mean 6+ weeks in bottles). After a lot of head scratching and frustration and searching and process changing and new equipment, yada yada I think I have found the cause of my problem. Since I (by chance) made several process and equipment changes between the two batches, I was able to rule out many factors, including brew pot, full v. partial boils, sanitizer, and fermentors. My city water report looks great, chlorine ave is 0.77 ppm, no chloromides. One of the only common denominators is yeast and ferm temps. For both batches I used Safale S-04 which I re-hydrated in water that was boiled then cooled to 90 deg. I pitched in sub-80 deg wort then fermented in a room with ambient temp at a constant 70 deg. Ferm strip showed a max temp of 73 deg during active fermentation. Website for S-04 shows acceptable range up to 75 deg so I thought I was ok. I drank samples along various stages and I would say the off flavor did not show up until after 1 week in bottles, and then it was only slight. By week 2 it was worse and by week 3 undrinkable. I would describe the off flavor as maybe a burnt plastic or rubber taste, maybe medicinal, maybe like cloves? It seems to fit descriptions Ive seen as phenolic. After some research I have found others with similar problems here:
Off Taste -- Fermentation temp & S-04? - Homebrewing - BeerAdvocate
Rubber Stopper Taste - Homebrewing - BeerAdvocate
Brews & Views Bulletin Board Service: Warm S04
Perpetual Homebrew Thread - Topic Powered by eve community
Interestingly, I have searched here on HBT and have not found anyone with similar results. So I thought I would post this and see if any of you out there have had this happen with this yeast.
Off Taste -- Fermentation temp & S-04? - Homebrewing - BeerAdvocate
Rubber Stopper Taste - Homebrewing - BeerAdvocate
Brews & Views Bulletin Board Service: Warm S04
Perpetual Homebrew Thread - Topic Powered by eve community
Interestingly, I have searched here on HBT and have not found anyone with similar results. So I thought I would post this and see if any of you out there have had this happen with this yeast.