plastic aftertaste and plastic burp

So i keep looking back and I cant find an answer. So with almost all of my light beers are getting an plastic aftertaste, well i would say more of a plastic burp than taste but its there.Its showing up in bottles and kegs. My pumpkin, american brown, wheats, those are ones i can think off the top of my head. My fermentation temps are not spot on but nothing extreme. So what could cause this. I'm thinking chloramine, but i do use a carbon/ prefilter for my water. I use starsan, whitelabs yeast nutrent, and whirlflock. its really bugging me. Hopefully you guys can help.
-Ryan

I may be wrong, but I don't believe a plain carbon filter will remove chloramine. I did some reading on it a few months back and IIRC, it takes a rather long contact time with activated carbon to remove chloramine. I was looking to find a good filter for it, but decided to just stick with campden tabs and have never had that problem since.

Another possibility is your tubing. Are you using any vinyl tubing during your brewing process or otherwise allowing your brew to come in contact with some type of vinyl?

Ryan,

I think it may be your water. The reason I think this is because when I brew at home in Boston, I use the city's water and have no issues, it is relatively soft. Occasionally, I go to Maine and brew at my parents place. They have a well and very hard water and I always get a slight plasticy flavor, generally on the exhale of drinking the beer.

Sorry I am not much help, but it may pinpoint your problem.

Thats exactly the same thing I was trying to describe. I have also had a problem, with my IPAs and the bittering not coming through. So Im thinking that the water and the hardness is playing a part in it. So I guess ill just start using the big jugs of water and maybe a little tap water. I haven't really done anything with my water except for 5.2. Ill see where this takes me. Ill be brewing next week after Finals. This week and weekend is crazy, but its killing me not being able to brew. Thanks for the input.

Also - make sure you follow the instructions on your in-line filter for how fast you can run water through it. If you push your water through full-blast, you won't get effective filtration and you'll end up with some chlorophenols in the end...

I also think it may be your water. I have had what I think is the exact same problem you're describing and I believe it has been my water. I initially used tap water which was a very bad idea (as our tap water is horrible). Then I started using spring water from a local 'fill your own bottle' spring. The water was extremely hard and anything lighter in color came out bad and my IPA's were just not good at all, bitterness and flavor were just not coming through, plus they had that horrible off flavor. My darks were OK using that water, but still not great. We now have a reverse osmosis system in our home and I using that water and then building it up from there.

My suggestion is to take a water sample and send it off to Ward Labs... for like $17 + shipping you can find out exactly what is in your water and then build water profiles appropriate to the style you are trying to brew. One comment that I read when I first started brewing is that if your water tastes good it is fine to brew with. While that may be true on some levels, it really does not make for the best beer and you may end up with off flavors for some styles if your water profile is really off for that style (even if the water does taste good).

it sounds like chlorophenols to me. Just crush up a campden tablet and mix it in a few minutes before heating up your water and you should be good to go. Also it's well worth it to have your water tested by Ward Labs so you know what minerals you have and if you need to make any adjustments for the style you're brewing.

+1 to all of the above. Your hunch about chloramine is probably correct, although it could also be your transfer tubing depending on the type and how you're using it. Most filters don't remove chlorine or chloramine, and the ones that do only remove some of it. As mentioned, the slower the flow the more effective the filter will be. Campden tablets are a cheap and easy fix.

It sounds like you guys all have it nailed, but I have had this taste attributed to oxydized beer as well so take a look at your process. I know it sounds strange, but I had oxydized a starter and pitched the entire liquid onto my beer because I did not know any better. It was badly oxydized as I did interrmittent shaking. The entire beer has that plasticy thing going on. I tested the theory, by tasting my next starter liquid and it tastes exactly the same - I decanted the liquid and pitched the cake only, the resulting beer is wonderful with no plastic taste.

I still agree to try the Campden tabs first - but do examine your process and see if there is any way you are Oxidizing your beer.

Take it to your local homebrew store and have them assess it. I had a similar issue. My very first brown tasted plasticky as did my second batch. It went away and came back on my mocktoberfest and IPA. I brought those last two in and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Turns out I'm just over analytical of my homebrew taste... and what I thought was a plastic flavor wasn't. No one at my HBS could taste it. I've come to terms with the fact that it's just how to much perceive a particular ingredient in some of my beers.

I have NJ water and my first few beers had awful homebrew taste. I then decided to invest in a carbon filter. Now after my brewday is finished I hook up a carbon filter to the faucet and let it run trickle very slowly into my keggle. When it's done (around 24 hours mostly) I throw in a campden tablet. I let the water sit in the keggle until next brew day. Even If I don't brew for a month, it makes me feel good to know any chlorine, chloramines have precipitated out. Ever since I started this practice my beers have turned out much better.

ryan0914 said:

So i keep looking back and I cant find an answer. So with almost all of my light beers are getting an plastic aftertaste, well i would say more of a plastic burp than taste but its there.Its showing up in bottles and kegs.

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hey ryan,

i have come across this very same issue on multiple batches and am confused as to what is going on here! like you, in all of my light beers, the plastic burp is consistently there. i thought initially it was because i was baking my bottles to sterilize them. sterilizing bottles with starsan produced the same results. my hydrometer samples never give off any sort of plastic character, its always the carbonated beer that does. this is why I thought this issue had to be something with my bottles, bottle sterilization, or even siphoning (oxidation???).

my tap water tastes fine and i don't think its heavy in chloramines or chlorophenols. i've never screened my water for analysis though.

wondering if you managed to ever remedy this situation and/or figure out what it was all along?

Bump! Using RO water, and I can't nail down the ever so slight "plastic burp" that is occurring in my beers...

I have had this issue twice (in maybe 100 brews), both times using well water with no chloramines or chlorine. using PVC tubing, but same tubing as for all the other brews that had no problems. I thought maybe yeast stress as fermentation temperature was at the lower end for the yeast and not stable. Just a guess though.

Shock29 said:

Bump! Using RO water, and I can't nail down the ever so slight "plastic burp" that is occurring in my beers...

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Your brew tubing perhaps?

IslandLizard said:

Your brew tubing perhaps?

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Hey lizard. Figured it out. In my case, the band aid burp may have been coming from using tap water for my StarSan (switched it to RO), or more likely, infection in the bottle.

What kind of hose are you using to add water to your setup? A run of the mill garden hose or an potable water RV hose.

Shock29 said:

Hey lizard. Figured it out. In my case, the band aid burp may have been coming from using tap water for my StarSan (switched it to RO), or more likely, infection in the bottle.

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RO water should not contain any chlorine.

I thought you said you're using RO water:If you produce your own RO water, I doubt chlorine makes it through the RO membrane. There's also carbon filtering before, and often after the RO membrane. Chloramines shouldn't make it through the membrane either, AFAIK.

Water test, and if you have Chloramine or chlorine, get a carbon BLOCK filter, AND use campden.

I'm lucky, I just get chlorine (I can smell it in the water) and a brita faucet mount has always taken that out and left me with great tasting water, and good brewing water.

My brother has the baind-aid taste in his beers, and being he is on a budget I bought a pack of Campden tablets and gave him half and I now use them "just in case" myself.

Also, mix Star-San with distilled water from the store, and KEEP it. It keeps for 6+ months if kept relatively cool (not cold, but room temp or less). I usually make 2 gallons, and make fresh every 6 months, this has not failed me yet!

IslandLizard said:

RO water should not contain any chlorine.

I thought you said you're using RO water:

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If you produce your own RO water, I doubt chlorine makes it through the RO membrane. There's also carbon filtering before, and often after the RO membrane. Chloramines shouldn't make it through the membrane either, AFAIK.

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Always used RO for brewing - I switched my STARSAN to RO (instead of using tap water to mix with the starsan).

Yeah, 0 chlorine or chloramines post-ro, I'm sure. Thanks!

nymtber said:

Water test, and if you have Chloramine or chlorine, get a carbon BLOCK filter, AND use campden.

I'm lucky, I just get chlorine (I can smell it in the water) and a brita faucet mount has always taken that out and left me with great tasting water, and good brewing water.

My brother has the baind-aid taste in his beers, and being he is on a budget I bought a pack of Campden tablets and gave him half and I now use them "just in case" myself.

Also, mix Star-San with distilled water from the store, and KEEP it. It keeps for 6+ months if kept relatively cool (not cold, but room temp or less). I usually make 2 gallons, and make fresh every 6 months, this has not failed me yet!

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Yep, I do the same thing now - StarSan with RO instead if tap water. Lasts a long time. I was using campden as a "just in case", but got away from that. Smooth sailing so far

Shock29 said:

Hey lizard. Figured it out. In my case, the band aid burp may have been coming from using tap water for my StarSan (switched it to RO), or more likely, infection in the bottle.

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Sorry about the confusion, I just realized this is a necro thread that got revived by you after 3 1/2 years , then a year later again by @Brownanimal, not sure if he was responding to you or the OP.

Anyway, Chlorine from the water that makes up a Starsan working solution should be a total non-issue. The amount of Starsan carryover to beer should be pretty much minimal, unless one makes a habit of pouring or leaving a gallon or so into their fermentor, bottling bucket or keg, intentionally or not (through suck back, brewer's error, etc.).

For risk of tainting wort (and beer), using vinyl tubing on the hot side is definitely not recommended. Even certain manufacture(s) of silicone tubing has recently become suspect on the "brewer's news" here.

It's easy to perform a test. Take a 6" piece of hose, simmer it (covered) in RO water for an hour or so, smell the water or chill and taste it.

Shock29 said:

Yep, I do the same thing now - StarSan with RO instead if tap water. Lasts a long time. I was using campden as a "just in case", but got away from that. Smooth sailing so far

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Regardless of being able to smell chlorine or chloramines, I always add that good pinch of K-Meta to my brewing water. Only if you buy or produce RO water it shouldn't be necessary. Even distilled water (bought in gallon jugs) has been found to contain chlorine or chloramines, for better keep.