Off aromas/flavors...infection?

Greetings,

I have noticed an off flavor/aroma in several of my batches. It's not really in your face band-aid-ish or rubber band-ish but maybe is plasticy. I don't know, it is hard for me to describe. But it has been in most of my batches, but not in every bottle in any batch. I find it in some bottles while others from the same batch have no hint of it. I swear I have detected it in my buddy's homebrew too. What the heck could this be? Might it be a bottle infection of some sort? It really puzzles me that I find it in some bottle and not others. Any ideas?

Thanks!!!

Ben

Sounds like either you use bleach to sanitize or have a bacterial infection. If the former use Starsan if the latter us Starsan. Its an excellent sanitizer that will not give off flavors if used as directed.

I use an iodine solution to sanitize but I do not treat my water. I was wondering if it was from chlorine in my water supply.....but the fact that I get it in some bottles and not others makes me doubt that. Is it possible that I would just pick up the chlorine effects in some bottles but not others? I guess I'm leaning toward infection in individual bottles.

Not certain why it would be coming up in some bottles and not others. I don't know if conditioning helps remove that taste, but if it does, that would explain why. As said, the off-flavor you described is most commonly caused by a reaction to chlorine. Regardless of whether it is this or a wild yeast, you'll want to treat your water. Leaving the water out overnight will evaporate most, if not all, of the chlorine. One last question: are you doing all-grains or extracts?

Actually I have one last question, what were your fermenting temps? Were they stable?

Extract batches.....stable temps....hmmmm.....probably not as stable as they could have been.