Smoke Malt and Chlorophenols

I just popped open my second batch that had some smoked malt and there is a hint of that awful band-aid phenolic character. I have done about 11 batches without smoked malt and two with and the two with have had a slight band-aid flavor. The first one was a porter and was really only noticeable when it was cold. I think as it warmed up the strong, roasty malts masked the off-flavor and it was really a nice beer. However, this beer is much lighter and doesn't mask the flavors nearly as well.

I am very meticulous about sanitation, so I don't really think it is an infection and none of the other beers have this flavor. Can smoke phenols react with chlorine to make chlorophenol? I am going to start using campden tablets when brewing. I think my city water is treated with chlorine and contains chloramine. Any thoughts? Thanks for the help.

Yes, use campden, carbon filter, or pre-boil

I am going to use the campden, because as far as I know carbon filters and pre-boiling doesn't get rid of chloramine. I want to know if I am on the right track with pin-pointing the problem. Is it possible that the amount of chlorine in my water is small enough that I don't get off-flavor with normal beers and only seem to get it with the smoked beers which are adding extra phenols? Thanks for the reply.

Genjin said:

I am going to use the campden, because as far as I know carbon filters and pre-boiling doesn't get rid of chloramine. I want to know if I am on the right track with pin-pointing the problem. Is it possible that the amount of chlorine in my water is small enough that I don't get off-flavor with normal beers and only seem to get it with the smoked beers which are adding extra phenols? Thanks for the reply.

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Carbon filtering and boiling will get rid of some but usually not all chloramine. You can buy powdered metabasulfite which is easier to use and a lot cheaper than Campden. I've never brewed with smoked malt and probably never will so cant help there.

Genjin said:

I am going to use the campden, because as far as I know carbon filters and pre-boiling doesn't get rid of chloramine. I want to know if I am on the right track with pin-pointing the problem. Is it possible that the amount of chlorine in my water is small enough that I don't get off-flavor with normal beers and only seem to get it with the smoked beers which are adding extra phenols? Thanks for the reply.

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I brewed for quite a few years without a carbon filter and never detected chlorophenol in any of my beers, then one time I made a rauchbier and it was unmistakably band-aid like. So yes I believe your on the right track that it's due to the phenols associated with smoked malt.

Have you contacted your water company to find out if they're using chloramine? The reason I ask is mine doesn't...they only use chlorine. If they don't, I'd consider going the carbon filter route because it can remove chlorine as well as some other off-flavors in water.