High FG + plastic taste related?

So, I brewed a pumpkin* spice ale last month that did not go so well.1.050 starting gravity.

The problem is, as that is batch #5, i'm still changing a lot of things each batch trying to get my process down. I think batch #6 went a lot better, but haven't bottled yet

Variables this time around:
- This was the first time I used filtered (PUR) tap water instead of buying the jugs from the store.
- Bought a cooler so i can put my bucket fermenter in surrounded by water bath with ice to get fermentation temps down (August was hot).
- Poor attenuation led me to poke at it.
- Filling the plastic bucket 24 hours pre brewing with mild bleach solution to really make sure the bucket gets cleaned.

So, the first glitch was a OG of 1.053 and a FG of 1.023. A vigorous 2-3 day fermentation and then it completely crashed to zero bubbles. After reading around here, I'm blaming aereation.. thinking something about switching to the filtered tap water instead of jug water for the top off water didn't match the the level of effort I put into aereation for batches 1-4. Maybe less oxygenated to start with from the tap?

Anyway so I have this high FG 1.023, went ahead and bottled it. Been 3 weeks in bottle now, so cracked a few open to see what the end result is. It's actually pretty tasty *except* for a very plasticy aftertaste (like PVC, not like bandaid).

So, questions / hypothesis:
1) Are the two things related? poor aereation and the plastic taste? If so, I'd be happy because then there's just one problem
2) could spending too long with the bleach solution start leaching plasticy ness out of the bucket? using 3 capfulls of bleach per the 5 gallons.. maybe I'm destroying the bucket
3) could it be the PUR water filter may have left something behind that I'm not accounting for when switching water sources?
4) wild yeast more likely?
5) how about the spices.. ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg .. could i have overdone one of these and it takes on some sinister plastic smell?
6) will this go away? Overall tastes pretty good.. just the finish has plastic-ness.



*does not contain pumpkin

Hi! May I suggest you to consider if the tap water is sanitized with chloramine or something like.
Is the fermentation bucket of food grade material?

I have the latest water report from the san diego water supply, so i can check that. What I don't know is how much of it is still valid after it goes through a faucet mounted water filter?

Yeah the bucket is a brew bucket from the LHBS. Figured it was good to "pickle" it for 24 hours before brewing in the bleach solution to really get at any potential scratches and the like... but maybe I'm putting too much.

If you brewed a pumpkin ale a month ago and you are saying you have an off flavor, then the answer is that the only thing wrong is that you aren't waiting long enough and you are drinking green beer....

I brewed my pumpkin beers on labor day and I am not bottling it til October 1st...

Then I am not opening the first bottle til halloween....

My normal beers I leave up to a month in primary and bottle contdition for a minimum 3 weeks....with something like a pumpkin beer, you NEED longer.

Read my blog...

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Of_Patience_and_Bottle_Conditioning/

99% of new brewer's supposed "off flavors" are the result of not letting beer condition long enough before drinking....

If you are sampling and judging your beers under 3 weeks....then that is where your problem lies...probably more than any other variable...

Also...stop using bleach....use oxyclean to clean and iodophor, or starsan to sanitize...and don't over kill by soaking long, you don't need to.

pumpkin spice ale, no actual pumpkin... just spices...so just a regular ale in actuality.

I'm not drinking it in under 3 weeks.. yes still young, but this is technically week 4 in bottle, hence waiting at least till now before even asking about it for the very reason of trying to avoid getting the beat down about "too green"

I use iodophor too; only use the bleach for the pre-soak, then rinse, then iodophor before use. Maybe it's too much , but has previously made me feel confident about sterilization.

Just looked up the san diego water quality, chloramine avgs 2.39ppm .. that high enough to be an issue?

Flavour are not always a quantity matter, so maybe this concentration is enough to the yeast to produce some bad tasting byproduct, but I don't really now, you should perform some trial, if you wanna know try to change only one parametr at time, or follow inspiration...