Help me figure out my Phenolic/Plastic Taste

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ChzyMnky

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Hi everyone, looking for a little help... I recently entered a DIPA into a BJCP competition, and both judges noted phenolic/plastic tastes. No diacetyl or DMS, though. So, I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong...

Tropical style DIPA
5.5 gal batch
1.080 OG
1.012 FG

Equipment:
Mash tun is 10 gal Igloo cooler with recirculating electric RIMs, PID controlled
Fly sparge with 168F water

Mash:
2 row, honey malt, munich, & carapils from my LHBS
Store-bought distilled water with brewing salts (using BrunWater sheet to calculate)
Used PH meter to make sure PH was in range (I was at ~5.3)

Yeast:
Made 2L starter with WLP001, Fast Pitch canned wort, & Wyeast nutrient
Sat on stir plate for ~2 days at ~75deg
Cold crashed for 1 day & decanted ~75% of spent wort

Boil:
90 min boil
Lot's o' hops (nelson, summit, citra, amarillo) in hop spider w/ paint strainer bag
Added 1 lb DME (see below), 1 lb amber candi syrup, and wyeast nutrient
Chilled with plate chiller to ~72deg

Primary Fermentation:
Used 6.5gal bucket
Hit with ~90sec of O2 & diffusion stone before pitching
Placed in 65deg keggerator for 2 weeks

Secondary:
Used 5gal better bottle
Purged carboy with C02 from bike tire filler before transfer
Dryhopped with lots o' hops (same type as boil) for ~7 days
Sat in basement at ~70deg for ~7 days

Known brewing mistakes:
Had a brain fart when doughing in, and and used WAAAAY too much water (~8.5 gal instead of 6 gal). As a result, my mash was a little over 2.1qt/lb. Since I had measured my salts for 6 gal, my PH was a little off (5.3 instead of 5.4). Also, my efficiency was low, causing me to add the pound of light DME.

So, I know that the usual culprits for phenol production are mash water problems, sparge temp problems, and yeast stress problems. Sparge temp was below 170, so I don't think that was the problem. I purposely fermented at a low temp because I've read it gets you a nice clean taste with WLP001, and I pitched a good amount of yeast. Soooo, could my problem have been my mash screw-up? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance!
 
What are you doing to eliminate chlorine and chloramine from your water? (if you use tap water)

What you are describing sounds like chlorophenol to me.

CT-100.jpg


1 tablet of above treats 20 gallons at a cost of $0.02

Works instantly.
 
Gavin, I'm using distilled water from the grocery store, so I would assume there is not chlorine/chloramine?

Adjusted water profile:
Calcium: 50.5ppm
Magnesium: 10.4ppm
Sodium: 5.2ppm
Sulfate: 110.5ppm
Chloride: 46.3ppm
Bicarb: -36.0ppm

EDIT: This was SUPPOSED to be my profile, before I added too much water at dough in. Not sure what it actually was, but all the concentrations should be a fair amount lower.

Thanks!
 
Gavin, I'm using distilled water from the grocery store, so I would assume there is not chlorine/chloramine?

Adjusted water profile:
Calcium: 50.5ppm
Magnesium: 10.4ppm
Sodium: 5.2ppm
Sulfate: 110.5ppm
Chloride: 46.3ppm
Bicarb: -36.0ppm

Thanks!

Correct. Disregard my earlier post. Sorry I can't be of more help.
 
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