Another "odd flavor in my beer" thread

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Ok, so for about 60 batches (yeah, it was a good run), I have produced beers without off flavors, except maybe some acetaldehyde (and that one RIS where I used too much extract).. all kinds of styles and both lagers and ales.

Now, 4 out of the 7 last brews, a
1) Rye Pale Ale
2) Roggenbier
3) Helles lager
4) Octoberfest

all have an off flavor, that I think most likely is "band-aid".(I could be wrong about that, I've never chewed a band-aid). The next morning after I drink it, I call it "headachy". It's most noticeable in my rye pale ale and helles.

I havn't changed any of my practices, namely using the same water filtration, sanitation, and brewing equipment.. notably (or not) these are 4 of the 7 batches that I have brewed after a 10 month break (a hard cider made from apple juice, a Guinness clone and Blood Orange Hefeweizen do not have this off flavor). The Roggenbier was bottled, the other 3 were kegged..

I have isolated my draft system and that is not the problem.

Thoughts?

 

[day_trippr]

Are you on a public water supply and if so do you treat your brewing water with campden tablets to break down chlorine/chloramine?

Cheers!

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I am, and I do not. I have been using the same type of faucet water purifier for years, but have replaced it with the same model once. It is a Dupont Deluxe faucet model. WF FM350.. It is a charcoal filter that I thought was doing a good job removing chlorine. Ive had very good results with it for a long period of time.. my thoughts have all surrounded water as the common item in these beers. If my local water changed from using chlorine to chloramine, would that cause this problem?

 

[day_trippr]

Looks like you figured out your water company switched to chloramine and charcoal won't remove it...

Cheers!

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Looks like you figured out your water company switched to chloramine and charcoal won't remove it...

Cheers!

Thats what it appears to be.. I'm going to start incorporating use of Camden tablets in my brewing water, and re-brew the four batches that went bad, and see if that fixes the problem.