I did everything wrong!

[Waldo]

I did everything wrong On Purpose.

I picked up a Coopers beer kit on sale the other day, I was originally going to get an extra can of extract and make a 5 gallon batch with it, however since I already have 3 good batches at various stages right now I decided I'd try an experiment with the Coopers kit.

The directions say you can use hot tap water, so I did, rather than buying another can of extract I made it a 2 1/2 gallon batch. I pitched the yeast dry (didn't proof it first) and while I did sanitize everything I didn't get carried away with it. I'm going to let it set in the primary for two weeks then go right to bottles.

I figure if this brew comes out good maybe it will relieve some of the stress on the batches where I do everything as good as I possibly can and still worry. If it doesn't, it will reinforce the need to pay attention to the all the little details.

 

[El Pistolero]

That's a nice experiment...but what are you gonna do if it turns out to be the best beer you ever brewed?

 

[Waldo]

I'm kind of worried about that, even if it does turn out great I'll never repeat this experiment again its just not worth taking the chance. But the next time I'm stressing over whether I did everything right or not I'll think back to this batch, on the other hand if it turns out lousy it'll just increase the stress level

 

[david_42]

About five years ago, my best friend gave her boyfriend and I BrewSacks (r) for his birthday. These are the "dump in hot water to sanitze, add ice to cool, then toss in the generic yeast" plastic bags. The first bag we followed the instructions. The second we added a pound of DME. We drank both.

 

[Sasquatch]

Waldo, that beer will probably come out just fine. I use hot tap water all the time. Course, my beer smells a bit like turds, but other than that, it's pretty good, except the lumps.

 

[Waldo]

Well the test batch is chugging along, nice and steady burping. The NB Bavarian Hefe Weizen I did the same day has been erupting for two days now, its been running a steady stream of bubbles out the fermentation lock, I removed the cap on the lock when it became apparent an eruption was imminent.

 

[Waldo]

Brewsuvius finally ceased erupting, the krausen has settled a bit but the inside of the carboy is so crusted over you can't tell by looking through the glass, I had to pull the bung to look inside, which wasn't an issue as I had to clean and sanitize the bung and ferm lock anyway. Brewsuvius still has 3 days to go by that time I bet that crust is going to be fun to clean up, I had a heck of a time cleaning it off the ferm lock and bung, I'll probably fill it with bleach water and let it soak a few days.

 

[Waldo]

The latest on the experiment,

My first 3 batches Brewers Best Red Ale, Brewers Best IPA and a Northern Brewers Bavarian Hefe Weizen have a medicinal off flavor, I used Wal-Mart bottled spring water in all three.

My experiment batch, I used tap water right out of the tap, this was a coopers wheat beer no boil kit that says you can use hot tap water so I did and I used cold tap water to top it off, I was also really sloppy with the sanitizing. Well I sampled a bit of it today and - no medicinal off flavor its far better than my other 3 batches- in fact I'd say its ready to bottle. So no more Wal-Mart water for me however I will boil all my tap water before brewing with it.

Edit:

Some city water supplies use a chemical called chloramine instead of chlorine to kill bacteria. Chloramine cannot be removed by boiling and will give a medicinal taste to beer.

I wonder if Wal-Mart bottled water has Chloramine in it.

 

[Sasquatch]

Not sure about the bottled waters myself... there are two distinct types, spring and distilled. Distilled should be sterile. Spring must be treated somehow... maybe that's why they always ozonate those bottled waters?? I dunno. Anyone know if yeast can use the oxygen from ozone?

 

[Porter fan]

Ozone is like bleach and will kill any yeast..

 

[El Pistolero]

My first 3 batches Brewers Best Red Ale, Brewers Best IPA and a Northern Brewers Bavarian Hefe Weizen have a medicinal off flavor, I used Wal-Mart bottled spring water in all three.

Edit:
I wonder if Wal-Mart bottled water has Chloramine in it.

I'm looking at a bottle of Wal-Mart Spring Water. The label says "Processed by Carbon Filtration, UV Treatment, Microfiltration, Ozonation". No mention of cloramine. I've been using this stuff in all my brews too...now you're getting me worried. Do you use any water salts? How do you sanitize.?

 

[Waldo]

I use one step sanitizer, I keep all sanitized equipment on a sanitized cookie sheet when brewing. I clean and sanitize everything when I'm done with the stuff and then again before I use it the next time, I don't use any water salts.

Thats whats so odd, this batch that taste great should have been a mold factory, I did every thing wrong on purpose even had my hands in the cooled wort, just to see what would happen.

The only difference is the water, and the sloppy sanitizing, who knows maybe that the secret to good beer

Edit: Thought that I should add this, the fermantation temp on the first batch was 68 degrees, the second batch was a little cooler the third batch was around 65 degrees. I know that high temps can cause problems what about low?

 

[Waldo]

You realize that this means I have to brew another batch of beer using my tap water (boiled of course) just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Oh and I will use proper sanitary conditions on this one. But if that off flavor shows up again I'm putting my hands in every brew and I'll let the cat help from now on.

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm thinking I may have to try a batch using tap water too.

I did notice that the Wal-Mart label says "Sodium Free", making me wonder if water salts are necessary.

 

[david_42]

Too low a temperature and the yeast stops working completely. I've had "dead" batches where warming them one or two degrees got them going again.

 

[Waldo]

All of my batches have had a very active fermentation, the HefeWeizen even blew its top, I checked the FG and all were where they should have been. The last week now the temps have been around 63 in the basement so I purchased one of those heated brewers belts, for doing my mead.

Used boiled tap water for the mead.

 

[Waldo]

I sampled my first batch of beer the Red Ale when I racked it to the secondary, it tasted good but had the medicinal flavor.

Sampled it again two weeks later when I bottled it, once again the taste was good but the medicinal flavor was there.

Sampled again one week after bottling, almost no carbonation and the ever present medicinal flavor was still there.

I just sampled it again, two weeks after bottling, its barely carbonated and the medicinal flavor is still there but not nearly as strong, could I be confusing the normal taste of green beer with the medicinal off flavor?

 

[El Pistolero]

I just sampled it again, two weeks after bottling, its barely carbonated and the medicinal flavor is still there but not nearly as strong, could I be confusing the normal taste of green beer with the medicinal off flavor?

God I hope so.

 

[Waldo]

Me to At the rate its mellowing I'd say it may be gone (the off flavor, not the beer) after 3 weeks in the bottle. I just hope it carbonates a lot more, I 'spose the cool basement temps really slow down the carbonation process.

 

[Sasquatch]

I dunno... band-aid flavour is acetobacter infection, usually, isn't it? Green beer tastes like fresh grass or something.... something green, oddly enough. Almost fruity... but never medicinal in my experience.

 

[Catfish]

I've always thought Sam Adam's Scotish Ale (and the few other Scottish Ales I've tried) tasted distinctly of band-aids.

Back to the topic... Would you say it is a medicinal sweetness (ie Krusty Brand Cherry Cough Syrup) or an Alcoholish medicial flavour (like cheap white wine)? I don't know if it will help in tracking the flavour down.

By the way I have a Brewer's Best Red Ale in the secondary now. I wouldn't discribe it as having a medicinal taste (from the primary to the secondary), so I guess it's coming from something in the process besides the recipe.

 

[Waldo]

Medicinal
These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.

Got that from How to Brew.

I guess the best way I can describe it is, it almost taste like the hop pellets smell when you open the bag. I wonder if it could be the hops that I'm tasting, since I'm new to brewing I'm not sure what things are supposed to taste like in the early stages. This could also explain why the Coopers Wheat doesn't have the flavor since the hops are already in the extract.

Edit: I really can't believe it would be a sanitation issue, the batch that doesn't have this flavor was a total disaster when it comes to sanitation, I've done every thing I can to make it go bad and it won't.

 

[El Pistolero]

since I'm new to brewing I'm not sure what things are supposed to taste like in the early stages.

That's my problem too...there's all these tastes and smells that you can't tell if they're good, bad, or just green. IMHO, this is the hardest part about home brewing...here's where it would be nice to have an experienced taster around.

 

[El Pistolero]

Edit: I really can't believe it would be a sanitation issue, the batch that doesn't have this flavor was a total disaster when it comes to sanitation, I've done every thing I can to make it go bad and it won't.

If it is phenols, then from the way you've described your process it's likely more a question of under rinsing.

 

[Waldo]

All I know is years ago I had a bottle of home brew and it was the best stout I'd had, it... dare I say it, was better than Guiness or at least I thought so. Having had good home brew I know it can be as good if not better than macro or micro brewery beer. At this point I think I'm just gonna assume its just a little rough around the edges since it has already mellowed a lot after two weeks in the bottle.

I will use all boiled tap water in the next batch and see if it shows up.

 

[Waldo]

That could be but I really doubt it, anything that was sanitized with bleach was rinsed until the smell was gone, some case 4 or 5 times and the bleach concentrations were very low to start with. After rinsing with tap water I also sanitized with One Step and thats an oxy based product. It also says the yeast can cause the medicinal flavors, but isn't that only at high ferm temps, mine have all been on the low end of the scale.

 

[andre the giant]

I had some Chloraseptic type flavors in a few of my batches. After switching to Starsan, seriously restricting my use of bleach (I only use it for the fermenter, never for bottles anymore, and I rinse with water/oxyclean mix afterwards), and cleaning the green corrosion off my wort chiller, the flavor went away. I don't know what the solution was, maybe my equipment had an infection, and the use of several types of cleaning products killed it? Whatever... I've produced 13 "Cloraseptic free" batches since.