Phenolic Taste, help me eradicate it.

[Tinga]

I entered in my first contest because I was looking for some feedback. All three judges stated there was a high degree of Phenolic flavors. So I did a search and these popped up as reasons for that

"Yeast strain; chlorophenols in the water; improper rinse of chlorine sanitizers; oversparging; sparging above pH 6.0; sparging above 170 degrees; wild yeast contamination"

so first off it was an extract batch so I think I can rule out the sparging problems. I use star san so I think I can rule out chlorine sanitizer as a problem. That leaves me with yeast strain, chlorophenols in my water and wild yeast contamination.

I used a starter with this batch but I also did some aggressive top cropping so I'm not sure about yeast strain. I did a 800 ml starter on a stir plate over night. I pitched it the next day and I had a krausen within 12 hours. When I was top cropping I wanted clean yeast so I skimmed the krausen the first two days and discarded because there was a lot of hop matter in the krausen the first two days. Do you think I took too much yeast off and caused the yeast to be strained causing the off flavors?

Not sure about the chlorophenols in my water. I have the city water report and it says we have about .92 ppm chlorine in our water. Would that show up in the beer after an hour long boil?

Since I was fermenting in an ale pail and I was top cropping I put the lid on top of the bucket but didn't snap it down because it would have been a pain to open all the time. could this pseudo-open fermentation lead to wild yeast getting in an producing these chlorophenols? I had a krausen within 12 hours so I would assume the 1056 had a pretty good hold right away.

Anything anyone else can think of that would cause these phenols to be so expressed?

 

[solbes]

What temps did you pitch yeast and what temps for fermentation? That would be my first guess.

Could be chlorine from your tap water too. I would try using a PUR or Brita water filter if you have one. Or try buying 4 or 5 gallons of Reverse Osmosis water from your grocery store.

I doubt it was wild yeast. Did you note any unusual smells or tastes during or after fermenation?

 

[bob1852]

A 800mL starter for overnight isn't going to cause a big increase in cell count; so it's possible you still underpitched (especially with cropping) which could lead to off flavors.

Are you sure your water has chlorine and not chloramines? Chlorine will boil off, but chloramine will not.

 

[DarthMalt]

What kind of beer and yeast?

Also, it could be chloramine in the water, instead of chlorine.

EDIT: looks like someone beat me to it.

 

[Tinga]

I made a pale ale with light extract and nelson sauvin hops. A SMEaSH basically. I used 1056 for the yeast. Starter was just on the counter over night. The beer was 65 when I pitched the yeast and the fermentation was temperature controlled at 65. My cities water report says Chlorine. Here it is http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/media/DULUTH_H2O_2010.pdf

Anything troublesome in there?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I made a pale ale with light extract and nelson sauvin hops. A SMEaSH basically. I used 1056 for the yeast. Starter was just on the counter over night. The beer was 65 when I pitched the yeast and the fermentation was temperature controlled at 65. My cities water report says Chlorine. Here it is http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/media/DULUTH_H2O_2010.pdf

Anything troublesome in there?

i think what they mean by yeast strain is the type of yeast, or strain. not stress. but with 1056 at those temps i doubt it's your issue. sounds like your water is fairly chlorinated, as is most Great Lakes water that comes out of the tap. our water down in the cities is fairly chlorinated too, and for lighter beers, i like to cut my tap water w/ R/O. 2 its tap:1 pt R/O. it seems to help with any hard water issues, in the mash or with the finished beer. i recommend giving something like that a try next time you brew a lighter beer. if cutting with R/O doesn't work, try using all spring water. most store bought spring water will make very nice beer.

 

[Tinga]

i think what they mean by yeast strain is the type of yeast, or strain. not stress.

You're probably right.

I will try spring water next time. Thanks everyone for the input.