Plastic Odor

[bert2190]

I am new to home brewing. So far I have completed two batches. The first was a Milk stout and the second was Midwest's Happy Holiday Ale. My first batch came out great however, my second batch has a plastic like smell to it. I am ready to brew a third batch this week and was wondering if anyone knew what could have caused this smell so I can avoid it in the future.

Thanks

 

[masskrug]

What was your water source? Was it the same for both batches? Did anything else change besides the recipe (new equipment)?

 

[bert2190]

Thanks for the reply. The water I used for both was tap water but I put it through a Brita first. The equipment was also the same for both; an ale pale for primary fermentation and a 5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. I cleaned and sanitized all equipment before using and cleaned then sanitized bottles in the dishwasher.

 

[DocScott]

What temp did you ferment at? What yeast and how much yeast did you pitch?

 

[Spintab]

Looks like the holiday ale calls for an English yeast strain. Fermented warm, these can give off some potent esters that you may be perceiving as plasticy. Are you controlling your fermentation temperatures?

 

[bert2190]

I fermented at 68 degrees and it didn't vary more than a degree or two throughout fermentation. I used Safale s-04 dry yeast which came with the kit as an option. My fermenting bucket had a hop smell to it from the previous brew but it was clean and sanitized so I figured it was fine to use. Could this have contributed to the smell? Also, is there a chance that this batch got contaminated or would I have noticed that without question.

 

[Spintab]

I don't know, 68 is pretty warm but a lot of people make great beer right about there. You used clean and sanitized in the same sentence so you should be good but we all make mistakes. There are a lot of factors between boil and bottle or keg, sometimes it's hard to tell. How long has it been in the bottle or keg?

 

[DocScott]

The hop smell is not a problem at all. It's hard to get it out of your bucket (and why would you want to). I doubt it's an infection. I think it's either fermenting too warm, or chlorophenols formed from your water. Remember that even though your ambient temp is 68, fermentation is exothermic- produces heat. The temp in your beer could have been as high as 75-78 during peak fermentation. I'd see if you can get a water report for your water used and look into temp control for future beers. Also, make sure youre pitching enough yeast (I think you were ok on this point for your beers so far)

 

[Spintab]

or chlorophenols formed from your water

Yeah, good call. See if you can find out if you have a lot of chlorine or any chloramine. If that's the deal, Campden tablets work well.

 

[bert2190]

Thanks for all the help. I think I'm going to try using bottled water for my next brew and see if that solves the problem.

 

[masskrug]

Bottled water can be expensive. If that is not an issue, go for it. Campden tablets are really cheap. If you are filtering through a filter I would try these first.