Troubleshooting a metallic taste

[StewMakesBrew]

So, took my latest batch to hit the kegerator - an ale-style pilsner that I've made before - to my LHBS (Perfect Brewing Supply, Libertyville, IL - awesome guys there- shout out!) to have them taste it and they picked up a metallic flavor that I was trying to tell myself wasn't there in that batch, but it is. It's not a "batch killer" I don't think (those guys made quick work of a quart growler so ...) but it's there.

We talked through everything I did with the batch and the only thing that I can come up with is that I use a paint-stirring "egg beater" tool chucked into a cordless drill to whirlpool my beer. Now I've been using that for quite a while and have never had this problem, but on this particular batch, I did whirlpool at a higher speed and for longer - it created too much aeration in the wort (got foamy), so I haven't repeated that, but wanted to tee this up to the group. Does that sound plausible?

The other potential causes we gave it was

1) "green" tastes - I did a "speed to keg" brew cycle on this with only 11 days in the fermenter, straight to the keg, straight to force carbing it. The flavor has faded quite a bit since I first tasted it as the beer has aged for a week or two.

2) Lake Michigan water - with summer and with all the heavy rain and flooding, maybe the metals are stirred up more in Lake Michigan? Hope not, it's full of nasty **** like lead and strontium 90 and cadmium and stuff.

3) Brass hose fitting - I do use one brass fitting in my brewing rig - the outlet barb on my brewing kettle.

Any thoughts? The biggest variable I can think of is the aggressive/faster/longer use of the mild steel "egg beater".

 

[geoffm33]

How did you carbonate? Did you set it to serving pressure and let it sit for a few weeks? Or did you put it at a higher PSI for a shorter period to try to speed up the carbonation process?

You wrote that you force carbed it, not sure if that means you burst carbed it. Forced carbonation just means injecting the CO2 as opposed to sugar/yeast creating the CO2.

I set an Oatmeal Stout to 30PSI and rocked it for a few minutes to try to carb it quicker and it took on a metallic taste that other HBT'ers attributed to carbonic acid.

 

[Lefou]

I won't use any brass during the brewing process and the $1.98 nylon barb on my brew kettle works just fine ... but I don't think this is the source of the metallic flavor.

 

[jeremy2027]

I had the same problem a few years ago, what type of sanitizer are you using? At the time I was using Iodophor and getting some metallic tastes in my beers that not everyone could taste but it was still there to myself and the wife. I switched to Starsan to sanitize and the problem went away. Turns out some people are more susceptible to the metallic taste with Iodophor than others.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Answers:

Yes, I rapid carbed it - that's interesting. I didn't know that carbonic acid would form a metallic taste.

And I use Starsan exclusively - only sanitizer I have used for years.