beer tastes like star san

Maybe get your water tested. Are you fermenting in plastic or glass?? If plastic it could be infected. Try buying a extract kit with bottled water and using iodine sanitizer. Use dextrose as the priming sugar not table sugar.

 

I always use bottled spring water to brew..and i have the minibrew plastic conical fermenter..but thats not a bad idea to test the water supply cause thats what i use to clean and sanitize..yes i use dextrose not sucrose..I started with extract kits for the past 2.5 years no success..i thought maybe stepping up to AG will increase my success rate ...still nothing haha..

 

Personally I can taste star san in bottles.

I realized this when I bottled some beer off a keg. There was a mild but distinct sourness. I didn't believe it at first, so I did a blind side by side comparison.

I would strongly recommend you do a taste comparison like suggested.

 

I know that some (if not most... it is engineered specifically for the industry) fairly large commercial breweries use StarSan, so I would be very surprised if that was the issue. I'd think you would taste it in commercial beers too. Not that I'm a commercial brewer, I don't know what their process is... but if you were ultra super sensitive to StarSan, I don't your issues would be limited to only homebrewed beer.

 

Am I missing something? If you've been brewing for 2.5 years and all batches taste bad to you and you are convinced your process is good and the taste is StarSan ... why not just brew a batch after sanitizing everything with something else? Eliminate one thing at a time ... the StarSan. If eveything else in your process is good the non-StarSan batch will be great.

 

I gotcha, well first try a different sanitizer. If that doesn't work I would look for a glass carboy to try fermenting in. Every time I used my fermenting bucket, I would get an oily slick surface on top of my beers they would smell and taste sour. I bleached it, star san, iodine sanitizer, and one step. Never killed it. So I threw it out and bought another glass carboy. I have had one infection since then, and thats because I sneezed over the wort

 

You've been at this for 3 years, which is actually before I began but I'm surprised it's taken you so long to question this.

Regardless, this will sound like an icehole thing but based on what you said,

"when i bottle
i add the priming solution to bottling bucket -1oz per gallon
bottle "

What do you mean? The correct thing to do is use 1/2oz with 2.5 gallons water, sanitize your bucket and your bottles. Then drain both. What I mean is that if I read your instructions literally you have told me that you add 5oz of StarSan directly to the priming bucket and rack your beer from the primary on top of that before bottling. This would clearly explain your problem, but like I said I don't mean to insult you at all.

 

My god, I hope this isn't the case. Well I kind of do, it would be amusing.

 

Pretty sure he's (OP) is talking about his bottling procedure and how much sugar he primes with, not starsan. "priming solution"

 

Do you test mash pH with a meter? Improper mash pH can lead to off flavors very similar to oxidation. I know you said you use bottles spring water. If the water does indeed come from a spring it could be highly mineralized leading to all kinds of pH issues.

 

Has anyone else actually tasted your beer? Have you had a homebrewing friend try one? You know, you might be making decent beer and you're just over sensitive to it. A skilled brewer will help you narrow down things down if there is problem and help identify the off taste. Definitely get someone else to sample. Don't be shy. One of the reasons I share my beer with other brewers is for the critical feedback. I want to get better, and there are a lot of flavors that slip past me.

Good luck. Don't give up!

 

This is a shot in the dark and may not apply but here goes.

I used to use a particular brand of bottled water. One day I actually bought the water for drinking at my house and found that it didn't taste good at all. It had sort of a musty cardboard taste. I couldn't believe I was using it for my beer so at that moment I switched brands of bottled water. My beers going forward were all instantly better as a result of using better water (although I hadn't noticed the taste in my beer per se using the old water, I absolutely noticed the difference when not using it.

The flavors I described are obviously different than what you're complaining about, but the thought process might not be far off. If you've only used the same brand of water, try changing it.

 

you're supposed to top off with a gallon of water, NOT a gallon of star san!

 

Its probably the water. Bottled water is just water.

I started using a a carbon filter, for all of the water that goes into my beer, after noticing a common off-flavor.

All of my off flavors have gone away and can now serve my beers with pride.

- B916

 

I suggested this in post #5, he did not respond to this idea.

 

Ok, so I'm not endorsing this, but i was curious......

I just went into my brewing room and took maybe half an ounce (it was the amount that fits in the bubble cap of a 3-piece airlock) of properly mixed star san solution (1 oz per 5 gallons) and added it to 8 oz of water and drank that. Didn't taste much of anything but water. Can't say if i would have been able to tell a difference in a blind side by side. Not saying I couldn't, but certainly don't have any confidence that I could.

Decided to really see what was up, refilled the bubble cap and just shot it straight. Pretty mild flavor, maybe like a very diluted, unsweetened lemonade?

I am not going to say for sure that you can't taste starsan in your beer, because hell, almost anything is possible. But I will say that I AM about 99% confident that you are not, in fact tasting star-san in your beer.

 

Agreed. That's what I was saying earlier. I've tasted Star San out of curiosity as well and it just isn't a flavor or aroma that will hold up in 5 gallons of beer at the recommended mixing ratio.

If judges can't taste it, I highly doubt anyone else can.


EDIT: nice job on drinking it though! I kinda just sipped it.

 

^^ This was my thought, also. I've tasted star-san and it really doesn't have much smell. Just a very mild acidic flavor. Diluted, unsweetened lemonade is a very good description.

I've only made one beer with a bit of an acidic bite to it. It was a stout that used a pretty heavy amount of roasted malts, which makes me think I extracted some tannins or something.

My thoughts have pretty much already been covered by previous posts on your acidic beer flavor. Oxidation was my first thought. I do hope you stick with the hobby and get this problem figured out!

Good luck!

 

My vote is for changing the water first. 99% of bottled water is crap. I would go to RO water if you can swing it.

 

I hate all sweeping generalizations like this.

 

Ok, maybe only 95%

 

what a sweeping generalization about sweeping generalizations!

 

Really? I make fantastic beer with whatever bottled spring water happens to be the cheapest when I'm brewing...

 

woosh.

this guy got it.

 

I am sure you could, but my comment was in reference to the OP's problem. RO water would eliminate any possibility of bad flavors from the bottled water he is using or the water bottle itself. At least I would start there.

 

There was a study done which found that 99% of Statistics were made up on the spot.

 

Could also be changed by using a different brand of bottled water. The last thing he needs at this point is having to manipulate water chemistry.

 

Try distilled water and a little bit of additives. For 5 gal, try 2 g gypsum, cal chloride, and epsom salts and 4 g bake soda.

 

Congratulations on your new stomach ulcer....

 

So here's my 2c,

You say your tasting a citrusy/acidic old wine flavor.

So what can make a beer taste/smell acidic:
Infection - Specifically vinegary taste (from the OP's old wine taste comment) - can develop early or later - especially in plastic - experiment with glass carboys,

Oxidation - Will develop over time, not always immediately noticeable - if its always noticeable, probably not your problem

pH - typical beer ranges are 4.0 - 4.5, if you are using straight up bottled water without added minerals, read up on adding calcium and other minerals (even 5.2 stabilizer) to try and determine if your strike water and all other water is causing you to be too acidic.

Underaerating - phenols for belgian yeasts can come across wrong if the fermentation is missing key elements, and if you have a massive starter but no O2 for it to use, you could still be potentially "underpitching" since they were unable to replicate as they normally would. - try either whipping the $h!t out of it (my personal choice is a sanitized paint stirrer on the end of a power drill) after chilling or add a pin drop of olive oil to the beer or to the starter to bypass the need for O2.

Good Luck!

 

Given that normal range for the acidity of stomach acid extends below the pH of properly mixed star-san... i'm not worried in the slightest. Pretty sure you're doing more damage to your stomach with a long night of drinking than a shot of star-san.

 

Say whaaat?

 

Its for true! Yeast only need O2 for the purposes of manufacturing sterols and fatty acids for building cell walls. they can do the same thing with a tiny tiny amount of olive oil. some belgian brewers (de streusse is one i know for sure) have experimented with this, as has new belgium.

www.haandbrygforum.dk/gallery/albums/.../Olive-oil-thesis.pdf

 

take a toothpick and slightly dip it in olive oil... and then add to your beer.. a drop is way too much, but it works...

and yeah... ur star san is fine... have you tried making just a pale ale, with Cascade hops or something else... different yeast? you said spring water, not distilled correct? hope you get to the bottom of this man... and keep the thread alive with anything that works...

 

Wow, I'm reading the document now. Interesting stuff, thanks!

 

That's the best joke I've heard all week.:cross:

I OP still around here? I'd like to see him add a small amount of Star San to a glass, pour a commercial beer, and see if he can taste it. Easier than brewing again without the Star San.

 

So try this. Taste your wort once it has cooled. ****ty tasting right? Then sip some beer that has the san-star problem. My guess is that you are doing belgians that Have a hitch some place in fermentation. If you are ag and using pils malt make sure you boil for at least 90 mins.

 

You Sir, have an infection. Same thing happened to me, same taste everything. I swore it was starsan. My HB Club tried it and assured me I had an infection, even though I am stupid crazy about sanitation. Happened on 2 beers because i refused to believe it was an infection. I changed all my beer lines and CO2 lines and guess what, infection gone and I am still using starsan.

 

So, Beerhound28, any fix to your problem? I just spent 15 minutes reading all these posts and you never responded in the end...the suspense is killing me...I'm guessing you gave up on brewing...

 

Are you sure you are sanitizing EVERYTHING that touches the wort post-boil? Could be your mixing spoon, funnel, strainer, etc. I always keep a large dish full of sanitizer around while I brew to keep things like my mash paddle and thermometers in so they don't get infected. Not to be presumptuous, but is your kitchen relatively clean? I usually use some Clorox wipes on my kitchen surfaces before brewing. Maybe cleaning any surfaces above you boil kettle would be a good idea, since microbes could be falling from a dirty ceiling as it cools? I personally have to be extra vigilant to sanitize and clean my auto-siphon, since it has this glass ball on it that can sometimes get hops lodged into it that don't come out very easily and are impossible to see. The only other source of infection I've ever (likely) had was from dishwashing my bottles, since coffee grinds would go from the sink into the dishwasher and lodge a small particle inside the bottles. I guess I'm just suggesting that you make sure to check all the little things, and let them soak for the proper amount of time before letting them touch the wort. A simple dunk without waiting may not be long enough. Anyways...try another sanitizer first, and then if it doesn't work try to narrow down the source 1 thing at a time. Maybe you could even make some mini batches in some 2-liter or gallon bottles, changing different conditions with each one. Good luck..must be frustrating!