nb brunch stout extract kit - odd flavor

For my first solo homebrew, I brewed this extract kit and fermented in a plastic bucket. I had to repitch a dry yeast 3-4 days after brewing because I may have killed the first yeast by rehydrating it to hot or keeping it out too long. It fermented in the low 60s for a week or so and then transferred to a second plastic bucket for a couple weeks and bottled a couple weeks after. It's been sitting for a week in the high 60s. Tried one tonight after putting it in the fridge for about 5 hours and it seemed fairly carbed but it has a chemical/Styrofoam/plastic flavor to it. It seemed to mellow out a bit after it warmed on the counter but that could have been wishful thinking. Any idea what it is or what I did to cause it? Does is maybe just need some aging time?

Sorry for the long ass post, I just wanted to give as many details as possible and I don't want this to happen again if it's something I did wrong.

Thanks!

 

What yeast?

 

S-04 dry yeast

 

Give it a couple more days before you fridge the bottles. SO-4 can be a little estery, especially when the beer is green, it will most likely clear up for you. Good luck.

 

Odd question but where you using a brew bucket for fermenting ?

 

I was using a brew bucket to ferment. Sorry I wasn't more clear on that and the yeast. I'll try another next weekend to see if it's mellowed out at all. I hope so because I want my first batch to be enjoyable at least!

 

What was your source of water for brewing?

 

I'm just guessing but this may be the clue. When you use a secondary you need to limit the amount of air exposure to the top of the beer to maintain the CO2 layer that prevents some infections from starting. Your bucket simply has too much beer exposed and I think you are tasting the beginnings of an infection. Keep a close eye on the level of carbonation in the bottles and if it starts to increase, chill them to slow the infection and drink them up or simply dump them out before you get bottle bombs.

 

I used my tap water which is filtered and softened. I'll keep an eye on infection but the two samples I've tried from gravity readings had the same flavor so would I have noticed an infection from the start?

 

Filtered water from a municipal water supply may have residual chlorine or chloramines. The levels used to treat the water also vary during the year according to bacteria counts. The type of filter and age of your filter also determines the effectiveness of the filtration.
Your water may also be high in sodium after going through the softening process. The amount of sodium correlates to the amount of calcium and magnesium in the water. Higher calcium and magnesium will result in higher sodium levels.

 

At one point in starting to brew I had 5 undrinkable brews. After lots of discussion and help from other Brewers we determined it was a combination of:
Softened water
Chloramines
Chlorine
City flushing lines


I now get my water before the softener and add Camden tablet to water. Have not had problem since.

 

It's well water and it's a media filter, not a cartridge filter that was recently. I'll give it some time and hopefully it will mellow. I'm getting ready to brew a couple more batches and I don't want the same issue with them.

 

Just a thought --- by any chance did you pour your hot wort straight into the ferm bucket without cooling it down first? Not saying this is the case, but it's possible that a brand new or cheap quality or non-food grade plastic bucket could be susceptible to leaching plastic-y flavor if exposed to boiling hot wort.

 

It was well cooled before putting in the bucket. It was a new bucket though, maybe that had something to do with it. The recipe calls for crushed coffee beans (added at flameout if I remember correctly), I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Though it seems more chemically than bitter...

 

Can't say for sure if this is it, but just to make sure, next time you get a new plastic anything (bucket, hoses, lids, spigots, etc.) immerse in boiling water for an hour or so to get potential 'baddies' out of its system before using it for something you're going to put in your system.

 

In checking out a few other threads, I think it had to do with improperly measuring the no rinse sanitizer I used. Apparently my guesstimation was not that good of a guess. Let that be a lesson to you kids!

 

Update... whack ass flavor seems to be subsiding with time, awesomeness appears to be coming through. Will keep everyone in the loop!

 

Any updates?

 

Still getting better as it ages. Not fully what I was expecting but very drinkable and looks great! Picture is a little stretched but it gives a good idea

 

I left a batch of star san in a bottling bucket that had never been filled with anything hot before. When I opened up the bucket about 4-5 days later it had a terrible plasticy smell. I imagine the acidity interacted with imperfections in the polymer. I dumped the batch of starsan just because it smelled so funky.

Beer isn't as acidic as starsan but many styles of beers can get down to ~pH 4. Might have something to do with the funky smell.

Other then that your beer looks great in the glass - that's a really nice head!