Band-Aid and brett

[hirschb]

So.... I made a ten gal batch of Oud Bruin, recipe from AMSB, and fermented one half with Wyeast Oud Bruin, the other with ECY Bugfarm. The Oud Bruin tastes/smells band-aid-ish. The Bugfarm has a touch of band-aid, but not much. I think I either had some Chloramine issues from running the water through my filter too quickly (d'oh), or these flavors are caused by brett/bacteria, which should mellow/change out over time. My question is: if I did in fact **** up and put chloramine in my beer, can the chloraphenols which may have been produced be munched on by brett? If so, this would explain why the oud bruin (sacch/lacto) tastes/smells more heavily of band-aid compared to the bugfarm which has lots of brett strains. Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with this?

 

[mnick12]

From a chemistry point of view chlorophenols are very stable. The carbon chlorine bond is pretty strong, especially in aromatic molecules and is not likely to be broken by most organisms.
If it is actually a mono- or poly- substituted chlorophenol then it is not going anywhere soon. However if it is some other non halogenated organic it might go away with some time.

 

[youreanimpulse]

I had the band-aid smell (slight) in my Berliner made with De Bom (same lacto, but with Brett as well) and it seems either to have aged out or been masked by the dry hop I did a week before bottling. I'll know in a couple weeks if it's still there in the carbonated bottles. I also have a Berliner from much earlier that is still in my sour closet that was just full of that issue. This was a wild sour from grain that I think the ph stressed the US05 out and it threw out that phenol. It has every type of Brett I had on hand (4 or 5 sources) in it now, crazy pellicle. I'll check it at 6 mos, which is pretty soon, and see if it did anything. It was a "free" beer (second runnings), so I figure why not experiment a little instead of tossing it. I can try to post back if it made a difference.

 

[hirschb]

Thanks mnick12. Not the news I wanted to hear, but good info. Now if only there was a way I could determine the source of the band-aid smell flavor? It's be nice to know if it was Chlorine/chloramine vs. some brett off product.

I had the band-aid smell (slight) in my Berliner made with De Bom (same lacto, but with Brett as well) and it seems either to have aged out or been masked by the dry hop I did a week before bottling. I'll know in a couple weeks if it's still there in the carbonated bottles. I also have a Berliner from much earlier that is still in my sour closet that was just full of that issue. This was a wild sour from grain that I think the ph stressed the US05 out and it threw out that phenol. It has every type of Brett I had on hand (4 or 5 sources) in it now, crazy pellicle. I'll check it at 6 mos, which is pretty soon, and see if it did anything. It was a "free" beer (second runnings), so I figure why not experiment a little instead of tossing it. I can try to post back if it made a difference.

Thanks for the info. Please do post the results after your next tasting!

 

[dantheman13]

How old is the beer now?

 

[hirschb]

How old is the beer now?

3 months

 

[bovineblitz]

I had some bottles of RR Consecration that were a bit sullied by band aid flavor. Fast forward 6 months, and that flavor has completely gone away. Normally I'd say that those flavors stick around, but it seems brett and bugs can modify at least some of the molecules producing those flavors.

 

[hirschb]

I had some bottles of RR Consecration that were a bit sullied by band aid flavor. Fast forward 6 months, and that flavor has completely gone away. Normally I'd say that those flavors stick around, but it seems brett and bugs can modify at least some of the molecules producing those flavors.

Thanks for the info! I have closer to 6gal of each, and I'm planning to place a mix of the two batches in a 10gal barrel. I may use 6gal bugfarm and 4gal Oud Brui, which would water down the band-aide flavor, and if it does eventually go away, that should be a good mix of flavors.

 

[dantheman13]

3 months

Yeah, 3 months isn't a long time, it could definitely change in another 3 months. I've had Brett beers that have done some weird things in those first three months.

 

[505-Brewer]

So.... I made a ten gal batch of Oud Bruin, recipe from AMSB, and fermented one half with Wyeast Oud Bruin, the other with ECY Bugfarm. The Oud Bruin tastes/smells band-aid-ish. The Bugfarm has a touch of band-aid, but not much. I think I either had some Chloramine issues from running the water through my filter too quickly (d'oh), or these flavors are caused by brett/bacteria, which should mellow/change out over time. My question is: if I did in fact **** up and put chloramine in my beer, can the chloraphenols which may have been produced be munched on by brett? If so, this would explain why the oud bruin (sacch/lacto) tastes/smells more heavily of band-aid compared to the bugfarm which has lots of brett strains. Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with this?

.....how they treat your water. Carbon filtration is typically not effective for removing chloramines. It can be but a typical system does not have enough carbon to do the job as well as it will for chlorine given the same amount of carbon. If you have chloroamine use other methods to ensure its removal. Some info here.

http://www.purewaterproducts.com/articles/removing-chloramines

 

[TNGabe]

Medicinal or plasticy phenols can be produced by some brett strains. Wait it out. If your beer is only 3 months old, there is no reason to be tasting it already. Leave it alone.

 

[youreanimpulse]

Tasted the Berliner today that only had a little band-aid flavor after primary. I dry hopped this with Nelson, didn't taste the off-flavor at bottling and I can confirm in the finished beer that there isn't a sign of it. Also, I really recommend dry hopping a Berliner with Nelson Sauvin, it's really lovely. I'll test the one that was really bad soon.

 

[bovineblitz]

Medicinal or plasticy phenols can be produced by some brett strains. Wait it out. If your beer is only 3 months old, there is no reason to be tasting it already. Leave it alone.

Yeah I was just reading about how that Lambics and a lot of sours are often disgusting rubber tire phenol bombs after a few months, and then brett fixes it over time.