Band-aid smell, mild off flavor

[StraightCs]

Hi,

I'm still pretty new at this and have done four 1-gallon batches now. I don't want to graduate to 3- and 5-gallon BIAB batches until I start nailing my recipes. All seems well across my four batches (goes, IPA, Black IPA, NEIPA) except one thing, an off smell and flavor I haven't seen described anywhere else. Best I can say is that all my beers have the scent of band-aids and slight plastic-like taste. I've been following all the recipes to the T, and each beer has this one problem. All I can think is that it might be my water, which is typically overtreated because it comes from a turbid source with a lot of suspended nutrients and organic matter. Can someone confirm this type of smell and taste can be from the water and not anything that I'm doing? If so, should I get a water filter, or will it also take out too much minerals? Is there anything else I should be investing in.

 

[TheHopfather]

Band-aid and/or plastic is chlorine or chloramines in your water. The yeast react with the chlorine/choramine and create chlorophenols, which is what you're tasting/smelling. You can treat your water with 1/2 a crushed Campden tablet to fix the issue.

If your water is treated with chlorine rather than chlormine you can treat the water with a carbon block filter. Chloramines are tougher to get rid of with filtering, I'd just use Campden and be done with it. You can also leave water treated with chlorine out in your kettle (with the lid off) overnight and the chlorine should evaporate. You've got a couple of options.

Do you have a water report for your brewing water?

 

[flars]

Band aid flavor is usually associated with the use of water treated with chlorine or chloramine. Chlorine will evaporate from a kettle of water over a 24 hour period. Chloramines will not evaporate. Chloramines can be removed with the use of a Campden tablet. One whole tablet will treat 20 gallons of water. Chloramine removal occurs in minutes. Campden will also remove the chlorine.

You may want to try distilled or RO water for brewing if the quality of the tap water is poor. Bru'n Water has a good guide for building up distilled and RO water for brewing. The old version of Bru'n Water is available on the net. May be the older version but it works well for me.

 

[StraightCs]

Yes, I've seen the water report. I do know that they use a lot of chlorine in the water here. The following chemicals are found in higher-than-average (but not unsafe) amounts the village's water:

Bromodichloromethane
Chlorate
Chloroform
Chromium (hexavalent)
Dibromochloromethane
Dichloroacetic acid
Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
Trichloroacetic acid

 

[portguy]

My two first batches (from kits) had a band aid flavor, but they were noticeable only after the beer was one or two months in the bottle. I made a simple test: filled up a jar of water and let it sit for 48 hours undisturbed and at room temperature. After 24 hours i could taste the same band aid flavor in the water.

I'm gonna try some campden tablets, because my city water is well balanced for brewing.

 

[65C]

At 1 gal you can probably use bottled water, it starts to get pricey at 5 gal

I've heard boiling for 45 mins the day before can remove Chlorine - we don't have a problem here - my problem is 8.0 Ph ...

 

[canehdianman]

Campden tablet all the time. It literally costs pennies per batch.

 

[seatazzz]

+1 on the Campden. Our water is pretty good (I have the report) but a pinch of prevention never hurts. Another thing that can cause that "bandaidy" or plastic flavor is overstressed yeast. If you're pitching too hot or underpitching, the yeast will throw off that phenolic smell and taste. What kits are you using? Are you using the yeast provided with them? If so, what's the date on the packet? If you have an LHBS nearby it would be in your best interest to buy some fresh yeast from them and not use what comes with the kits.

 

[StraightCs]

I'm pitching 2g of Safeale5, my wort is about 70 degrees when I pitch. I do not use a yeast starter. I do not know the date as I've thrown out the packet (not enough left for another batch). The fermentation is under 76 degrees. I used yeast measured from a kit for the Gose, from Brooklyn Brew Shop. I didn't notice a date.

 

[helibrewer]

I'm pitching 2g of Safeale5, my wort is about 70 degrees when I pitch. I do not use a yeast starter. I do not know the date as I've thrown out the packet (not enough left for another batch). The fermentation is under 76 degrees. I used yeast measured from a kit for the Gose, from Brooklyn Brew Shop. I didn't notice a date.

Try targeting cooler temps, ferment 66-68, 76 is going to create some flavors you may not want in your beer.

It is the polyphenols in the grain that react with chlorine compounds to form chlorophenols and the medicinal, bandaid flavors. A high quality carbon filter will remove chloramine but the metabisulfite (Campden) might be more economical in the short term anyway.