beer tastes like star san

[Reelale]

Do you usually use the same hops? You mentioned EKG, which to me has a somewhat earthy flavor as a bittering hop. Fuggles too, IMO. You might try making a weak hop tea and see if you can detect the off flavors you notice in your beers. Maybe old hops? I wouldn't think starsan, at the concentrations we use, would be noticeable. Just a thought.

 

[dbsmith]

I would also save a few bottles from every batch and see how they taste months later rather than just dumping the whole thing. Maybe you already do this, but if not give it a try.

 

[beerhound28]

Try an experiment. Rinse a five gallon fermenter with starsan. Drain as much as possible. Fill with five gallons water. Let set for a short period of time. Have someone else set up four glasses of water, with one of them being the water from the fermenter. See if you can pick it, and how pronounced the taste is, and if it tastes of what you speak. This will dictate if you are indeed that sensitive to the starsan, and if it is what you are tasting.

Process of elimination for all the variables.

actually will do

 

[beerhound28]

I would also save a few bottles from every batch and see how they taste months later rather than just dumping the whole thing. Maybe you already do this, but if not give it a try.

NO i never literally dump beer always drink them(even if it unbearable)..i just call them dumpers if they are not good enough to share with friends and family

 

[beerhound28]

Do you usually use the same hops? You mentioned EKG, which to me has a somewhat earthy flavor as a bittering hop. Fuggles too, IMO. You might try making a weak hop tea and see if you can detect the off flavors you notice in your beers. Maybe old hops? I wouldn't think starsan, at the concentrations we use, would be noticeable. Just a thought.

not east kents's just regular usa grown goldings..after all these comments i am starting to think that star san may not be the culprit ..i am gonna run some test and see if you all are right about the sensitivity thing

 

[madcow_number_6]

random question: Is the drain in your dishwasher clogged?

I had some off flavors (dusty, plasticy, soapy) in several bottles of a beer that was mighty tasty a couple of days before. Come to find out it wasn't the beer. It was the glasses not getting rinsed well enough.

 

[beerhound28]

random question: Is the drain in your dishwasher clogged?

I had some off flavors (dusty, plasticy, soapy) in several bottles of a beer that was mighty tasty a couple of days before. Come to find out it wasn't the beer. It was the glasses not getting rinsed well enough.

no def not cause i never wash my beer glasses with dish soap
and when i do wash then always hand wash them with a tiny dash of pbw

 

[SittingDuck]

not east kents's just regular usa grown goldings..after all these comments i am starting to think that star san may not be the culprit ..i am gonna run some test and see if you all are right about the sensitivity thing

But do you always use US goldings? Same issue, if you use the same hops, the citrusy notes could certainly be from that (although I don't think of goldings as citrusy on general).

 

[beerhound28]

oh no..i have used many varieties fuggles,saaz,cascades,goldings,warriors,many more..always get that same taste though FSR

 

[beerhound28]

once again thank you all for chiming in..happy brewing and cheers

 

[grouperdude]

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.

 

[beerhound28]

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..

 

[ShakerD]

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.

 

[othellomcbane]

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.

 

[mvcorliss]

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.

 

[grouperdude]

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..

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

 

[joex444]

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 ******* 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.

 

[Cambone]

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 ******* 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.

 

[tektonjp]

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 ******* 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.

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

 

[SC_Ryan]

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.

 

[tektonjp]

NO i never literally dump beer always drink them(even if it unbearable)..i just call them dumpers if they are not good enough to share with friends and family

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!

 

[cimirie]

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.

 

[thetragichero]

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

 

[Bishop916]

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

 

[Cambone]

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!

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

 

[BrewKnurd]

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.

 

[DarthMalt]

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.

 

[drkaeppel]

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.

^^ 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!

 

[smuth10]

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.

 

[Cambone]

99% of bottled water is crap.

I hate all sweeping generalizations like this.