Chemical taste in my beer!

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Here is the setup. I am using all stainless steel pots for my all grain brewing. I filter my water using the canister filter system which says it removes all the chlorine. (I did run hot water through it one time.) And I have a BLICHMANN fermenter which is sanitized with an iodine sanitizer. I use 1.5 teaspoon per 5 gal. I do not rinse the fermenter after applying the sanitizer. I use a 5 foot clear hose from the brew kettle to the fermenter that may not be food grade. The hose is sanitized that with iodine solution. The wort is oxygenated with a stainless steel stone and a sanitized air filter. The oxygen is purchased from Low’s. Two months ago I did an American Amber and it had the chemical taste. I thought it was the plastic fermenter so I did the smart thing and purchased the Blichmann stainless steel fermentor. (I’m sure you all agree that was a smart choice!) Last month I did a Silk stout and it came out fine. Problem fixed I thought. Two weeks ago I did an American light ale. It tasted fine out of the kettle. But when I did a gravity test 2 weeks into the fermentation I tasted it and it has the chemical taste. What the He**! Any Ideas?

 

[McKBrew]

Is there anyway to narrow down what type of chemical taste you are experiencing?

Go to www.howtobrew.com and look in this chapter to see if anything jumps out at you. http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

[[email protected]]

I want to say the smell hot plasic.

 

[killian]

What temp are you fermenting at. Higher temps can lead to off flavors

 

[[email protected]]

I kept it low and no mash out. 149 degrees

 

[Beerthoven]

I kept it low and no mash out. 149 degrees

This is your mash temp. What temp are you fermenting at? Are you using any temperature control?

 

[[email protected]]

I get a steady 67-69 degrees on the fermenter.

 

[discgolfin]

This sounds to me maybe water related? What is your water profile? I do not use a filter system so Im not sure of the value, but it sounds like this occured in lighter pale beers and not your stout? Possible a PH issue? PH was good for the stout because of the dark grains but with the pale maybe you need to work on your PH. However If this a new problem that has never occured before than we might need to breakdown the new changes to your system. The fermenter didn't seem to be it becasue u changed it. Did you have this problem prior to your amber? What did you change since you did the Amber?
This is more a chemical flavor and not a medicinal flavor or smell?

just some thoughts..I think if you did things the same with the stout and this was fine than it should be related to this..try making another dark grain beer and see..or evaluate your PH or water profile for some ideas.

Jay

 

[FlyGuy]

What kind of yeast are you using? What is your method for propagating and pitching, and what pitching rate are you using?

 

[Beerthoven]

You mentioned that you used iodophore on the Blichmann, but you also [thread=53066]asked a question about rubbing alcohol causing off flavors[/thread]. Do you think this has something to do with it?

If that is a concern, I would wash everything really well with oxyclean and only use Iodophore going forward (or StarSan, which is my preference).

 

[[email protected]]

I use the PH stabilizer, can’t remember the name of the product. Its 5 something. I have done about 10 batches total since I started all grain brewing. This problem started about 3 batches ago. Note: Early on I was using 2 5gal fermenter before I purchased the BLICHMANN. I noticed that one 5 gal fermenter would have the off flavor and on would not. During that time with 2 fermentors I would purchase 2 pouches of wyeaste and let the pack swell and add at 70 degrees. With the BLICHMANN I buy one pack of Wyeaste add it to a ratio of 2 tablespoons dried malt per cup of water. I use 1 pint of water. I would do this on Wednesday and brew on Sat morning.

 

[[email protected]]

I only used the alcohol when I would do a trub dump or get a sample from my racking arm on the Blichmann. I would spray the alcohol in the barbed fitting on the racking arm when the valve is closed.

 

[FlyGuy]

Your off flavour might be from under-pitching -- stressed yeast will sometimes produce those flavours. I can't quite figure it out from your post, but it sounds like you are fermenting 10 gal batches? If so, your starter sounds WAY too small. Are you also having trouble reaching full attenuation? If so, it would lend support to my idea.

Regardless, have a look at the pitching rate calculator at MrMalty.com. It will give you the optimal pitching rates for your beer and batch size.

 

[[email protected]]

Yes I am doing 10 gal batches. I see acitvity in less then 12 hours. Should I try 2 wyeaste packs for awhile?

 

[Beerthoven]

Yes I am doing 10 gal batches. I see acitvity in less then 12 hours. Should I try 2 wyeaste packs for awhile?

2 packs would be better than 1, but you would probably be better served by making bigger starters than buying two smack packs for every batch. Or wash and reuse some of the yeast you dump from the conical.

 

[FlyGuy]

Yes I am doing 10 gal batches. I see acitvity in less then 12 hours. Should I try 2 wyeaste packs for awhile?

Don't go by how long it takes to see activity. And the number of packs and/or size of the starter is determined by the gravity and type of brew you are making. Check out the pitching rate calculator on MrMalty.com for the figures.

 

[Dr Malt]

A plastic flavor is usually associated with the presence of wild yeast or a contaminant from plastic equipment. To address the possibility of wild yeast, you need to take apart, clean and sanitize all your brew equipment. To address contamination from plastic equipment, you might have overlooked washing a new piece of plastic equipment. Also, I noticed you mentioned you sanitize things and do not rinse. Have you tried with and without rinse and the effect on flavor??

Dr Malt

 

[[email protected]]

I do spend lots of time sanitizing my equipment. I did a parchel rinse after sanitizing just before I installed the stopper. I was under the impression that I would not have to rinse after using an iodine based sanitizer. As I mentioned above, I used 1.5 teaspoon per 5 gal of water. I just purchased some Star San and will give that a try this weekend.

 

[[email protected]]

Nice calculator FlyGuy!

 

[mrkristofo]

I'm gonna agree with FlyGuy that underpitching is a likely culprit. Many of the off-flavors from the yeast would be masked by the dark malts in the Stout, and the acidity of the stout could degrade some of the nasty biproducts since many of them are acid labile.

Long story short, start making starters with nutrient, and approach over-pitching rates. Be very careful about oxidizing your beer as well.

 

[[email protected]]

What do you meen oxidizing your beer? Hot side airation?

 

[mrkristofo]

What do you meen oxidizing your beer? Hot side airation?

Cold-side aeration, i.e. racking to bottle or to the keg and letting beer splash everywhere. Siphon quietly. Always siphon quietly.

 

[jdoiv]

Are you reusing the Iodophor sanitizer or letting any of your equipment sit in sanitizing solution for long periods of time? I had a very plastic/soapy taste once that was caused by leaving some of my equipment in the sanitizer too long. Iodophor doesn't stay effective for very long.

 

[AdIn]

What kind of tubing do you use to move hot wort after boiling?

 

[[email protected]]

I try not to clean plastic with the iodine cleaner. Most of the plastic is cleaned with oxygen based sanitizer. I always rinse after using oxygen sanitizer. I purchased the MoreBeer 1550 10 gal brew system so all the hoses that came with the unit are food grade hoses. The one hose that is not food grade does not transport hot wort. It is the clear tubing I purchased from low's.

 

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I am good about keeping oxygen out after the post fermentation process. This chemical taste is inherent right after the fermentation process. I took a sample from the racking arm of the fermenter.

 

[jdoiv]

As others have said it could be a by product of fermentation due to underpitching or unhealthy yeast. I am still thinking though that it is a cleaning issue.

I would suggest changing your cleaner to PBW, rinsing very well and using starsan for a sanitizer. The PBW rinses easily and the starsan is flavorless. If you still have taste issues after making that change, something else is happening.

 

[[email protected]]

Ok. I took 2 samples to our local brew shop. They said that the beer has a vegetable taste. We could not identified the chemical taste. After talking to them we think it could be 3 things. 1. Water, Try my next batch using spring water. 2. I am using a stainless steel airater. They said to boil it for 10 munites. Soaking in star san my not be enough. 3. Yeast. Use two pacs of Activater for 10 gal batches. Don't do a starter for a while. I will try this out this weekend and let everyone know what I have found. Thank you everyone!

 

[boo boo]

Vegetable taste equals DMS. How well are you boiling your wort and do you boil it uncovered? DMS is driven off be a long (60 minute) vigerous boil in which the steam generated needs to be vented properly. And by properly, I mean uncovered for most of the boil as you don't want any condensate dripping back into the kettle.
Also are you cooling fast enough? DMS is being produced in the hot wort after the boil and isn't being driven off by the boiling action. Cooling below 140F reduces the DMS.

 

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No Lid diring the boil and it only talkes 10 minutes to cool the wort from 108 degrees F to 69 degrees F