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Clove off-flavor, but it's inconsistent.

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Xanatos903

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Joined
Jan 20, 2013
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Kerrville
I've been drinking bottles off and on of a red ale I brewed using Midwest's Boston Red kit. It's been about two months since I bottled, and it seems like about 1/3 of the bottles have a strong clove flavor to them. I understand that a high fermentation temperature can lead to phenols, but I'm puzzled about how it hasn't hit the whole batch.

Useful information:

1. Cleaned bottles, the sanitized in the dishwasher on dry cycle.
2. US-05 overattenuated, going from a SG of 1.043 to 1.005. No pellicles or any other sign of an infection. FG was stable for 3 days before bottling.
3. Fermented at 70* (a little high, but shouldn't it give the whole batch that flavor?)
4. Aroma is fine.
5. Used HEB brand spring water.
6. Everything is sanitized using one-step.

Could a few of the bottles have an infection that managed to make it through the dry cycle of the dishwasher? What do you guys think?
 
Next time put the bottles through a rinse cycle, phenolic taste could come from the sanitizer residue.:(
 
FWIW, I've gotten clove flavors when fermenting at 70 using US-04 or Nottingham. I realize that doesn't explain why it would only be in certain bottles...
 
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