Cool ship and plastic taste

[Rivenin]

So... I know I know. Sours of all sorts take an extended period of time. I'm perfectly fine with this as i love brewing them and having them around.
However, i did do a coolship beer recently and stuff really isn't going according to plan.

Brewed oct 1st.

made a 10 gallon batch of a lambic type base.
6oz of aged hops.
left 5 gallons to the air for about 36 hours, then pitched the dregs from 6-7 sour beers
the other 5 gallons i cooled to the 70's, pitched a 2l starter of 4-5 saison yeasts and some sour blends.

the saison version is sitting around 1.004 and tasting as it should, funky and tart and clean.

the coolship version, tastes kind of tart like i was expecting, but VERY plastic, like the first batch i did when i fermented way too hot... (this one was in the low 70's) i've had other beers like this, but i know from past experience these flavors don't go away.
So i'm trynig to get a consensus here... Should this be taken and killed before it just gets disappointing? are these flavors bound to go away?

 

[Agate]

What was your water source for these?

 

[Rivenin]

Tap water as usual - treated for the "chlorine/amines" in the water. no salt additions in this brew...
Never had the off flavor at all since i've moved to sherwood at all.
Living in portland, i had to buy bottled water though (bleh) outskirts of portland, not portland proper...
---
note : sherwood water is basically the same as portland, just a touch extra calcium, and a touch more sulphate, but all numbers are under 10

 

[Agate]

This is just anecdotal, but I've read that the microbes you can get in these types of fermentation are a lot more sensitive to chemicals in the water than brewer's yeast. It's quite possible that it's a by-product that will age out of it, but being tap water there's a real possibility that it's here to stay.

 

[Rivenin]

thats what i was thinking too, but it's strange that the sour saison doens't have a hint of an off flavor. But with another vote for it, it's up on the list now.

 

[cilestiok]

This is just anecdotal, but I've read that the microbes you can get in these types of fermentation are a lot more sensitive to chemicals in the water than brewer's yeast. It's quite possible that it's a by-product that will age out of it, but being tap water there's a real possibility that it's here to stay.

Also, wild microbes may produce chemical compounds atypical of the microbes selected by brewers. The plastic taste may just be part of how that particular wild microbe behaves in beer.

 

[porterpounder]

I have had a strong plastic flavor with German yeasts when severely underpitching. Harvesting and pitching in a second batch those flavors disappeared. Maybe harvest the cake and repitch into another batch to see what happens.

 

[broadbill]

I'll try a different tack; what was your coolship container made out of and have you ever brewing anything in it?

 

[Rivenin]

Man... I need to take my own advice... Be patient and wait.
The sample I took was probably a month ago.
Took another tonight. This is the first time I've ever experienced ropy beer as well... It was hard to taste as the texture made me gag. But the flavor was down on the plastic... Only fun part is I might have to bottle this within a few months as I'll but moving soon. Never a good time for a sour brewer,

 

[Agate]

Ropy is good! If your gravity is sufficiently low, no worries about bottling. It'll develop in the bottle as well, but you'll surely have more variation between bottles than if you had bulk aged it.

 

[bovineblitz]

36 hours is a long time to expose the wort to air, I imagine you got more aerobically-dependent compound production than you want, and possibly built up a bigger population of 'pioneer'-type bugs that grow in that aerobic period than you'd see a lambic brewery get.