Extreme Frustration; What am I doing wrong?!!

[DanH]

Freaking Baindaid Taste!!!

Three of my last five extract batches have turned out with the very overpowering and horrible bandaid taste. I do not know what I'm doing wrong.

Extract Batches with store bought distilled water.

Full and partial boils with a turkey fryer.

Put 1 gallon of starsan into a 5 gallon food grade bucket and sanitize strainer and funnel.

Wort chiller into boil for last 10 minutes, then chill.
Pour into sanitized better bottles.

It always happens in the primary and I can smell it when I rack to a keg (I don't usually secondary).

Any help???

 

[meltroha]

Freaking Baindaid Taste!!!

Three of my last five extract batches have turned out with the very overpowering and horrible bandaid taste. I do not know what I'm doing wrong.

Extract Batches with store bought distilled water.

Full and partial boils with a turkey fryer.

Put 1 gallon of starsan into a 5 gallon food grade bucket and sanitize strainer and funnel.

Wort chiller into boil for last 10 minutes, then chill.
Pour into sanitized better bottles.

It always happens in the primary and I can smell it when I rack to a keg (I don't usually secondary).

Any help???

1 gallon, or one once of Starsan?

What kind of yeast?

What temperature are you primarying at?

You are cleaning everything before sanitizing right?

Are you adding brewing salts to the water? Distilled water doesn't have needed minerals alone.

 

[Shooter]

Distilled water doesn't have needed minerals alone.

Should be okay in this instance though. He's doing extract batches.

 

[CUrchin]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

[DanH]

1 gallon, or one once of Starsan?

What kind of yeast?

What temperature are you primarying at?

You are cleaning everything before sanitizing right?

Are you adding brewing salts to the water? Distilled water doesn't have needed minerals alone.

1 gallon of properly diluted StarSan.

Yeast, typically white labs Cali.

Primary at about 60 ambient, 68 in better bottle.

Cleaning; good call, I clean everything after I'm done but then let it sit and dot re-clean (although I'll rinse the better bottle out) before sanitizing. Is this it?

I thought that maybe it was a scratches bottle but it has happened in three of them now. So frustrating.

Thanks everyone very much for the help BTW

 

[Shooter]

Well, it doesn't sound like they are all turning out that way. Did this problem only manifest itself in the most recent batches? Did you make any changes to your routine?

 

[DanH]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

I've read that, but I don't understand how I could get the Baindaid taste if I only use distilled water.

 

[DanH]

Well, it doesn't sound like they are all turning out that way. Did this problem only manifest itself in the most recent batches? Did you make any changes to your routine?

I've done 22 5 gallon extract brews and it happened on numbers 6, 14, 21 and 22. The only major change was going to the turkey fryer around batch 15 and getting the immersion chiller on around batch 18.

I really feel like I've been doing things right so I figured it was in the equipment. So I didn't reuse the better bottle that had it the second time. I've also replaced some syphon hose but it happens in primary and I don't syphon into the bottle. I pour through a strainer and funnel. So I bought a new strainer and funnel.

Again, thank you. I really need to get beyond this.

 

[Shooter]

Is there any common ingredient or process that was distinct to those batches?

 

[DanH]

Nope. The first two were wheat so I thought maybe it was that. All the others are basically the same. I steep grains the same, boil the same, I did switch to the immersion chiller but it had happened before that.

To sanitize the better bottles, I just pour a quart of properly diluted starsan into it and shake up a good foam, then make sure it touches all surfaces (inside) and pour it back into the bucket.

 

[uxo]

Do you burp that 'bandaid' flavor? I think my beer gets that flavor also. I'm 99% sure its the 'bandaid' flavor.

My first batch got it and I let it sit for 4 weeks in bottle then it went away.
I also have another batch bottle conditioning for 3 weeks so far with the prominent flavor. Give it more time? Maybe..?

 

[fizgig]

Is the star san made with distilled water?

 

[Komocabo]

I've done 22 5 gallon extract brews and it happened on numbers 6, 14, 21 and 22. The only major change was going to the turkey fryer around batch 15 and getting the immersion chiller on around batch 18.

I really feel like I've been doing things right so I figured it was in the equipment. So I didn't reuse the better bottle that had it the second time. I've also replaced some syphon hose but it happens in primary and I don't syphon into the bottle. I pour through a strainer and funnel. So I bought a new strainer and funnel.

Again, thank you. I really need to get beyond this.

Are you pouring your fermented beer from the fermenter into bottles? If so, stop that and use the bottling tool (whatever that thing is called). The beer should be bottled slowly and not poured into a bottle.

 

[DanH]

Are you pouring your fermented beer from the fermenter into bottles? If so, stop that and use the bottling tool (whatever that thing is called). The beer should be bottled slowly and not poured into a bottle.

No, I syphon to kegs. But the damage is done by then.

 

[DanH]

Is the star san made with distilled water?

I usually use tap water.

 

[DanH]

Do you burp that 'bandaid' flavor? I think my beer gets that flavor also. I'm 99% sure its the 'bandaid' flavor.

My first batch got it and I let it sit for 4 weeks in bottle then it went away.
I also have another batch bottle conditioning for 3 weeks so far with the prominent flavor. Give it more time? Maybe..?

Dude, it's bad. Like never go away bad. I have a keg that's been full of the crap for like 9 months. No better. And it's not that I burb it, it's like it's all you can taste.

 

[meltroha]

Should be okay in this instance though. He's doing extract batches.

Ah, I missed that.

 

[Shooter]

I usually use tap water.

You could try using distilled water to make your StarSan. Seems like a small amount of sanitizer made with tap water shouldn't make this much difference in flavor though, but the taste threshold for the band-aid flavor is pretty low. Are you certain you temps have remained steady on those batches?

 

[Varmintman]

I know you are sanitizing with starsan but do you use bleach at all. Every few batches I will run bleach through the system and if you do not rinse that with plenty of hot water you will get bandaid

 

[chumprock]

I read better bottle and my first thought was scratches and that your one gallon of sanitizer isn't doing enough.

Do you have other fermenters, or the ability to purchase a "control" fermenter that is not a used better bottle?

 

[b-boy]

My first thought was infection. You might have something in your better bottle that's not gettig killed by a simple rinse. I had a few infected batches that I traced to my bottling bucket.

Now I re-clean my better bottles the night before I need them. I use Oxy/TSP and let them soak all night, rinse, and immediately add starsan. I fill the better bottle all the way up with starsan and let it soak for a few hours. I dump most of the starsan out into a bucket for use during the rest of my brew session. Then I cap the better bottle until I need it.

 

[Conan]

Isn't band-aid caused by oxygenation? If so, maybe you're causing the flavor somewhere pre-fermentation (hot transfer, etc.) and it's only manifesting in the fermenter. You mentioned the first couple were wheats, which have a pretty mild flavor compared to something like a robust porter or an IIPA. What were the other beers you noticed it on? Were they mild-flavored or full, with plenty of hops/ malt/ adjuncts to overpower an off-flavor?
You could try sampling a cup of wort from the fermenter, before pitching yeast. Let it cool, refrigerate it to drinking temps, etc. and try that. See if you notice the taste there. I could just be blowing smoke- I'm no longer up on my off flavors. Kyle

 

[DanH]

I know you are sanitizing with starsan but do you use bleach at all. Every few batches I will run bleach through the system and if you do not rinse that with plenty of hot water you will get bandaid

No bleach. Thank you though.

 

[DanH]

My first thought was infection. You might have something in your better bottle that's not gettig killed by a simple rinse. I had a few infected batches that I traced to my bottling bucket.

I'm thinking infection too, but that would mean I have three infected better bottles. I didn't think I was anywhere near that lazy with cleanliness/sanitation.

Should I trash the better bottles?

 

[DanH]

Isn't band-aid caused by oxygenation?

I didn't think oxygenation was bad 'pre-pitch'

 

[Yooper]

Isn't band-aid caused by oxygenation?

No.

Band-aid/medicinal/chloroseptic flavors come from chlorophenols. It could come from chlorine in the brewing water, or from infection.

I have a silly thought- have you tried "other" distilled water brands? Maybe what you're buying isn't always 100% pure.

Can you try a batch with reverse osmosis water (often from those big "water machines" in the grocery stores or Wal-mart) and make up the star-san with distilled or RO water as well? If you use a brand new water supply, a brand new bucket for a fermenter and NO equipment that you've used before, and the flavor persists that would lead some answers.

How do you take care of your yeast? Are you making starters? Using dry? Or reusing some strains? Can a yeast contamination be possible? That's where I got my 10 gallon batch of "band aid beer" from- a repitched yeast slurry that must have been contaminated.

 

[DanH]

How do you take care of your yeast? Are you making starters? Using dry? Or reusing some strains? Can a yeast contamination be possible? That's where I got my 10 gallon batch of "band aid beer" from- a repitched yeast slurry that must have been contaminated.

I white labs vials (and the occasional smack pack). I submerge them into my diluted StarSan before opening and pouring them in. I don't currently make starters but I hope to as soon as I get this figured out.

As for water... I will try the RO.

Is it possible that it could just be a random bug, floating through the air, and landing in my wort while I'm chilling it? At that point, it is just sitting outside on my deck, in a turkey fryer with a lid on about half way.

 

[fizgig]

I would try mixing up star san with different water as a first step, I've heard cloramine levels can really vary depending on when they add it and how far from the treatment center you are, and maybe your off batches got a big dose of it mixed with the sanitizer.

 

[dotJerdot]

Assuming it's not well water, have you tried using your tap water? Or spring instead of distilled?

 

[DanH]

Assuming it's not well water, have you tried using your tap water? Or spring instead of distilled?

I've used each, and have gotten it from both spring water and distilled. I try to avoid my tap water (galvanized pipes in an older home = yuck).