Funky taste and smell

[bobeer]

The last 2 batches ive made, an apa and iipa, both suffered the same fate. It's hard to describe but the closest thing i've found on here is described as band-aids. It's sort of a plastic type taste. I thought it was my keg line so i replaced it but the taste is still there.

I just moved to a new county a few months ago and ive brewed 3 batches here. The first one was a chocolate porter and it was awesome. The only main difference is I used 100% bottled spring water for that beer. I then used half spring and half tap for the apa and 100% tap for the iipa. The iipa i think was way worse than the apa so im leaning towards this being a water issue but im really not sure.
Ive been brewing for 4 years now and these are my first bad batches. I dont think it's an issue with my brewing processes or sanitation. Any ideas? I want to brew my annual Xmas beer but can't really afford for this to keep happening. Thanks!

 

[uncleleon]

I feel your pain. I would stick with the spring water until you can get a water report.

 

[bobeer]

Yea im thinking about doing that. Was just using tap water to keep costs down.
What in the water would cause this issue?

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Chlorine. Try campden tabs and brew up a small batch (1 gallon) if you have the means, use a scaled back version of one of your "bad" beers, and see if the flavor is still present.

 

[progmac]

Instead of buying bottled spring water, you can usually find a machine in the supermarket that will dispense water for less than 50 cents a gallon. I have a 7 gallon jug i take into the store to fill up.

 

[bobeer]

I had a feeling it was fluoride or chlorine. Whatever it is it makes my beer taste awful...

 

[kilted_brews]

+1 for chlorine. I had this problem back when I was using bleach to clean my equipment.

 

[Yooper]

I had a feeling it was fluoride or chlorine. Whatever it is it makes my beer taste awful...

It's chlorine. In some municipalities, they use chloramines- a more stable form of chlorine that doesn't boil off.

A campden tablet, crushed and dissolved in 20 gallons of water (or 1/2 tablet in 10 gallons) will instantly remove chlorine and/or chloramine.

The water may or may not be suitable for brewing, depending on what else is in it. You can get a water report from your water supplier, or send a sample to Ward Lab for a full report on what is in your water.

 

[andrewmaixner]

The chlorine can come from your water as chloramine (won't ever evaporate/boil out) and as said, you need to pre-treat with campden tablets (potassium or sodium metabisulfite), or use a different water source.

From the bible (Palmer):

Medicinal
These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aid™ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.

 

[bobeer]

Awesome. Thanks everyone! Ill pick up some campden tablets this weekend at the lhbs

 

[dsaavedra]

I've used campden tablets in my tap water and it still made beer with the same kind of weird artificial plastic taste you described, the taste was especially present when I would burp. This went away when I brewed a batch using bottled spring water!

 

[bobeer]

Noted. Thanks. Maybe I'll just stick with spring water. I'll try to hunt down one of those water dispensers. Thanks again.