Hefeweizen tastes like burnt rubber hose

[Dave Richkas]

After a couple weeks bottle aging our Blood Orange Flavored Hefe tastes like a burnt rubber hose. German Wheat, German two-row barley, Hallertau bittering hops. Used OYL-021 Yeast. Bottled with 4oz blood orange extract flavoring. What did we do wrong?

 

[Miraculix]

Mmmmmmm..... Burnt Rubber Hose with Hallerau buttering.... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Hops pellets can (but rarely) become burnt during pelletisation. I've had it once with a packet of Nelson Sauvin that tasted just like you describe. Do you have any more of the pellets? What do they smell like?

 

[grampamark]

I wish I could help, but I’ve never encountered an off flavor that tasted like burnt rubber.

What was the batch size? Could you have used too much orange extract, perhaps?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Could you have used too much orange extract, perhaps?

Flavourings interact with hefe yeasts in strange ways, so this could be the issue. Did the beer taste OK going into bottles?

 

[Franktalk]

I think burnt rubber comes from yeast autolysis.

 

[Amadeo38]

Sounds like what some describe as the “medicinal” off-flavor, often describes as band-aid, smoke, and spicy clove. The latter is common in a hefe to some degree, but burnt rubber means you likely had some chlorine or chloramine present in the water, and/or your mashing/sparging procedure had improper water pH, improper water amounts, or times at rest. Iodine based sanitizer might also cause clorophenols (the source of the burnt rubber perception).

 

[Bassman2003]

What is your brewing setup? Any electric heating elements?

 

[Dave Richkas]

Hops pellets can (but rarely) become burnt during pelletisation. I've had it once with a packet of Nelson Sauvin that tasted just like you describe. Do you have any more of the pellets? What do they smell like?

Thanks. The hops smelt great as always - no burnt smell.

 

[Dave Richkas]

What is your brewing setup? Any electric heating elements?

Propane - No scorching. Am considering an electric set up though... a possible concern?

 

[Dave Richkas]

Flavourings interact with hefe yeasts in strange ways, so this could be the issue. Did the beer taste OK going into bottles?

I kept it at roughly an oz per gallon. But I have to say it tasted fine going into fermentation. I assume the yeast was ok.

 

[Dave Richkas]

I wish I could help, but I’ve never encountered an off flavor that tasted like burnt rubber.

What was the batch size? Could you have used too much orange extract, perhaps?

Was around 4 gallons going into ferm. Extract was an Oz per gal. I’ll let it sit another week or two and see if the off flavor changes.

 

[Dave Richkas]

Mmmmmmm..... Burnt Rubber Hose with Hallerau buttering.... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Damn spell-check

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I kept it at roughly an oz per gallon. But I have to say it tasted fine going into fermentation. I assume the yeast was ok.

If it tasted good at bottling, you'd have to assume it's a yeast/flavouring thing. Autolysis does taste a bit like burnt rubber, but is very unlikely to happen after 2 weeks in bottles. It would only potentially happen if there was a huge amount of yeasty trub transferred over. Contamination/infection is also unlikely to take hold in 2 weeks unless there was a big source of contaminants (eg. visibly manky bottles). Water and hop issues would have been noticeable before bottling. So would scorching/brew day issues.

 

[John Flores]

Sounds like what some describe as the “medicinal” off-flavor, often describes as band-aid, smoke, and spicy clove. The latter is common in a hefe to some degree, but burnt rubber means you likely had some chlorine or chloramine present in the water, and/or your mashing/sparging procedure had improper water pH, improper water amounts, or times at rest. Iodine based sanitizer might also cause clorophenols (the source of the burnt rubber perception).

+ 1 on chloramine if it tastes medicinal or like plastic. Were you using tap water?

 

[seatazzz]

What was your fermentation temperature? And did the wort get chilled sufficiently before going in the fermenter? If it was too hot going in, might have killed off some of the yeast which will also cause the medicinal/bandaid/rubber flavor.

 

[Bassman2003]

Propane - No scorching. Am considering an electric set up though... a possible concern?

I just wanted to see as elements can scorch in certain situations if the temperature difference is large and if grain is involved.