snailsongs
Well-Known Member
Bear with me for a moment: A few months ago I made a brown ale that ended up with a strong band-aid taste/aroma. I read up and banished bleach and tap water (and my tap water tasted good, but I asked the water works here about sanitization and they said that the water has .001-.003 ppm of chloramine....can't taste it but better safe than sorry) from my brewing practices.
Last month I bottled up a porter that ended up with the same band-aid flavor, despite the fact that bleach hasn't touched any equipment for months. The only tap water I used was 1.5 cups for boiling the priming sugar. This beer tasted good at samples and didn't seem to develop this flavor until it was bottled.
Last week I bottled up a milk stout and when I cracked open the first taster last night, there was that same damn note of band-aid in the flavor, but this time much less prominent than the other two times. Like the porter, it didn't seem to develop until after bottling.
I soak and wash my bottles/bottling equipment with oxy-clean and sanitize with star-san. I boil my priming sugar in the smallest amount of water possible for about 10 minutes (it's usually still pretty hot when I pour into the bottling bucket and start siphoning)........So, WTF? should I throw out my bottling bucket and wand and start over? Are there any other causes of phenolic flavors besides chlorine and bleach? Should I stop using star-san and start "fearing the foam"? Am I mistaking "band-aid" for the acrid flavor of black patent or something? I'm really sratching my head and getting discouraged here......oh, and I should mention that I have bottled up batches in between all of these, using the same water, sugar and methods that have turned out golden......
Last month I bottled up a porter that ended up with the same band-aid flavor, despite the fact that bleach hasn't touched any equipment for months. The only tap water I used was 1.5 cups for boiling the priming sugar. This beer tasted good at samples and didn't seem to develop this flavor until it was bottled.
Last week I bottled up a milk stout and when I cracked open the first taster last night, there was that same damn note of band-aid in the flavor, but this time much less prominent than the other two times. Like the porter, it didn't seem to develop until after bottling.
I soak and wash my bottles/bottling equipment with oxy-clean and sanitize with star-san. I boil my priming sugar in the smallest amount of water possible for about 10 minutes (it's usually still pretty hot when I pour into the bottling bucket and start siphoning)........So, WTF? should I throw out my bottling bucket and wand and start over? Are there any other causes of phenolic flavors besides chlorine and bleach? Should I stop using star-san and start "fearing the foam"? Am I mistaking "band-aid" for the acrid flavor of black patent or something? I'm really sratching my head and getting discouraged here......oh, and I should mention that I have bottled up batches in between all of these, using the same water, sugar and methods that have turned out golden......