Help me identify the cause of my off-flavor

[Cellarbrau]

I just popped the first bottle of an AG Pale Ale the other night and it was great. For about 1.5 seconds. Nice body followed by perfect malt leading to fresh hops and then PLASTIC or ASH or something wrong that really sticks in my mouth. Has anybody had this flavor before? I'll do the complete run down on my process and then I need suggestions because I'm ready to bottle another batch ASAP. I can say almost certainly that it was caused during bottling/conditioning because the beer tasted perfect when I took a hydrometer reading (1.009) right before bottling.

1) Soak bottles overnight in OxyClean
2) Sanitize equipment in bottling bucket with No-Rinse
3) Drain and rinse bottles with tap water
4) Siphon No-Rinse into bottles, filling for 30-60 seconds and then draining
5) Dump Sanitizer and dump beer into bottling bucket
6) Boil 2/3 cup of corn sugar with 2 cups water for 10 mins
7) Dump priming solution into beer
8) Siphon into bottles and cap immediately

Ideas so far:
-Priming solution shocking yeast because I pour it in too hot.
-"No-Rinse" residue.
-Over sanitizing. (Thanks LHBS)

 

[JustinB]

"Dump beer into bottling bucket"

Elaborate. Did you actually dump it in? I think that would oxidize the beer and create an off flavor. My understanding is that you are supposed to siphon the beer in carefully, being sure not to aerate or cause any splashing. I believe oxidized beer has a "cardboard" taste, but I will defer to more experienced brewers around here...

 

[ecojack]

-Over sanitizing. (Thanks LHBS)

Over sanitizing? What? Is that possible?

How long have you been bottle conditioning? I can see how you get a 'cardboard' taste off a green beer...
You may have an oxidation problem or need to let that beer condition!

 

[el_bandito]

You left out how long they were in the primary ... Did you do a secondary? Also how long where they in the bottle conditioning?

I'm thinking you just need to give it more time ... If you just poured the priming solution after boiling, this could be a problem too.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

If it tastes "right" before bottling, it was probably an aeration issue during the bottling process.

However, you should give it more time (weeks) to see if the flavor resolves itself.

 

[Nurmey]

Pouring hot primer in bucket is a big no to your problem, I've done it for a hundred batches.
No rinse residue is also a big no to your problem. That is why they call it no rinse.
Over sanitizing - no such thing.

Moving fermented beer by pouring IS a really big problem.

 

[ILOVEBEER]

I'm sure glad I started kegging before I ever bottled...sounds like too much work and possibilities for problems

 

[Beernik]

My guess: if it hasn't been in the bottle long, it's a young/green beer flavor from the fermentation that carbed the bottles. Give it some time to condition.

If it's something else, it may still condition out.

 

[mordantly]

i'm new to the forum, but i'm gonna take a stab: oxygen was very likely to have been introduced at transfer. GENTLY is the only way to move a beverage once the yeast have started fermentation. possiblity that something wasn't sufficiently sanitized. i know you will call me a crazy ass-tard for saying this, but off flavors only come from oxygen, infection, extreme temp swings, age, chloramines/chemical residues.

what is the timeline here?

 

[Wellshooter]

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

Off flavor identification.

 

[Edcculus]

Plastic/ash makes me think phenols. Chlorophenols to be exact. Does your water contain chlorine or chloramine? Yeast will react with those compounds to form nasty plastic/bandaid and even burnt tasting phenols in beer. I got nailed for this in a competition once. My simple fix is to use campden tablets to treat my water. Chlorine usually boils out, but chloramine sticks around. Campden, basically sulfite tablets used in wine making reacts with chloramine and chlorine and volatilizes out during the boil.

 

[Yooper]

Plastic/ash makes me think phenols. Chlorophenols to be exact. Does your water contain chlorine or chloramine? Yeast will react with those compounds to form nasty plastic/bandaid and even burnt tasting phenols in beer. I got nailed for this in a competition once. My simple fix is to use campden tablets to treat my water. Chlorine usually boils out, but chloramine sticks around. Campden, basically sulfite tablets used in wine making reacts with chloramine and chlorine and volatilizes out during the boil.

Yes, that was going to be my input. Definitely sounds like chlorophenols.

You could try using bottled water to see if that fixes it. Even use bottled water in mixing up your sanitizer, just to eliminate the possilibity of chlorine in your process.

One other factor might be fermentation temperature. A higher temperature fermentation would bring out even more of the chlorophenols present, and make it even worse.

 

[Cellarbrau]

'Dump' was not the right word. I do siphon into the priming bucket.

I will try campden tablets in the next batch. My LHBS has always said our local Vancouver water is fine for brewing as-is.

Also, I am going to replace my plastic primaries. See below.

Fermentation was 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary w/hops, 3 weeks in bottle now and the taste is still present.

There is also an update to this problem: I bottled a Mild yesterday. I used Ringwood Ale yeast and ESB for base malt. The OG was on target at 1.038 but the FG ended up a way-low 1.006. Tasted good but i was expecting 1.012-1.014 FG. Infection in my bucket(s)?