Hep me figure out the reason for my off flavor

[EcuPirate07]

So I'll hit the highlights so this isn't too wordy, if you need more info just let me know.

I brewed about 3 weeks ago and I have an off flavor/smell. When I open the fermentation bucket I get an Inner tube smell (best way to explain it) the taste is the same as the smell. I am chalking this up to underpitching and strained yeast, but I wanted to get more seasoned brewers takes. I guess my main concern is that I don't wanna waste my time or money if it might be something else.

So where to start. I washed a WLP001 from a past brew and froze the yeast following the steps outlined here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/freezing-yeast.html

I took a 50ml vial with 20-25mls of yeast and thawed it out and pitched it into a starter. The starter only went for like maybe 24hrs at most due to I was brewing with a buddy and he had to move the brew day up for family issues. So here I assume 1)I started with a low cell count maybe 100 billion as the link states. 2)I didnt get enough time to build the cell count

On brew day I did have a little mold in my mash tun due to some water left behind and the lid placed on, but of course I cleaned and sanitized everything before the brew and of course this is pre boil. once brew was done I whirlpooled for 1 hr then dropped the temp down to the mid 60's or what I thought was the 60's (turns out thermometer was on the fritz and it was actually 80) I realized this in less than 15mins and dropped the temp down to 60 with a quick ice bath.

below is the recipe that I made trying to do a Stone Delicious clone. all my sanitation was on point and there isnt and never was any sign of infection. I was also supposed to dry hop but due to this im not going to.

So, should I keep course and let it sit longer (seems hard to do for an IPA) or just count my loses and dump the batch? I just want to pin point where my problem is so like I said before im not wasting my time or money.

Thanks for the help.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.99 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.24 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 4.75 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 10 Aug 2015
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Grant's Equipment All Grain
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.5 %

Total Water Needed: 9.49 gal
Mash or Steep Grains

Mash Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
14 lbs 0.2 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
11.5 oz Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2
5.9 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 4.50 gal of water at 164.2 F 152.0 F 60 min
Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.99gal) of 168.0 F water

First Wort Hops
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 4 29.7 IBUs
0.40 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 10.9 IBUs
Add water to achieve boil volume of 6.99 gal
Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.061 SG

Boil Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.30 oz El Dorado [11.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 42.2 IBUs
1.00 oz El Dorado [11.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 19.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Hop [4.40 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 7.6 IBUs
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 9 -
Steeped Hops
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.00 oz El Dorado [11.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60.0 min Hop 10 32.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Hop [4.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60.0 min Hop 11 12.5 IBUs
1.00 oz El Dorado [11.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 12 12.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Hop [4.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 13 4.8 IBUs

Estimated Post Boil Vol: 6.24 gal and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.072 SG

Cool and Transfer Wort

 

[Yooper]

"Rubber" smell is generally contamination, and it is the most likely cause from the explanation as the recipe looks fine.

 

[EcuPirate07]

"Rubber" smell is generally contamination, and it is the most likely cause from the explanation as the recipe looks fine.

So best to throw out the frozen yeast as it COULD be the attributing factor of the contamination?

 

[jimyoung]

I always read that rubber smell was autolysis, which is dead / old yeast building up, but nothing from your procedure strikes me as odd that way. Even if you had a little bit of old yeast in your frozen batch, I don't imagine it'd be enough. Thought I'd mention it any way.