Medicine, Band Aid Off Flavor - Solved

[gregblatz]

Posting this in an effort to help others avoid the problem.

I dumped a 10 Gal batch a couple of months ago because it had a medicine, plastic taste to it.

I then brewed a 20 gal batch, guess what, same funky taste.

I have since ruled out the following:
Fermentation temp
Poor yeast health
Chlorine residue and/or Chloraphenols in tap water
Infection - Always a concern, but I have since ruled it out(read below).

So, sitting around with my brother in law, with off-tasting brew in hand, we just started brainstorming.
"what about this?" he says
"nope, can't be that because of XXXXX" I would say.

Finally, I did recall that I bought a new garden hose a couple of months back.

Kicked that around for a few minutes, next thing you know, we are out in the yard pouring glasses of water from the hose at 10pm.

Aha! Exact same plastic taste. The hose has a nasty rubber cure taste that is very very noticeable.

I have been kicking myself all weekend over this one. I hope that this helps others.

Always taste your water straight from the source before brewing.

 

[curlyfat]

You brew with hose water?!

 

[Bentpirate]

I had a similar issue; I went to HD and bought 3/8" pvc tubing and connected the amount I needed to run water. It's clear and I can make sure that all water is removed. I would suggest a carbon filter if you don't use one already. The next item; what temperature are you pitching your yeast and how much; these 2 issues can give that 'band aid' taste as well.
Agree with your garden hose statement 100%

 

[gregblatz]

Yeah, I usually don't use garden hose water, but I don't filter my home water and the hose water is the same as the water from the sink. The difference of course in this case was the hose.
Never had a problem with my water so I will continue to use the tap water(but not from the hose). I will look into the carbon filter though, couldn't hurt.

I usually get the wort down to 70 before pitching, then into the keezer to maintain the temperature.

In regards to yeast, I make a starter and stir plate when the OG is planned to be over 1050. If it is below 1050 I just use a smack pack.

I have 4 kegs of beer with the funky taste. I think I might just aquire a liking for the funky taste and see if we can still drink it!

 

[Homercidal]

Check for a "potable" hose for drinking water. I think they use different materials than for garden hose. I used my garden hose last night, but only after running it for many minutes. I was going to use water from the kitchen coming out of the carbon filter, but by the time I got to brewing it was getting late. It will be a nice test to see if the garden hose was a bad idea or not. I've used it before and not had a problem.

 

[gregblatz]

Yes, good advice. A potable hose would do the trick. I learned the hard way.

I didn't drink from the hose before brewing. If I had it would have been very obvious that there was a problem.

 

[Pick]

Potable hose is white and available at all RV/camper dealerships and Wal-Mart in the camping section.

 

[Fletch78]

PVC leaches chlorides that are noticeable on the human taste palette at 2 ppb... that's B for Billion. Harmless... but affect taste.

 

[gregblatz]

Yeah, that is my next concern. I am debating just dealing with the off flavor and toughing it out. I am wondering if it is a bad idea from a health standpoint.

 

[jwatkins56550]

always feels great to solve an off flavor....good job

 

[coastwx]

Thanks for the posting. I've been using a garden hose for a year now. May have to do some testing.

 

[Tindel]

I've had my first bad batch.... a band-aid batch.

I don't use a hose, but I do have a couple ideas of what may have caused the problem.

My question.... I have my beer in a keg for a week now, will the flavor go away with time, or should I cut my losses now and dump it?

 

[bovineblitz]

I use a hose for my water using my kitchen sink but it's a hose meant for trailers. I wasn't really thinking about it when I bought the hoses, I just wanted short ones... they had 6' hoses at lowe's and luckily they were for potable water.

So if you use a hose... get a hose meant for a trailer and you're good.

It's light green btw.

 

[GillandCo]

You brew with hose water?!

I do and haven't noticed any off flavors. If it taste good you can brew with it!

 

[curlyfat]

I do and haven't noticed any off flavors. If it taste good you can brew with it!

Agreed. I've never tasted "good" hose water at my house. I must be buying the wrong hoses...

 

[ksbrain]

+1 for the white RV hose! No need for "agents known to cause cancer in the state of California"

 

[chapa]

I'm going to have to check out that RV hose, but I've been recently using a garden hose, and I also recently bought a whole house filter to run the water through. Seemed to work OK, and the hydro samples from the recent batches I made seem fine. I was thinking this may be the contributor to my off-flavors, but I'm starting to think it was the fittings in my old MLT(I think the washers were zinc, and I also used the flat black rubber washers).

 

[HerotBrewer]

I know when I bought a new garden hose this year, it was marked that it "contains lead" and as such should not be used for potable water.

 

[noodledancer77]

Thanks for this thread. I have had two 5 gallon batches with a plastic hose flavor that I was having trouble diagnosing. The one thing that changed in my setup was a section of brand new garden hose that I used to deliver water. FYI, the old section of hose hadn't been a problem in past batches, but the new one may have ruined two batches. I'll hook it up and taste the water when i get home. I'll carry buckets from the spigot from now on. not taking any more chances.

This forum is excellent!