Off flavour in lighter brews

[HomeDrewBrew]

So

My last few batches of lighter beers have had a bad off flavour during fermentation.
First one was a lager i did when i noticed it.
If i could describe the flavour and smell it would be i wanna say plasticky?,Cardboard and not as sweet as should be almost watery and metalic.

Now what ive narrowed it down to and only things ive changed i can think of is being as its hotter months of brewing here in Canada when i go to cool the beer ill cool to 90F then toss in 6.5gal buckets then stick in fridge to cool then pitch the next day!.

Ive not had a problem with this method before with a lager or any other beers for that matter...

Another possibility is my my Sanitization.

My tap water isnt the greatest and when i use half tap (with camden) and half ro for darker beers and almost full ro for light beers when im using starsan to sanitize i havent been using ro with starsan,ive just gone right from tap to spray bottle.

Now would that little bit i use to sanitize the buckets,lid etc..could cause the whole batch to go that off??.
Or the extra day of cooling and pitching could b the culprit?.

Thanks

 

[kh54s10]

If you are using reverse osmosis water, are you adding any salts? RO strips the water of all minerals so you need to add them back in the proper proportions.

Your descriptions of the off flavors cover a lot of different potential problems. Plasticy is one problem, cardboard would be oxidation and metallic is chemical. Watery could be recipe or diluted too much.

If you use sanitizer mixed in the right amounts and then drain off the excess I doubt what water it was mixed in would make any difference, unless really bad water.

Lighter beers have less flavor to mask off flavors so having good water to start is important.

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

Thanks for replying!

I add salts to the Ro water and use acid malt to level Ph.
I drain the excess sanitizer off the buckets etc after spraying.

I wish i could say how the taste is but id say more metallic then any.

Ive also been adding Biofoam defoamer before boil which ive never done before and done it last few batches and may have added a few drops too many?? But thats in the boil..

 

[kh54s10]

I can't find any Biofoam that would be used in a brewing setting. Google search brings up polystyerene insulation foam or a concentrated commercial kitchen cleaner.

I would make sure you are using it at the right concentration or eliminate it all together. I used to use Fermcap-S but stopped. I just watch for boil overs and use a blow off tube for fermentation. Even when I did use it I had a couple of boil overs and blow offs, so I would rather not have that in my beer. I know, it settles and stays in the fermenter. But still.

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

I will try without it and see how it goes.
Im doing two batches in the a.m tmrw just wanna make sure im not wasting ten gallons of beer due to this offness.
Do u think the cooling process may have a result in the flavours fermenting?.
Those 3 is all i can think of what it may b due to.The rest of my process has been good to me.

Thanks

 

[2trout]

Don't break that which is already fixed! Stop the biofoam, and consider your previous process that made good beer and go back to that. Do an extremely thorough cleaning of all you brewing gear, every nook and cranny: then sanitize, then brew.

Consider mixing you starsan with distilled water. It wont chance the ph of the starsan. tap water might? the ph is the sanitizing action

 

[kh54s10]

I agree with 2trout. If you have made good light beers in the past. Go back to what worked before. When you make changes to your routine try to do only one at a time. Then if something bad happens you will know exactly what the culprit was.

I don't think the delay from getting the wort chilled before pitching had anything to do with the issue unless an infection got started in that time.

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

Thanks guys! Makes sense!.
Cheers

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

It tastes like cardboard the more i try it!
When i go from boil kettle to ferm bucket i will get it really foamy then seal with lid put n fridge then next day when its at temp ill shake and oxygenate(FOAM) the pitch yeast.
Would that be a cause for concern?

 

[JimRausch]

Ok Drew- you say "a bad off flavor during fermentation".
What do they taste like 3-4 weeks after you bottle/keg?
Young beer, especially during fermentation has a lot of off flavors that most of the time get cleared up during the conditioning phase.
So, if you're just tasting it early, then RDWHAHB!

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

I have right now 2 different style beers,A Lager and a Cream ale and Both have that awful taste Cardboard taste overpowers all flavours and their goin on 2weeks in keg.

What i also did differently that i didnt do with previous batches was when letting it go from bk to fermenter and get foamed up.then when ready to pitch day afyer shake it so foams up again then pitch.
Would that be the Cardboard taste?.Oxidized?.