1brewbeer2
Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2014
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
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I have been brewing for about a year and a half with about two dozen extract batches under my belt. I brew full boils in a large stainless stock pot and ferment in glass big mouth bubblers in a chest freezer controlled by a Johnson temp controller.
I have always been very particular in my cleaning and sanitation methods and have never had a spoiled/infected batch, however there has been an off flavor I can't seem to get rid of. I am aware of the problems when brewing with water that contains chlorine and I have always used bottled water for my extract brews. But the taste that keeps coming back. It tastes like band aide/medicinal/plastic and I kept assuming that this was "extract twang" as some users call it but everything I read says that this is most likely caused by chlorine contamination.
I really want to step it up to all grain but want to get this figured out first. Most of my brews this far have been ipa's or pale ales, and they were drinkable just not quite what I thought they should be. This fall I attempted a pumpkin stout and an amber ale and both were terrible. After tasting them I went back and I believe it is present in my prior beers too but the hop bitterness helps mask it.
I went back to the basics and brewed an extract SMaSH pale ale with distilled water and ensured that everything was super clean and the flavor is still there. I sanitize with Starsan and do not rinse the foam.
The only thing that I could think of was that maybe, just maybe the tap water I am using to mix my sanitizer for the fermentor, autosiphon, tubing and even bottling bucket and bottles was contributing enough chlorine to cause problems. Does everyone else who has municipal water "wash up" and sanitize with store bought water? It is just so handy to use hot tap water instead of heating bottled water. I know Starsan doesn't have to be hot to work, I just prefer it that way. I have yet to make another brew to test this due to the holidays, just curious if anyone else has ran into this. Thanks in advance for any help!!
I have always been very particular in my cleaning and sanitation methods and have never had a spoiled/infected batch, however there has been an off flavor I can't seem to get rid of. I am aware of the problems when brewing with water that contains chlorine and I have always used bottled water for my extract brews. But the taste that keeps coming back. It tastes like band aide/medicinal/plastic and I kept assuming that this was "extract twang" as some users call it but everything I read says that this is most likely caused by chlorine contamination.
I really want to step it up to all grain but want to get this figured out first. Most of my brews this far have been ipa's or pale ales, and they were drinkable just not quite what I thought they should be. This fall I attempted a pumpkin stout and an amber ale and both were terrible. After tasting them I went back and I believe it is present in my prior beers too but the hop bitterness helps mask it.
I went back to the basics and brewed an extract SMaSH pale ale with distilled water and ensured that everything was super clean and the flavor is still there. I sanitize with Starsan and do not rinse the foam.
The only thing that I could think of was that maybe, just maybe the tap water I am using to mix my sanitizer for the fermentor, autosiphon, tubing and even bottling bucket and bottles was contributing enough chlorine to cause problems. Does everyone else who has municipal water "wash up" and sanitize with store bought water? It is just so handy to use hot tap water instead of heating bottled water. I know Starsan doesn't have to be hot to work, I just prefer it that way. I have yet to make another brew to test this due to the holidays, just curious if anyone else has ran into this. Thanks in advance for any help!!