Too much fermcap?

[liamw]

I've been making all grain brews for a couple years now, but by no means am I an expert. I've made a dozen batches, and have been mostly successful.

The one thing that has come up in a few of my beers has been a plastic type taste. I've posted in this forum a few times trying to sort out my error.

One thing I have noticed is that once I stopped adding fermcap to my boils and fermentations, the plastic taste has stopped. Perhaps I was adding too much, or perhaps I am overly sensitive to the ingredient.

Has anyone else noticed a plastic-y flavour to their beer when using fermcap? I noticed it more when the beer was jarred, adding sediment to the glass. This would make sense, as fermcap is designed to sink to the bottom after performing its action.

Anyone with insight into the matter would help me immensely.

 

[wi_brewer]

How much do you add?

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Have you tried using it only in boil and skipping the ferment addition? I had a wheat beer that had really bad head retention when I used fermcap in the ferment (It was probably my own fault and had nothing at all to do with the fermcap), I have since skipped using it in ferment and only use it in the boil.

Try making a smaller batch so blow off isnt an issue and only use the fermcap in the boil and see if you still get it. I've put metric TONS of fermcap in my boils since I only have a 6.5 gallon kettle and squeezing a 5 gallon batch out of that without making a huge mess is a challenge even with fermcap, and have not had weird plastic tastes showing up in my beers (or if I did have some sort of off-flavor it was more easily traced to yeast health or some other recipe issue).

 

[303Dan]

I would also ask how much you were adding. I routinely (as in every time) add 3-4 drops to a 8 gallon boil and see no ill-effects whatsoever. No taste impact, no head retention impact, no nothing.

I've never added it to the fermenter as I generally have plenty of headspace and don't worry too much about blowoff issues.

 

[Gavin C]

I've been making all grain brews for a couple years now, but by no means am I an expert. I've made a dozen batches, and have been mostly successful.

The one thing that has come up in a few of my beers has been a plastic type taste. I've posted in this forum a few times trying to sort out my error.

One thing I have noticed is that once I stopped adding fermcap to my boils and fermentations, the plastic taste has stopped. Perhaps I was adding too much, or perhaps I am overly sensitive to the ingredient.

Has anyone else noticed a plastic-y flavour to their beer when using fermcap? I noticed it more when the beer was jarred, adding sediment to the glass. This would make sense, as fermcap is designed to sink to the bottom after performing its action.

Anyone with insight into the matter would help me immensely.

No this is not a likely cause of a plastic taste/smell

What do you do to your brewing water to address any chlorine/chloramines?

 

[JonM]

No this is not a likely cause of a plastic taste/smell



What do you do to your brewing water to address any chlorine/chloramines?

This. Chloramines in tap water can react with the grain and make a nasty plasticky or rubbery smell and flavor.

 

[BrunDog]

Yeah, all of this. I use 8-10 drops in 7.5 gallons of boiling wort (only) and its good to go. Check your water!

 

[jekeane]

Chlorine / Cloramines in tap water can cause this. The levels present in your tap water can vary.

To warm a fermentation or stressed yeast can cause the flavor

Infections can cause the flavor.

not properly rinsing oxyclean / pbw out of bottles can cause the flavor

I have had no signs of fermcap causing the flavor. I only use fermcap on smaller batches but have used it a dozen or so times in the past several months.

 

[Gavin C]

Dimethyl polysiloxane is odorless.