Holy_Hops
Well-Known Member
Hey all.
So the last two batches I've made have given me band-aid burps.
The first was a Kolsch & the most recent is a Double IPA.
I can only pick up the off-flavor via band-aid burps (and it's really only every 3 burps, anyway). It isn't anything super noticeable and both beers turned out pretty well minus the plasticy aftertaste on a few of the burps. It's a fairly minor flaw that only I notice, but it's driving my OCD brewer side nuts.
After a lot of forum searching I'm scratching my head on this one. I use only RO water in the mash & sparge. I also don't *think* it's an infection. For both beers I pitched a nice starter (2 liters of WLP029 on the Kolsch & 2 liters of WLP007 on the IPA) and they took off right away with expected final gravities.
Two possibilities entered my mind...
When I rinse & sanitize my plastic fermenting bucket I use Star San with water coming from a shower-tap hose hookup I have in my basement. I do the same for rinsing & sanitizing my kegs - it's all tap water.
Would the little bit of Star San foam made from tap water give off enough chlorophenols for a 6 gallon batch?
The other possibility is that I accidentally used tap water for my 2 liter starter on each & did not decant at all. I just dumped the entire starter wort into the batch on the brew-day & let her fly.
I'm leaning towards the latter as the culprit and will use RO water in my starters from here on out, but was wondering if you all treat your Star-San & rinse water with Campden tablets as well.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!
So the last two batches I've made have given me band-aid burps.
The first was a Kolsch & the most recent is a Double IPA.
I can only pick up the off-flavor via band-aid burps (and it's really only every 3 burps, anyway). It isn't anything super noticeable and both beers turned out pretty well minus the plasticy aftertaste on a few of the burps. It's a fairly minor flaw that only I notice, but it's driving my OCD brewer side nuts.
After a lot of forum searching I'm scratching my head on this one. I use only RO water in the mash & sparge. I also don't *think* it's an infection. For both beers I pitched a nice starter (2 liters of WLP029 on the Kolsch & 2 liters of WLP007 on the IPA) and they took off right away with expected final gravities.
Two possibilities entered my mind...
When I rinse & sanitize my plastic fermenting bucket I use Star San with water coming from a shower-tap hose hookup I have in my basement. I do the same for rinsing & sanitizing my kegs - it's all tap water.
Would the little bit of Star San foam made from tap water give off enough chlorophenols for a 6 gallon batch?
The other possibility is that I accidentally used tap water for my 2 liter starter on each & did not decant at all. I just dumped the entire starter wort into the batch on the brew-day & let her fly.
I'm leaning towards the latter as the culprit and will use RO water in my starters from here on out, but was wondering if you all treat your Star-San & rinse water with Campden tablets as well.
Thanks in advance for any pointers!