What Went Wrong?

[Ragnarök]

My mead has a kind of plastic aftertaste, the best way I can describe it. It is also a bit harsh.
I flavored each gallon individually and they all have the taste, so I know it happened in primary. I THINK I’ve narrowed it down to 3 issues that might have caused it.

1) I made 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket (it was the only thing my budget could handle at the time)
2) I used too much black tea in my nutrient tea
3) I had too much head space in my bucket

Thoughts and comments on how I could avoid this next time

 

[Dan O]

My mead has a kind of plastic aftertaste, the best way I can describe it. It is also a bit harsh.
I flavored each gallon individually and they all have the taste, so I know it happened in primary. I THINK I’ve narrowed it down to 3 issues that might have caused it.

1) I made 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket (it was the only thing my budget could handle at the time)
2) I used too much black tea in my nutrient tea
3) I had too much head space in my bucket

Thoughts and comments on how I could avoid this next time

Did you use a food safe plastic bucket or a Homer bucket from home depot?

 

[Ragnarök]

Did you use a food safe plastic bucket or a Homer bucket from home depot?

As far as I know it is a food safe plastic bucket. I bought it from my local home-brew store and it’s labeled as a fermenting bucket.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I bet it's fermentation temp that contributed to that flavor. Do you know what temp it fermented at?

 

[Ragnarök]

It should have been pretty stable around 65F. The room I use stays closed and my AC is almost always set to 65

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Maybe yeast nutrients then? It sounds like a fermentation issue of some sort. What yeast did you use?

 

[dmtaylor]

Chlorophenol? Tastes like band-aids. Chlorine could come from your water or the bucket. Phenol from the tea. Irreversible -- won't age out, if that's what it is.

Or I could be totally wrong, maybe it really just is a slight off-flavor from the plastic itself. What was your water source? Municipal treated water?

 

[Ragnarök]

D47, it’s the only one I’ve used until recently.
I don’t use chemical nutrients, I usually make a tea with black tea, organic raisins, and orange peel, then strain out the chunks. It’s worked wonders on all the other meads I’ve made so far

 

[Ragnarök]

Chlorophenol? Tastes like band-aids. Chlorine could come from your water or the bucket. Phenol from the tea. Irreversible -- won't age out, if that's what it is.

Or I could be totally wrong, maybe it really just is a slight off-flavor from the plastic itself. What was your water source? Municipal treated water?

Bottled spring water from Giant Eagle. I won’t even drink my tap water, let alone use it for mead

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Well, I'm not sure what the tea, raisins and orange peel would add, but if it worked before, then maybe that's not the issue. It could be from the bucket maybe. This might be a stupid question, but did you clean it before using?

 

[Ragnarök]

Well, I'm not sure what the tea, raisins and orange peel would add, but if it worked before, then maybe that's not the issue. It could be from the bucket maybe. This might be a stupid question, but did you clean it before using?

Tannins/Nutrient/Citrus
Yea, it was kinda dusty when I bought it, so I made sure to clean it well with StarSan before I used it

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Ok, that may be your issue then. Star San is not a cleaner, it's a sanitizer. I'd recommend Five Star's other product, PBW to clean with.

 

[Ragnarök]

Ok, that may be your issue then. Star San is not a cleaner, it's a sanitizer. I'd recommend Five Star's other product, PBW to clean with.

Damn, I didn’t even think about that

 

[bushpilot]

I am leaning towards an inadequate nutrient protocol.

 

[Cammanron]

Did you use a familiar yeast? Maybe it was just an unfortunate combination of all kinds of factors.

Damn, I didn’t even think about that

 

[Dan O]

As far as I know it is a food safe plastic bucket. I bought it from my local home-brew store and it’s labeled as a fermenting bucket.

There should be a label on the bucket that tells whether it is food safe.
Labels may vary but it should say food grade on the bucket

 

[dvi]

I don’t use chemical nutrients, I usually make a tea with black tea, organic raisins, and orange peel, then strain out the chunks. It’s worked wonders on all the other meads I’ve made so far

None of those are nutrients though. They mask some of the off-flavors that nutrient deficient meads can develop, but they don't add any appreciable YAN and meads made with just them are prone to stalling. If you're against chemical nutrients for whatever reason, at least go for Fermaid O and follow TOSNA. Fermaid O is literally just yeast hulls - it is entirely organic and is much more effective than black tea or raisins could hope to be.

 

[bernardsmith]

Black tea would be for tannin and that should not have any effect on the wine that was described. I wonder , though if the taste could be caused by Brett contamination and that could be coming from the raisins. Could be ... and it might not be Brett...

 

[connell89]

Most likely the plastic taste is from not controlling fermentation temps. Even though the room is 65F, it is the temperature of the mead that counts. Fermentation is exothermic so it creates its own heat. Duct Tape a couple of wash clothes to your fermenting bucket or carboy and this will give you the mead temp. The wash clothes insulates the thermometer from the ambient room temp. The bucket won't give you a plastic taste in only a few weeks of fermenting.

 

[Ragnarök]

Black tea would be for tannin and that should not have any effect on the wine that was described. I wonder , though if the taste could be caused by Brett contamination and that could be coming from the raisins. Could be ... and it might not be Brett...

Maybe? The raisins are boiled along with the tea and get strained out before it goes in the mead, would it still get through that?

 

[Ragnarök]

Did you use a familiar yeast? Maybe it was just an unfortunate combination of all kinds of factors.

Yea, it was D47, what I usually use.
I’m starting to think it was a series of unfortunate events myself, because I just set another 5gals up for secondary and it tastes fine same process