Bandaids

[Hadrian]

Hello all,

My last five batches of beer have gone down the drain because they all taste medicinal... like bandaids.
I have read through some threads on Polyphenols... but I haven't used any bleach products for cleaning anything.
So I wonder if:

-The chemical taste is comming from plastic.... I mash in an esky and my false bottom is some wire mesh attached to a plastic hose with duct tape around the hose so it fits snuggly through the drain hole in the esky.

-Infection. I have thoroughly cleaned and sanitised the inside and outside of my fermenters (I got the same bad taste/smell out of both fermenters) including the taps (have taken them apart). I bought two new fermenters today.

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks for any replies,
Hadrian.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

A rubbery bandaid flavour and not much else? I've had this in a starter and in a bottle from a friend. It's probably an infection. I'd be nuking everything.

 

[QldKev]

if you think it is leeching from the plastic mash tun, put some water in it at 66c, leave it overnight and taste it in the morning.

but from the description I'm thinking infection

QldKev

 

[keifer33]

Does the duct tape come in contact with the beer?
Is the hose rated food grade under heat?
Was the beer fine prior to these last 5 batches or have u changed sonething.

My vote is for an infection but best to cover all bases.

 

[jyo]

I was wondering the same thing about the hose and tape, Keifer.
Does the wort taste like plastic/bandaids prior to fermentation? (I will usually sit back with a vegemite glass full of wort after cubing up and sip away h34r Or just try what Kev suggested.
If no, then it sounds like a fermentation or infection issue.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

If its Band aids then its an infection, leached plastic has its own unique flavour, it tends to linger in your mouth.
Ask Foles he can tell you about plastic flavours :lol:
Nev

 

[Hadrian]

A rubbery bandaid flavour and not much else? I've had this in a starter and in a bottle from a friend. It's probably an infection. I'd be nuking everything.

Yes a rubbery, bitter, bandiad flavour.
Thanks

if you think it is leeching from the plastic mash tun, put some water in it at 66c, leave it overnight and taste it in the morning.

but from the description I'm thinking infection

QldKev

I've tasted wort out of the mash tun and the taste is not apparent, it only starts after fermentation begins.

Does the duct tape come in contact with the beer?
Is the hose rated food grade under heat?
Was the beer fine prior to these last 5 batches or have u changed sonething.

My vote is for an infection but best to cover all bases.

The duct tape does come into contact with the beer and I don't know if the hose is food grade at high temperature, but the wort tastes great out of the mash tun, bad taste only arrives a few days after pitching yeast.
Five out of the last six batches had the bandaid taste. The one that didn't was brewed in between the other five.
I can't think of anything that has changed


Thanks for replies.

 

[np1962]

Infection.

As suggested earlier, go nuts on your gear, particularly anything cold side. Give it all a thorough clean and sanitise.
If your fermenter is old or scratched think about getting a new one. Replace your fermenter taps at a minimum.
I had this same taste in two batches earlier in the year. Good record keeping enabled me to figure out that the only common thing between the two batches was one particular fermenter. That fermenter is now producing some nice strawberries.
Cheers
Nige

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

I think one of the first things I'd do would be to get rid of the duct tape. I'm sure the glue on that wouldn't be food grade at any temp.

 

[jacknohe]

Oh wow! I've just ran into this problem. I detected the odor in the starter but it wasn't that pronounced so I thought it was just the hop I had used as it was the first time I'd brewed with it.

During the ferment it was a strong medicinal aroma that reminded me of a rubbery smell. I've kegged it anyway and had a few drinks...

Um, its a tipper...

I had brewed two straight after and haven't detected the smell so fingers crossed...

 

[jrsy85]

The Kai Troester interview on Basic Brewing Radio about water talked about bandaid flavour from water quality, check-out the podcast. I can't remember exactly what was the problem and have deleted the episode off my phone, but if you have a listen it could be an answer for the consistent flavour.

Cheers,
Joel

 

[jacknohe]

The Kai Troester interview on Basic Brewing Radio about water talked about bandaid flavour from water quality, check-out the podcast. I can't remember exactly what was the problem and have deleted the episode off my phone, but if you have a listen it could be an answer for the consistent flavour.

Cheers,
Joel

How old was the episode? I'll check it out.

 

[jrsy85]

How old was the episode? I'll check it out.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr02-14-13kaichem.mp3

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio
Feb 14th 2013

Cheers,
Joel

 

[manticle]

If it's water quality, I'd take a stab at chlorephenols (chlorine or chloramine) being the culprit.

You say you don't use any chlorine based sanitiser. Is your water chloramintated or chlorinated? If not chloramintaed, I'd be putting my money on infection also. I've tasted it due to unrinsed bleach (band-aid) and it's ******* horrible. If it's infection, throw away anything replaceable and give everything that isn't a super clean and super sanitise

Boiling water and PBW or sodium percarbonate, rinse well with boiling water, soak in sodium hyporchlorite, rinse well with boiling water, sanitise with iodophor or starsan.

Go nuts on everything, including the floors and walls of the brewery and fermentation chamber/fridge, break every tap apart, every hose, every fitting.

Seek and destroy.

Then grab a fresh wort kit, open it up, tip yeast in and ferment directly in that with the lid backed off a few notches. You will need to siphon wort out at the end but it should eliminate most variables besides the siphon. Use a new one. Some krausen may leak on the floor of the fridge - clean it up immediately and spray the area with sanitiser.

 

[Spiesy]

4-ethylphenol: Band-aids, barnyard, horse stable, antiseptic

 

[jacknohe]

If it's water quality, I'd take a stab at chlorephenols (chlorine or chloramine) being the culprit.

You say you don't use any chlorine based sanitiser. Is your water chloramintated or chlorinated? If not chloramintaed, I'd be putting my money on infection also. I've tasted it due to unrinsed bleach (band-aid) and it's ******* horrible. If it's infection, throw away anything replaceable and give everything that isn't a super clean and super sanitise

Boiling water and PBW or sodium percarbonate, rinse well with boiling water, soak in sodium hyporchlorite, rinse well with boiling water, sanitise with iodophor or starsan.

Go nuts on everything, including the floors and walls of the brewery and fermentation chamber/fridge, break every tap apart, every hose, every fitting.

Seek and destroy.

Then grab a fresh wort kit, open it up, tip yeast in and ferment directly in that with the lid backed off a few notches. You will need to siphon wort out at the end but it should eliminate most variables besides the siphon. Use a new one. Some krausen may leak on the floor of the fridge - clean it up immediately and spray the area with sanitiser.

I've been brewing with unfiltered Sydney water for a few years now without issue using StarSan to sanitise. So I'd agree it has to be infection. I'm gonna PBW and sanitise a couple of times and ditch my tap. My suspicion is the tap. I "no chill" so the hot wort on top of my starsan has been working well so far. But sometimes I've found the tap has leaked. I'm guessing the infection got in there...

 

[Xoxon]

If you put the tap in hot water for a minute, you can bask it apart with a long bolt or the handle of a wooden spoon - set it half way between open and closed, smash the inner cylinder out of the outer and caustic soak them.
Lost a batch with the same problem. Skunge between the tap cylinders.