Drinking bandaids (elastoplast)

[manticle]

More iodine/dettol/swimming pool?

 

[Blind Dog]

I got odd looks from SWMBO, but all in the name of research - somewhere between betadine antiseptic (not the mouth wash) and heat rub (that was fun)

 

[manticle]

Need to eliminate every variable, one by one. Hard slog, seriously.

 

[MHB]

No bleach anywhere, ever

All equipment cleaned, rinsed and starsaned. Make up starsan with filtered water just to be sure

Filter is meant to be good for 2 years and is less than a year old

Taps on BM and fermenters disassembled and cleaned. Soaked for at least 24hours in sodium perc, rinsed and then soaked in starsan

It's not the kegs as the bandaid taste is there from the fermenter

Looking like it's the water (chloramine) or an infection that only affects bitters

I would be very careful trusting that 2 years as that will be based on marketing and will be defined as some sort of "standard" use. Pulling 50L through it in a batch wont be regarded as standard use.
I am sure we have all seen the ad on telley for those nappies that can soak up seven cups of water - but only if you regard 70mL as a cup! always good to read the fine print.
If you want to be sure your filter is working you will need a conductivity meter, ask around at a hydro shop or look on eBay.
Good luck sorting the problem, I know how frustrating this sort of thing can be to track down and eliminate, but persevere.
If it isn't the water and Chloramines next I would look at other infection and have a good read up on what causes Phenolic flavours, a long hard look at yeast management is always worth wile.
Mark

Oh I posted this in another thread a couple of weeks ago and you might find it useful in tracking the problem down
View attachment Complete_Beer_Fault_Guide.pdf
M

 

[GalBrew]

Also keep in mind for your carbon filter to work properly you need to have the flow rate of your water quite low.

 

[anthonyUK]

A carbon filter is all well and good but unless you have some weird aversion to sulphides I'd always add a pinch of campden.
It will eliminate any chlorine/chloramines almost instantly and have no adverse effects of you brewing water.

 

[pat86]

So for a Sydney brewer, what is the tastable difference between no water treatment and water treatment? Anyone done side by sides?

If chlorine is the main thing, what's the main off flavour you get in beer - I haven't noticed anything in homebrew different to commercial?

 

[Eagleburger]

I feel for ya.

I had to cvhuck a keg due to bandaids in the brew. I installed twin carbon filters, trickle water through them at about 2L/hr and put a gram of ascorbic acid in the pot each time for good measure. That now done, the chlorine smell from the tap no longer knocks me over, but I am not about to let up.

Ther e is probably enough carbon in a filter to last a life time. The problem is availability. Ther are two issues, chanelling which can restict areas and related is pore size through teh media. For the bulk price I will be changing my lead filter every 6 months and the tail every 12.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Blind Dog, in all honesty, I don't think the water is your issue. I brew with the same stuff from the West Ryde plant down here on the Northern Beaches, and I've never, ever treated it for chlorine/chloramine, and have never, ever had the bandaid-y tang of phenols in my my many and varied brews. It's always been my understanding that the chlorine/chloramine levels are so low in our supply it's not worth bothering trying to treat it, and I never have. That being said, I always let my water sit overnight, sometimes at an elevated temperature to speed up proceedings on brewday.

I do pay attention to my pH levels and have noticed in the past that it can be quite variable, on a couple of occasions the raw water has been over 8.8/9 but for the last year it's been around the 7.2/7.5 mark (or whatever is in line with the lower end of the West Ryde Water Report)

If you're interested enough to ask, I can go back a few months/years and pull some consecutive raw West Ryde water pH readings that I bothered to keep, maybe 4-6 in total when I was a new pH meter owner and measured such things,and compare them to the WR water report if you think it will help.

Cheers!

FB

 

[barabool]

Buy a 25Lt run of the mill fermentor - do a K&K and check.
Cheap and easy way to check if its your gear or ingredients.
Even do it in your non usual brewing area.

 

[Blind Dog]

Blind Dog, in all honesty, I don't think the water is your issue. I brew with the same stuff from the West Ryde plant down here on the Northern Beaches, and I've never, ever treated it for chlorine/chloramine, and have never, ever had the bandaid-y tang of phenols in my my many and varied brews. It's always been my understanding that the chlorine/chloramine levels are so low in our supply it's not worth bothering trying to treat it, and I never have. That being said, I always let my water sit overnight, sometimes at an elevated temperature to speed up proceedings on brewday.

I do pay attention to my pH levels and have noticed in the past that it can be quite variable, on a couple of occasions the raw water has been over 8.8/9 but for the last year it's been around the 7.2/7.5 mark (or whatever is in line with the lower end of the West Ryde Water Report)

If you're interested enough to ask, I can go back a few months/years and pull some consecutive raw West Ryde water pH readings that I bothered to keep, maybe 4-6 in total when I was a new pH meter owner and measured such things,and compare them to the WR water report if you think it will help.

Cheers!

FB

Cheers. Unfortunately I think you're probably right. Tested for chlorine on the weekend before mash in with strips from the local aquarium place and there was none. As it's toxic to fish I figure the strips are probably accurate. Chap in the shop also said chlorine is only any issue when they flush the system after heavy rains or no rains. So that's probably one variable knocked out

Guess it could be the mash pH but it's always been around 5 when I've tested. Maybe I just need a more accurate measure. Not sure an elevated mash pH would lead to bandaid type flavours though based on readings to date, but will research

Looking more and more like infection is the issue

 

[Blind Dog]

I would be very careful trusting that 2 years as that will be based on marketing and will be defined as some sort of "standard" use. Pulling 50L through it in a batch wont be regarded as standard use.
I am sure we have all seen the ad on telley for those nappies that can soak up seven cups of water - but only if you regard 70mL as a cup! always good to read the fine print.
If you want to be sure your filter is working you will need a conductivity meter, ask around at a hydro shop or look on eBay.
Good luck sorting the problem, I know how frustrating this sort of thing can be to track down and eliminate, but persevere.
If it isn't the water and Chloramines next I would look at other infection and have a good read up on what causes Phenolic flavours, a long hard look at yeast management is always worth wile.
Mark

Oh I posted this in another thread a couple of weeks ago and you might find it useful in tracking the problem down

Complete_Beer_Fault_Guide.pdf
M

Cheers Mark. Useful info as always. The attachment at 40+ pages of beer faults is somewhat depressing although hopefully it'll help track down this issue and prevent more

 

[Blind Dog]

Get all new equipment (hoses,fermenter,cube) campden your water, wait 24 hours, charcoal filter, then heat to strike temp and see if that makes a difference.
I've experienced the flavour you mean but it was related to bleach.
Horrible.

Thanks. Advice followed, so we'll see how this one turns out in it new plastic fermenter. Can't replace the brewtech SS fermenters though so hoping that using a sodium perc clean, boiling water rinse, sodium metabisulphite rinse and rest, boiling water rinse and starsan will get rid of any bugs. Might start with sodium triphosphate too, just cos I have some tricleanium about. Will try to disassemble the taps as well

 

[manticle]

Oh I posted this in another thread a couple of weeks ago and you might find it useful in tracking the problem down

Complete_Beer_Fault_Guide.pdf
M

Printed for future reference. Should be a requirement for all comp judges to read and re-read.

 

[Dan Pratt]

I would be very careful trusting that 2 years as that will be based on marketing and will be defined as some sort of "standard" use. Pulling 50L through it in a batch wont be regarded as standard use.
I am sure we have all seen the ad on telley for those nappies that can soak up seven cups of water - but only if you regard 70mL as a cup! always good to read the fine print.
If you want to be sure your filter is working you will need a conductivity meter, ask around at a hydro shop or look on eBay.
Good luck sorting the problem, I know how frustrating this sort of thing can be to track down and eliminate, but persevere.
If it isn't the water and Chloramines next I would look at other infection and have a good read up on what causes Phenolic flavours, a long hard look at yeast management is always worth wile.
Mark

Oh I posted this in another thread a couple of weeks ago and you might find it useful in tracking the problem down

Complete_Beer_Fault_Guide.pdf
M

thats a good read.

 

[HBHB]

Well, the carbon filter should actually remove the chlorine... Unless it's old.

Sorry, but a single pass through a carbon filter won't get rid of all Chlorine, nor all Chloramines.

The Campden treatment converts the Chlorine to Chlorides, which don't have any flavour contribution (at those concentrations.)

Lots of possible sources of Phenols/Chlorophenols. Including all those stated.

Another source of Phenolic flavours is garden hoses - No amount of filtering at the end of a garden hose will make the water right for beermaking if it's been through a garden hose with a degraded liner.

 

[klangers]

My guess is as above^. Somewhere along the line, high temperature and acidic wort may have degraded some plastic tubing or perhaps even your cube and these have leached phenolic compounds into your wort.

 

[Redracer]

How long do you let the beer sit after fermentation? Do you let it condition for a while to clean up or do you get if off the yeast cake quickly to avoid autolysis? Do you change this process based on the different types of beer that you have brewed?
You mentioned the temp probe being broken which would have affected only the last two brews. How do you know it wasn't broken before this? The best bitters you got were in the coldest months, did you brew any of the other beers in this period that didn't have any issues. This might be related to you fridge not needing to work as hard.
The only other thing I can think of is sanitation of the smack pack/tube/starter.

Not much help I know, just more questions....

 

[poggor]

elastoplast (which is a specific kind of tape) is a zinc oxide tape. Don't know if that helps, but the distinctive smell is zinc oxide apparently (i work with this stuff on a daily basis)

 

[adamsmith3d]

Sounds a lot like you are getting some diacetyl. I have had the same from a stout using the 1084 irish ale and a porter the 1469 west yorkshire. What temps are you fermenting at and are you then performing a diacetyl rest afterwards?