Truman42
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- 31/7/11
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The last couple of brews ive done have had a sort of stale taste in the beer. After discussions and some suggestions from QLDKev (Onya Kevo) I carried out an experiment to try and track down the culprit.
First I connected up my food grade hose to my HLT and filled it with 10 litres of water, boiled it for 5 mins then drained to a vessel, cooled and tasted the water. It tasted like crap, stale and sort of a furry bitter taste on the tongue and a plastic taste.
I repeated this in the MLT and the kettle and whilst not as bad still had this stale bitter taste. I also filled a conical and boiled it on the stove and while still not as bad as the taste from the brew vessels it still had a slight stale taste. I boiled some tap water from the kitchen in a conical as a control and that was fine.
I started to see what the problem might be so repeated the experiment in the HLT and kettle but this time filled them with a jug. The water was fine, no stale off taste. So the culprit was my supposed food grade hose.
Now this hose is stamped as food grade but I think the problems been that as I coil it up and it sits there for a month the moisture in the coiled hose must be going stagnant. Thats why the HLT was the worst taste and the kettle and conical not as bad, as the water had flushed out the bad taste by then. I filled a glass with some water via the hose after doing these experiments and it tasted fine.
One thing that did surprise me was the plastic taste. It was similar to when you drink water from a garden hose. As this hose is foodgrade I wouldnt have expected a plastic taste from it.
But could the moisture sitting in the hose for a month cause the chemicals in the hose to leach out perhaps??
First I connected up my food grade hose to my HLT and filled it with 10 litres of water, boiled it for 5 mins then drained to a vessel, cooled and tasted the water. It tasted like crap, stale and sort of a furry bitter taste on the tongue and a plastic taste.
I repeated this in the MLT and the kettle and whilst not as bad still had this stale bitter taste. I also filled a conical and boiled it on the stove and while still not as bad as the taste from the brew vessels it still had a slight stale taste. I boiled some tap water from the kitchen in a conical as a control and that was fine.
I started to see what the problem might be so repeated the experiment in the HLT and kettle but this time filled them with a jug. The water was fine, no stale off taste. So the culprit was my supposed food grade hose.
Now this hose is stamped as food grade but I think the problems been that as I coil it up and it sits there for a month the moisture in the coiled hose must be going stagnant. Thats why the HLT was the worst taste and the kettle and conical not as bad, as the water had flushed out the bad taste by then. I filled a glass with some water via the hose after doing these experiments and it tasted fine.
One thing that did surprise me was the plastic taste. It was similar to when you drink water from a garden hose. As this hose is foodgrade I wouldnt have expected a plastic taste from it.
But could the moisture sitting in the hose for a month cause the chemicals in the hose to leach out perhaps??