Sanitiser flavour in my bloody beer

[quadbox]

Quite apart from anything else, I'd never in a million years use more than a litre of starsan to sanitise a single keg... 9L is just wasting money

 

[Brewno Marz]

Doesn't help the fact that my IPA tastes like brewers choice sanitsier. This isn't the first time either. I'm going back to starsan. This is ridiculous

Both Starsan and the BC Brewsan look to have the same active ingredients, but the concentration would be higher in Starsan. You have followed the manufacturer's directions and it wouldn't make sense that a commercial sanitiser would include something additional that would effect the beer like you have experienced.

Two things immediately spring to mind:
1. A manufacturing/product issue. If this is the case it would be good to provide Brewers Choice with the details and a sample of the beer. There would be other brewers using this product and if there is problem with it I am sure Brewers Choice will want to know about it.
2. It is something other than the sanitiser. Could it be an infection (it's said acid based sanitisers aren't effective against wild yeast or mould, for example) or a process issue?

You say this is the first time you've used this particular product, but you've had this problem before. Could it be something else?

 

[Lionman]

You say this is the first time you've used this particular product, but you've had this problem before. Could it be something else?

Yeah I'm starting to think the issue may not be related to the sanitiser as well.

You used way too much sanitiser, but that was just wasting it, if you drained the keg fully before racking the beer into it it should be fine.

What is the flavour exactly? Is it soapy like flavour?

This can be caused by a few things including.

Soap residue in your glass.
Mash water has too high pH .
Phenols from chlorine/chloramine reacting with yeast products (are you adding campden to the water before Mashing?)

 

[Chap]

I have used brewers choice sanitiser since I started brewing 18 months ago and haven't made a change cos I still have some left. Ratio 5ml/L. I spray my kegs with a spray bottle, swish around what's in the keg, tip it out and stand on end to run out the excess. I mix a litre of sanitiser solution and run through my tap and lines with a carb cap. No issues to date that I can taste. Hope you find the culprit soon though

 

[pnorkle]

I've never used sanitiser in a keg. There, I said it. Never used it & never had a problem. I rinse my kegs out with PBW & then water, using gas to expel the liquid through the liquid post, then just fill them up. But of course, everything PRE keg, (counter-flow chiller, fermenter, etc) I religiously clean/sanitise.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

star san, or equivalent is Phosphoric acid and practically an ingredient in soft drinks at presumable much higher levels than the residue left when we use it as a no rince sanitizer.
Well I heard this from Dr Karl. It gives the tang flavour that people find so addictive in soft drinks. If that is true it gives me a comfortable piece of mind using it.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I don't go by the popular mantra 'don't fear the foam'.

When I'm ready to keg, I tip about 1.5 litres of boiling water into my keg and give it a good final rinse to get rid of most of the residual sanitiser, i.e 'the foam'.

Same applies to fermenters as well.

 

[quadbox]

star san, or equivalent is Phosphoric acid and practically an ingredient in soft drinks at presumable much higher levels than the residue left when we use it as a no rince sanitizer.
Well I heard this from Dr Karl. It gives the tang flavour that people find so addictive in soft drinks. If that is true it gives me a comfortable piece of mind using it.

That would be carbonic acid...

 

[Danscraftbeer]

That would be carbonic acid...

Dr Karl said Phosphoric Acid I recall clearly to prick my ears up because it was directly connected to my brewing obsession.
He was explaining what makes soft drinks so addictive to children or whoever etc while I'm flipping out thinking that's is Sanitizer!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

cut and paste from Wiki

Food-grade phosphoric acid (additive E338[16]) is used to acidify foods and beverages such as various colas and jams. It provides a tangy or sour taste.

 

[Lowlyf]

Update. Got home today and pulled the beer. Only slight sanitiser taste this time so it could even just be in my head from here on out. The beer was great!

 

[manticle]

Probably just in the lines then

 

[Danscraftbeer]

So it sounds like you drank the first glass that should have been tipped on the garden then?
Bloody hell all this stressing for nothing!

 

[pcmfisher]

I don't go by the popular mantra 'don't fear the foam'.

When I'm ready to keg, I tip about 1.5 litres of boiling water into my keg and give it a good final rinse to get rid of most of the residual sanitiser, i.e 'the foam'.

Same applies to fermenters as well.

Yep same here. Phosphoric acid might be in soft drinks but I doubt the foam shit is.

I prefer surfactant free beer.

 

[manticle]

Make sure you update with the next pint so brewer's choice doen't cop an underserved reputation.

 

[Grott]

And as said before, you don't have to make tons of foam to sanitise your gear.