First Batch has Vinyl/Plastic Taste

Everyone has been so helpful so far with my first brew, so I’m hoping that I can get some more advice.

I just bottled my first batch last week, a Private Rye. Everything with the brewing and fermenting seemed to go well, although bottling day was a bit of a panic when my capper broke after 3 bottles and I had to drive to the local homebrew store to buy a new one. Not fun. But now that I’ve tasted a conditioned and chilled brew, there is that vinyl/Band Aid taste and smell that won’t go away. A few days before bottling I took a couple gravity readings and drank the samples, and tasted the same vinyl taste. I had thought that it was from the sample tube and was hoping it would go away when I bottled, but it’s still there. After some research I see that it’s most likely from either the tap water (my tap water tastes fine to me, but I am pretty sure they use chlorine) or from using One Step. Is this correct for me to assume that by using bottled water for brewing and using Star San next time, I should hopefully be in the clear? Do I need to use the bottled water for mixing with the Star San too?

And now what do I do with 46 bottles of Johnson & Johnson’s brand Private Rye? Is it safe to drink if you can get past the taste? Should I try adding fruit flavoring or something to make it salvageable? Is the taste going to get more or less present over time?

Thanks for all of your help, past and future.

What water did you use? My neighbor gets a “band-aid” flavor when he uses his tap water without filtering.

Yep, it was tap water. The NB DVD says as long as the water tastes good, it is good to use. My tap water tastes good, but I think they do use chlorine in it.

Ding ding ding Ding. Can’t speak to the DVD but you need to carbon filter for chlorine.

Yup… chlorophenol in the H2O = bandaid taste. Try using distilled or RO or spring water from the store. should solve the problem

Is it still ok to drink this beer?

It is safe to drink. I had a dry Irish stout that developed a peach flavor from fermenting to low with US-05. I covered the taste with some cold brewed coffee in each glass. Perhaps you could find an additive for your beer.

Easiest way to solve this issue is to add a campden tablet before you brew with the water.

How cold was too cold? This used US-05 also and I had it around 60-62 most of the time. Didn’t even think that that would effect the taste!

I used the yeast at 63° to 64° for the stout. I also brewed amber ales at the same temperature without noticing the off flavor. Type and amount of hops makes a difference on whether there is an off flavor.

Household, point-of-use, activated carbon drinking water filters (like Pur and Britta) are not very effective at removing chloramines from water; the contact time is just too low. The surefire and cheapest way to deal with it is to add campden (potassium metabisulfite).

That brings me to my second point. If you’re doing extract brews the easiest way to eliminate water issues all together is to use either distilled water or Reverse Osmosis (RO) water from a reliable source. (I use RO water from a local, large grocery store chain that regularly inspects and maintains their system.) Not only have you eliminated chlorine and chloramine issues, you’ve also eliminated potential off-flavor creators cause by other minerals found in your tap water.

So I thought I would update this, as a reference for anyone else googling this problem in the future. The off taste was not as bad as I thought initially, I think I was just overreacting. It also seemed to fade a little bit over time. And finally, having enough foresight to put a couple away until now (6 months later), I was able to see that the off flavor and smell is now completely undetectable! I know that’s not the norm for phenols to fade over time, but I guess it did this time. So I will end by saying what a million people told me, give your beers time and they will get better!

I’m sure I will need this encouragement read back to me in the future too…

[quote=“Ken in MN”]Household, point-of-use, activated carbon drinking water filters (like Pur and Britta) are not very effective at removing chloramines from water; the contact time is just too low. The surefire and cheapest way to deal with it is to add campden (potassium metabisulfite).

That brings me to my second point. If you’re doing extract brews the easiest way to eliminate water issues all together is to use either distilled water or Reverse Osmosis (RO) water from a reliable source. (I use RO water from a local, large grocery store chain that regularly inspects and maintains their system.) Not only have you eliminated chlorine and chloramine issues, you’ve also eliminated potential off-flavor creators cause by other minerals found in your tap water.[/quote]
This is what I had to do, learned all these points the hard way. On top of chlorine I eventually learned that my hard water wasn’t helping me either. Could have avoided both by just starting with RO water from the beginning until I learned about water chemistry and brewing.

several things can cause it. One thing people don’t think of is: running your water thru a garden hose. Some people actually do this

Please correct me if I am wrong, but does’t boiling rid water of chlorine? If you boil the water before doing any brewing activity then shouldn’t all worries be null?

You can use hoses that are for potable water like RV hoses

I think yes, but chloramine will still stay. Supposedly treating with campden tabs will take both out. I will be trying that next brew!

OK, so I have never used Campden but it seems that we are adding a chemical with a sulhure component to get rid of Chlorine and Chloramine. Does the Campden have any residual taste or any issue associated with it? I am rather lucky in that my water is fantastic but I will be moving at some point and may not be as lucky at my next residence.

At the recommended concentrations, it has no detectable flavors. Many commercial wines are heavily sulphited, and it does have a flavor, or at least an aroma. But at 1 tablet per 10 gallons? None whatsoever. And it does dissipate out of the liquid over time.

Actually 1 per 20 gals. Martin mentioned a while back that campden is an oxygen scavenger, so you don’t want to overdose.

I add 1 tablet for 15.5 gals. as my HLT is a keg. You’re right, at low levels it’s undetectable.