i got a wild hair up my ass to make a cucumber mint lime saison. Used french saison yeast with a starter. Took a gravity reading two weeks in and it tastes nice. Sliced three cucumbers thin, muddled a small amount of mint and zested two limes. Wrapped it in cheese cloth and dunked in some sanitizer. Kegged it one week later and took another taste and it tasked like robitussin, not bandaids not cloves but robitussin. I would expect that if this was the result of phenols i would have tasted it when i took the initial gravity reading. I was cautiously optomistic about this beer and expected it to be either really good or god awful. I did not expect a cold and flu remidy. Am i just tasteing the yeast from the bottom of the keg or is this beer doomed?
Sounds like some kind of phenols to me but who knows. Might want to just draw enough off to pull out any yeast on the bottom and give it some time. Instead of the sanitizer route you might want to try Pasteurizing the additives or soaking in cheap vodka. That is not to say the stuff you added was the cause of the off flavor.
Here is what causes medicinal taste:“Medicinal
Tastes/Smells Like:
Cough syrup, mouthwash, Band-Aid™, smoke, clove-like (spicy)
Possible Causes:
A variety of different phenols are almost always the cause for medicinal flavors in beer.
Phenols can cause solvent, astringent, plastic and medicinal flavors. Medicinal-tasting
phenols are usually brought out during mashing and/or sparging and are caused by
incorrect pH levels, water amounts and temperatures. Using chlorine or iodine-based
sanitizers improperly can bring out Chlorophenols. Yeast also produces phenols, and
a clove-like characteristic is deliberate in some ale, especially Hefeweizen and other
wheat beers.
How to Avoid:
Follow proper mashing and sparging techniques and always follow the specific
directions for different sanitizers. Taking the same precautions to avoid Chlorophenols
and astringency should help to wipe out the chances of medicinal flavors. Always use
the proper yeast for the style of beer being brewed.”
Source: MoreBeer.com
would t I have tasted phenols when I pulled the sample after two weeks?
I often get strong phenols in my Saisons on the first tasting (at about three weeks). I assume part of the cause is that I do a ferulic acid rest (110 - 114F for about 10 min) on my Saisons. The varnish aroma fades after a couple more weeks on the yeast at room temp, leaving a slight clove note (love it!) in addition to the other Saison flavors.
It sounds like you may have done by accident what I do intentionally. If so, just let the beer sit on the yeast for a couple more weeks. It’ll get better.
