my red bitter

beer gut · Post by **beer gut** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:04 pm

Hi everyone i have a unusall question i would like to bring forward that i would like some advice on if you can.The question is i made a bitter in september this year.After it brewed and conditioned the bitter, i bottled all of it.4 weeks went by so i thought i would sample a bottle to my surprise it seems to have this medicinal taste,however after a little time in the pint glass it seems to be not as strong as when i first popped the bottle.I have never experinced this sort of taste before in any of my ales, so i ask as any body experinced this similar taste before? also is this taste a problem? or will it make the ale dangerous to drink.?It is now been 5 weeks i sampled one more bottle tonight that strange taste is still they but they seems to be fruit tastes coming through now, which is not a bad thing.

Zatoichi · Post by **Zatoichi** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:24 pm

Medicinal tastes are usually attributed to fusel alcohol which can be produced from fermentation temps that are too high. Given time most of these should mellow out. My first thoughts to your dilemma led me to think you had not treated your brewing liquor to remove chloramines, but as you have not encountered it before i reckon its your fermentation temps.

beer gut · Post by **beer gut** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:37 pm

Thanx for the great advice i ferment my beer in a cuboard under the stairs the temps range from 69f/72f is this to high? caus the yeasts i use come from brew labs i follow there tempretures as close as i can.Will these strange tastes fade?

Zatoichi · Post by **Zatoichi** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:43 pm

Your temps sound fine, what hops did you use? the taste should mellow with time unless dread of dreads you have an infection, but i doubt this from your description.

beer gut · Post by **beer gut** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:24 pm

The hops i used where challenger, east kent goldings and progress.i have used theese hops before and i have never incounterd this before.

floydmeddler · Post by **floydmeddler** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:54 pm

It's possible it could be phenols: http://www.homebrewzone.com/phenols.htm

I've lost a full batch because of this in the past.

beer gut · Post by **beer gut** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:49 pm

Hi in my red bitter i used a beligen malt called cara red germ, would this caus the phenols taste? also are the phenols harmful caus i do use a bleach base liquid to sterlize my brewing equipment.

floydmeddler · Post by **floydmeddler** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:10 pm

I don't think they are harmful healthwise. However, they are to the old taste buds! My batch was completely undrinkable. Seriously tasted like somebody poured a gallon of TCP in there. It went down the shower drain. F*cking heartbreaking experience.

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:15 pm

Any chlorine/bleach in your process. That's the number one cause of medicinal tastes.

beer gut · Post by **beer gut** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:01 am

Hi everyone and thanx for all the advice

i have one last question as iam new to all grain brewing, what sterlizing liquid should i use? caus everyone i have spoke to says to use a cholrine/bleach product for sterlizing.My red bitter is not realy that strong of a medicine taste it's just there in the back ground, so what i will do is me and my brewing friend will drink it and i won't give anybody a bottle to try like i normally do, i have already had 3 bottles and iam ok, i think if they was any real trace of bleach my gut's would now be disolved and i would be in a body bag and i would hopefully would be in the great real ale bar in the sky.

dave-o · Post by **dave-o** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:05 am

beer gut wrote: i have one last question as iam new to all grain brewing, what sterlizing liquid should i use? .

Sodium Metabisulphate solution. The same stuff as you get in Campden tablets.

I use 1tsp per litre for sterilising and 1 tsp per 20l for treating water.

coatesg · Post by **coatesg** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:57 pm

dave-o wrote:Sodium Metabisulphate solution. The same stuff as you get in Campden tablets.

I use 1tsp per litre for sterilising and 1 tsp per 20l for treating water.

Sodium met is not strong enough for sanitising equipment like fermenters. For getting rid of chlorine/chloramines in your water it is fine (as described or 1/2 to 1 campden tablet per 25L is fine). This helps to eliminate one source of phenol production (chlorine reacts with compounds from the malt to give phenolic, TCP/bandaid tastes).

For sanitising use either a chlorine based steriliser like VWP or diluted, thin bleach, with a really good rinse with clean water afterwards, or a no-rinse sanitiser like iodophor, starsan and even boiling water (lots). Either way, you need to try to ensure there is little free chlorine being carried into the brew. There's a whole section devoted to it here.

Good luck!

dave-o · Post by **dave-o** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:13 pm

All of the info i can find suggests that SM is up to the job.

http://brewersconnection.com/popup/Sodi ... ulfite.htm

(One of many hits, with none reviewing negatively)

I've certainly never had a problem with infection.

floydmeddler · Post by **floydmeddler** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:05 am

coatesg wrote:
For sanitising use...diluted, thin bleach...!

Howdy. Why must it be diluted thin bleach? Why not diluted thick bleach?

Cheers

coatesg · Post by **coatesg** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:40 pm

floydmeddler wrote:Howdy. Why must it be diluted thin bleach? Why not diluted thick bleach?

By design, it's harder to rinse off! (Plus the plain, scentless thin bleach is really cheap - something like 25p for 2 litres for Sainsbury's own)

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