Honey Wheat tastes mediciney

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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Uban
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Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 12:02 am

Honey Wheat tastes mediciney

Post by Uban »

Hello all,

Is it common for a honey wheat batch to taste a bit mediciney when bottled? It actually had the taste as early as the second transfer. Is this common? In fact, I don't know for sure if it's the honey I taste or if it is indeed mediciney. I'm wondering if it has something to do with chlorinated water causing the problem. The sanitation was done by my bro but he's a pro and has never had the problem before.

Thanks!
Phobos
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Post by Phobos »

No not usually. I've made a few wheat beers, the German yeasts will give spicey clove like taste with banana esters though. Medicine taste maybe from the chlorine in the water which will give you chlorophenols which tastelike medicine. Was all the chlorinated water used in the beer or was it boiled and cooled first? :?:
Brewer2001
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You put all the components together.....

Post by Brewer2001 »

Uban,

Wheat beers fermented with German yeasts tend to be phenolic. If you put chlorine into the mix they combine to for a chlorophenol compound that is medicinal, plastic or "band-aid" aroma and flavor. I still have some old bottles that I keep if anyone has not tasted it before.

Since then I bought a carbon filter for all of my brewing, and some of my rinse water. Stopped using bleach, now use StarSan to sanitize everything.
I also keep the pH of my sparge water low (4.6<), the temperature below 165 Deg. F and stop sparging at a SG of 1.012. All of this helps to keep down the amount of phenols transfered to the wort (this also helps from producing haze).

Good brewing,

Tom F.
jayhawk
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Chlorine works for me

Post by jayhawk »

The following is from "How To Brew" by John Palmer http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html:

Chloride (Cl-1)
Atomic Weight = 35.4
Equivalent Weight = 35.4
Brewing Range = 0-250 ppm.

"The chloride ion also accentuates the flavor and fullness of beer. Concentrations above 300 ppm (from heavily chlorinated water or residual bleach sanitizer) can lead to mediciney flavors due to chlorophenol compounds."

I use straight up chlorinated tap water in my brewing. My beer tastes great. I just polished off a batch of ale that was brewed using Wyeast 1007 German Ale. It tasted amazing, and was one of the best beers I have ever made.

I had been finding that I was getting off flavours in my beer. I had automatically assumed that the chlorinated water I used was the culprit. But after researching the chlorination levels in my water and comparing those with the acceptable range, I found that the level of chlorine in my water was very low. What I did do was start using high quality yeast and pitching and fermenting at lower temperatures. Since I started doing this I have greatly improved my beers' flavour and quality.

I suggest obtaining a water report from your region's purveyor to determine the level of chloride in your tap water. If it falls within the acceptable range, then you have another problem on your hands that is not related to chlorine.
Brewer2001
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I wonder about the chlorine......

Post by Brewer2001 »

Jay,


I think that you are confusing chlorides vs chlorine. Chlorides are bound to other element such as sodium, calcium and potassium are desireable in brewing. Free Chlorine (Cl2) is not desireable in brewing due to its ability to combine with the phenol complex (benzene ring). You may be able to use unfiltered tap water if the amount of chlorine is at low concentrations. Here in Seattle they do not filter or aerate the water so they 'dump' in chlorination to overcome seasonal biological load.

You also may be ok unless your wort contains a high concentration of tannins which are the precursors to phenols and haze. In the US water companies are starting to use THM compounds that can only be removed by using a carbon filter.

I use no bleach and filter all of my water....works find every brew.

Good brewing,

Tom F.
jayhawk
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Chlorine

Post by jayhawk »

I guess I was mistaken about the chloride vs chlorine deal. The thing with chlorine though is that since it is "free" and not bound with anyting, would it be driven off and/or dissipate during the boil? I question how much really gets through to the fermenter. Seems to me one would have to be in a district with very heavily chlorinated water for chlorine to get through.
Brewer2001
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I found a link for you......

Post by Brewer2001 »

To all,

Here is a link a site with some good information about water problems.

http://www.probrewer.com/resources/libr ... pplies.php

The artical is a little dated (Oct. 1963) but the information still applies. I told you about the 'red mold" that we see here in Seattle. Our water is almost exclucively taken from rivers and held in open ponds (natural, some may say, but problamatic for brewers). My family was part of a survey which was studying problems that the water supply was having on the general population. They suspected something.

The material on this site is intended for brewers that brew in the trade. It may not apply to the things that you are doing but it is good background information.

Good brewing,

Tom F.
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