Hi folks,
I am a newbie having just completed my 4th batch. Unfortunately, 3 out of 4 have had the same bad, plastic (my wife says rubber) smell and taste. The after-taste is especially bad. All brews have been extract-based, but some w/ steeped grains/hops. The only batch that was great after 1 wk. in the bottle was the 2nd one which used no grains, or hops (extract plus DME only). The off-taste pretty much disappears after 8 weeks in the bottle.
I usually boil 2 gal, and add 3 gal cold, filtered tap water. Reading other topics in this group it seemed like off-flavor could have been from chlorine. So my latest used 2 gal. boiled tap water, plus 3 gal. spring water. I also read that it could have been high ferm. temps. so this last time I used a wet towel to keep temps. to about 68 degrees. Neither adjustment seems to have helped. This batch has the off-taste just as bad as the others. One thing I noticed, was that it tasted fine when I bottled it, but now, one week later - bad news. What's going on here? Is this normal?
Here are the details:
Batch 1: Cooper's Real Ale kit, 1 can extract + DME, plus small amt. grain, and hops steeped, Cooper's Dry Yeast. Used glass carboy for primary ferment, then bottled after 10 days. Batch 2: Edme Red Devil Ale Kit, 1 can extract, DME,Edme Dry Yeast. Used plastic primary fermenter, glass carboy for secondary. (Note: this is the good one) Batch 3: IPA Recipe of 2 cans extract, plus steeped grains & hops, Wyeast liquid London Ale. Used plastic primary fermenter, glass carboy for secondary. Batch 4: Nut Brown Ale recipe using 2 cans extract, plus steeped grains & hops, Wyest London Ale III. Used plastic primary fermenter, glass carboy for secondary.