medicine flavor???

have had a problem with a medicine like flavor with a few of my beer batches. I tried swithcing water , but still had the problem arise again. The flavor almost tastes like cloroseptic throat spray. At least thats what it reminds me of. It does not happen to all my batches, but has happened at least 3 times. Anyone have any ideas of what might be causing it?
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The medicine-y flavor can be caused by a number of things, the most likely of which is some kind of wild yeast contaminants. Check for common threads among the spoiled batches--what type of ingredients you used or procedures you followed that were the same in each batch. That will help you at least narrow down the sources of the off-flavor.

For more information, check out this link. There's a lot of good information on that page about other unwanted flavors, too

By the way, I had a batch that I just recently finished that had a similar flavor. It seemed to get worse as time went on, though it was less detectable as a glass of beer warmed up. The beer never quite cleared, either--it was always pretty hazy. I'm pretty sure that the flavor was caused by contaminated yeast--I fermented with yeast that had been harvested a couple times before that batch. What kind of yeast did you use?

Thanks for your reply. I am very careful with contamination. I used white labs california yeast for the last one. I will have to look back through my recipe book to see if i used the same for the others. I was thinking maybe I did not rinse enough after cleaning equipment. Although I do use no rinse sanitizer. I will look through the "spoiled batches" threads to see if there is any similiar problems. Thanks again!

Couple questions:

1) Was the yeast first generation, or reharvested?
2) What do you use for primary? Secondary?
3) Were the batches kegged or bottled?
4) What do you clean your equipment with?
5) What do you sanitize your equipment with?

That'll do for now

yeast was first generation. I have a concial fermenter and use it for both primary and secondary. I keg my beer. I clean and sanitize with water and one step no rinse and also use star san.

Water could be the culprit.  Once a year in my area they run huge amounts of chlorine through the local water system which can create problems.  Its usually done in the Spring for a month or more.  

I switch to bottled water with a few additives during that time of year.

Cheers!
Brad

I had a few consecutive mediciney batches 10 or so years ago. I think my plastic fermenter  was harboring little nasties. Overnight soaks in sanitizer didn't help. Persistent little buggers.

So, I got some glass carboys. Never had a problem again. Well, not that particular problem...

I'd have to say it's the water causing the problems as well. Chlorine and chloromines in municipal water supplies cause chloropheynols to be in the finished beer.
If you run the water thru a Brita filter (or the like) it will remove these compounds, resulting in a better tasting beer.

The medicine-y flavor can be caused by a number of things, the most likely of which is some kind of wild yeast contaminants. Check for common threads among the spoiled batches--what type of ingredients you used or procedures you followed that were the same in each batch. That will help you at least narrow down the sources of the off-flavor.

By the way, I had a batch that I just recently finished that had a similar flavor. It seemed to get worse as time went on, though it was less detectable as a glass of beer warmed up. The beer never quite cleared, either--it was always pretty hazy. I'm pretty sure that the flavor was caused by contaminated yeast--I fermented with yeast that had been harvested a couple times before that batch. What kind of yeast did you use?

Click to expand...

It is most likely caused by temp of the fermentation (too high most likely) Had a couple brews do the same thing, and I used ale yeast instead of lager. (brew was a lager, but had an ale substitute)

The fermentation temp was about 75 (ouch) I should have paid more attention.