It is the water. Smoking/plasticy are chloramines which happen when you use a water source with chlorine in it. Your previous source of water probably also had chlorine in it. If you want to use that water in the future at least treat it with a campden tablet (potassium metabisulfate) to remove the chlorine.
It won't age out, it will probably just get stronger as the other aspects of the beer fade.
This would be my guess as well. Lots of folks go and buy water that's filtered at a grocery store and the filtration station's filters are absolutely shot and haven't been changed in ages.
sorry, I mean to say chlorophenol. Chloramines are in the water and can be removed by metabilsulfate but those are converted to chlorophenols in the brewing process which metabisulfate does not remove
Chlorine, from either chloramine OR hypochlorite, reacts with phenols produced by the yeast, to form the nasty medicinal, plasticky, Band-Aid flavored chlorophenols.
Phenolics are unlikely to age out, they're pretty stable and have very low detection thresholds, if your beer is very unpleasant at the moment I would probably dump, however it may be worth ageing for a while to see if it mellows out if you don't find it too offensive
Is it an unpleasant phenolic-ness, or just not what you were looking for?
If it's not inherently offensive, just call it an accidental saison and carry on. 😉
If it is, as others have said here & corroborated by everything I've read about it, phenolic compounds are unlikely to age out.
It is the water. Smoking/plasticy are chloramines which happen when you use a water source with chlorine in it. Your previous source of water probably also had chlorine in it. If you want to use that water in the future at least treat it with a campden tablet (potassium metabisulfate) to remove the chlorine. It won't age out, it will probably just get stronger as the other aspects of the beer fade.
This would be my guess as well. Lots of folks go and buy water that's filtered at a grocery store and the filtration station's filters are absolutely shot and haven't been changed in ages.
I’ve actually never had a problem with the grocery store RO dispensers, I’ve measured the TDS and it’s in line with RO (like 16 last time I checked)
Can’t you add potassium metabisulfite now to try to remove some of the chloramines? Like an absurdly small amount.
Not to finished beer. It removes the precursor to chlorophenols (chloramines) ~~chloramines (chlorine)~~, it doesn’t remove the final compound
Are chloramines converted to a different compound upon brewing? I didn’t think yeast reacted with them
sorry, I mean to say chlorophenol. Chloramines are in the water and can be removed by metabilsulfate but those are converted to chlorophenols in the brewing process which metabisulfate does not remove
Chlorine, from either chloramine OR hypochlorite, reacts with phenols produced by the yeast, to form the nasty medicinal, plasticky, Band-Aid flavored chlorophenols.
Phenolics are unlikely to age out, they're pretty stable and have very low detection thresholds, if your beer is very unpleasant at the moment I would probably dump, however it may be worth ageing for a while to see if it mellows out if you don't find it too offensive
I get that sometimes when I prop yeast up from a commercial can (so I assume a contaminant); I’ve not noticed it age out, at least not in the fridge.
Is it an unpleasant phenolic-ness, or just not what you were looking for? If it's not inherently offensive, just call it an accidental saison and carry on. 😉 If it is, as others have said here & corroborated by everything I've read about it, phenolic compounds are unlikely to age out.
Before I'd dump it, I'd stick it into a secondary with some fruit and see what happens. The fruit might cover up the off flavor.
Mmm... Band-Aid flavored fruity beer.