HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Hi all,

I am wondering if my brew can get infected/contaminated before i start.

I am thinking that there is contamination in the grains or hops I purchased.

My beer has a "bandaid" taste to it. This is the 3rd brew i have had this happen and the common link is that I am buying it off the same person. I am 100% certain that ALL my equipment is cleaned, sterilized and sanitized before during and after the process of brewing. I have bought another partial mash from elsewhere but I will have atleast a 2 week wait before a result.

If it is infected can it be consumed?

By nature hops shouldn't cause infection as they are added to prevent spoilage. Grains can be a source of infection unless you boil the strained liquor after steeping or mashing the grain. Do you pull your fermenter tap apart after each brew? This is a common source of infection often overlooked.

Sound like it could be from the chlorine in your water.

You could try boiling it first unless it has been treated with chloramine(sp?).

Are you using bleach as a sanitiser?

What the others have said...

Also, to the best of my knowledge, drinking infected beer won't kill you. Any poisonous pathogens don't survive or won't be produced in the alcohol rich make up of beer. And, an infected beer generally ferments out more than a normal brew, so will have more alcohol. However, you are unlikely to enjoy the experience and the taste, unless you want to investigate and get into Lambics.

When cleaning every piece is pulled apart.

I am now starting to wonder if i have been sold lager and it just needs to sit. The person I bought it off has shut shop but was selling me the last stock. I wrote down the previous ingredients I used from his recipes and now they are totally different yet he tells me they will produce the same.

As you can tell I am very new to HB and just bought my first HB Bible. How To Brew by John J. Palmer. I have had a brief read through as I only got it 2 days ago and WOW
I have so much to learn. I am going to give the current brew up to 5weeks to prove itself and I willl report back with the outcome. Of course during this period I will succumb to the odd taste test.

Thanks for info and replies so far

I always thought the 'band aid/medicine' flavour came from not rinsing out the cleaning/sterilising products.
I had it in a keg of pale ale one time, I stopped myself from puring it out and I left it in the keg for a year and then tried it again. Foul flavour was still there

From Palmer's "How to Brew":

Medicinal
These flavors are often described as mediciney, Band-Aidâ„¢ like, or can be spicy like cloves. The cause are various phenols which are initially produced by the yeast. Chlorophenols result from the reaction of chlorine-based sanitizers (bleach) with phenol compounds and have very low taste thresholds. Rinsing with boiled water after sanitizing is the best way to prevent these flavors.

The common link in your OP may not be just the person you source your ingredients from. There are other possibilities, such as incomplete rinsing after sanitising (unless you use a no rinse sanitiser), the water you use (may have chlorine or chloramine - do a search on how to deal with this), too high initial fermentation temperature, underpitching yeast (which will stress it and cause unpleasant characters in your beer, and is not unusual with kit supplies yeast).

My advice:
1.Find a reputable local supplier, or use mail order from a reliable source such as CraftBrewer or Grain & Grape.
2.Look at your water, and if needs be, boil it the day before, and let it cool overnight. It will remove any chlorine. If your water supply has chloramine, investigate using Campden tablets.
3.Use a proprietary yeast from a producer such as Fermentis (Safale and Saflager), Danstar, or investigate liquid yeasts. CraftBrewers repackaged yeasts will also give you a decent quantity and quality per pack.

I don't believe your beers are infected, but you need to start a journey to try and improve your ingredients and processes.
You will get there, hang in and don't give up!

Thanks for information warra48.

Much appreciated