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A little while back I got a super stuck mash while making an IPA (long story). After stirring the bejesus out of the mash to get the liquid out, we decided to boil it rather than dump it. We got great hot break, OK clarity and the wort tasted good, so we decided to attempt to salvage the batch by running it off into a small fermenter and pitching brett, knowing that brett loves chewing on starch. Midway through the 30 day fermentation, beer had a really nice aroma but a distinct plastic-y/band-aid like flavor in the finish. Now, after 30 days of fermentation and 7 days of cold crashing, the flavor is still there and I'm probably going to dump it.
I'm a cleaning and sanitation freak so I am pretty confident that's not the source of this off flavor. The only thing that was "off" in my process that day was the stuck mash and heavy grain stirring. My hypothesis is that perhaps the heavy duty stirring of the mash extracted some sort of tannin from the grain, which the yeast converted into this plastic-y/band-aid like phenol.
Does my hypothesis seem likely/reasonable? Any other hypotheses out there? I am going to suck it up and dump it but would love it if someone out with more chemistry knowledge than me can check my logic.
I'm a cleaning and sanitation freak so I am pretty confident that's not the source of this off flavor. The only thing that was "off" in my process that day was the stuck mash and heavy grain stirring. My hypothesis is that perhaps the heavy duty stirring of the mash extracted some sort of tannin from the grain, which the yeast converted into this plastic-y/band-aid like phenol.
Does my hypothesis seem likely/reasonable? Any other hypotheses out there? I am going to suck it up and dump it but would love it if someone out with more chemistry knowledge than me can check my logic.
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