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Author Topic: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?  (Read 2640 times)

Offline Kyle

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Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« on: April 02, 2017, 08:04:16 am »
Hi everyone,

I just brewed my 1st batch of brew. Hooray! After waiting patiently for the fermentation and bottle conditioning periods to end I'm finally able to try the beer and see how it turned out.

The good thing is that it tastes like beer! The odd thing is that upon pouring the beer into a glass, the foam releases a chlorine odor that eventually goes away after 2-3 minutes.

There is no chlorine flavor in the beer, at least not that I can tell. Also, I used campden tablets during the brew process to eliminate any chlorine off-flavors.

My question is why would there be a chlorine smell released from the foam but then no chlorine flavor in the beer?

The beer is actually quite drinkable (patting myself on the back).

Any advice or feedback would be great.

Thanks,

Kyle

Offline JJeffers09

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2017, 08:32:24 am »
First congratulations on your first brew!

Most things like sulfur are sometimes volatile enough to gas out with the co2.  If you did have chlorine in your brew it would be more plastic, bandaid, and burnt rubber smelling/tasting.  Unless you reintroduced chlorine/choloromine in the bottling process.  If you washed/rinsed the bottles in sanitizer without using campden tablets you could have.  Issue is that yeast will react with that chlorine and create those off flavors.

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Offline Kyle

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2017, 09:19:54 am »
Thanks for the feedback. When I sanitized the bottles prior to bottling, I did not use campden tablets. So maybe right there could be where the chlorine was reintroduced. That makes sense with the yeast reacting with the chlorine and creating those off-flavors.

Thanks again for the feedback! I'll make some adjustments and move on from there.

Cheers!

Offline Slowbrew

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2017, 10:03:24 am »
It might be your glassware too.  If your water has high chlorine this time of year you may just be picking it up from the you are using and it rinses off as you drink.

Just a thought.

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

Offline mabrungard

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2017, 09:07:05 am »
The presence of a chlorine aroma in beer is extremely unlikely. Any chlorine compounds would be immediately converted to chlorophenols in beer and wort. Possibly you are confusing the aroma?
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Offline joelv

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2017, 11:16:21 am »
It does sound more likely to be glassware as chlorine gets transformed into other compounds with fermentation (including the conversion of priming sugar in the bottle)


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Offline zwiller

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2017, 02:48:59 pm »
Any LHBS or clubs near you?  I'd have them sample it.  My WAG for a first brew would be too warm fermentation giving you some esters and/or higher alcohols that smell chemically, like chlorine.  Ideally, you want quite cool <65F wort temps for ales.  HUGE impact of the beer. 
Sam
Sandusky, OH

Offline Kyle

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Re: Chlorine smell but no chlorine flavor?
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2017, 05:04:51 pm »
Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I tried another bottle last night and did not notice any chlorine smell or chlorophenols for that matter. I'm starting to think that it could have been a sanitation issue with the particular bottle that was conditioning the brew. The bottles that I used had been used before so there could have been some bacteria buildup that I missed.