So I cracked open a bottle of some Berliner Weisse-style that I brewed over the winter, and was greeted with the dreaded burnt-plastic sensation of up-front phenols. The brew in question sat in secondary for 2 months and had been in the bottle for 4 weeks upon opening (I had originally thought to wait 8 weeks before sampling, but curiosity got the better of me). Is this something that will mellow out and fix itself over time, or do I have 5 gallons worth of down-the-drain material on my hands? Oh, I should add that this is the NB Kinderweisse kit recipe (extract). I've never had an infection problem like this before (I sanitize religiously), but after reading somewhere that one potential source for phenols is sanitizer residue, I'm paranoid.
What sanitizer do you use? If it isn't starsan, might I recommend it? It can also come from chlorine in your water source. It could be the yeast strain, or wild yeast, but I would look to your sanitizer and water source first.
There are many types of phenolic compounds and many potential causes. I don't know that any of them can be reduced with time, though some can settle out of solution/suspension (which is what lagering does). But if you have a strong plastic taste, I don't think I'd expect it to go away.
I've recently converted to StarSan from Iodophor. I need to check my notes, but I think this was the last batch that I used Iodophor with (at the beginning of the process). It's also (by design) such a low ABV that I'm wondering if under-pitching had a part to play as well. I'm gonna let the batch sit at lowish temps for a few months and see what happens. Thanks for the feedback!
