Taste of mouthpiece on water tube, how to fix?

[tasadam]

G'day.

Recently my wife and I have started using a 2 litre MSR bladder in a pack, with MSR tube and mouthpiece. For mountain biking, but may consider for walking if it works for us - always preferred a 1litre wide mouth Nalgene for walks.

The water has a horrible plastic / rubber taste.

So I tried the water straight from the bladder, it was fine.
Then I drained the tube and tried that - also fine.

The impairment seems to be coming from the black rubbery centre of the mouthpiece.
Certainly this taste corresponds with the smell of the mouthpiece.

Has anyone else experienced this? Could you fix it, and if so, how?
Or is it something that people are expected to put up with when using a tube?

Not at all happy with it and it discourages me from drinking, so much so that on recent MTB marathon, in over 6 hours I drank less than a litre, as well as my 3 x 800ml sustagen brews.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[simonm]

Hey Adam,

I have had a slight plastic taste but nothing to the extent you are describing. Does the mouthpiece come apart for cleaning?

I have used bi carb and vinegar, or some even use bleach.

[Giddy_up]

You could try a really strong saline mixture, mix it up and put it in the bladder and draw it up through the hose and into the mouthpiece and let it sit there for a day or so. Its an old trick that stockmen used to take the new taste away from those old water bags. Harmless to you as well.

[Strider]

Get a different mouthpiece..

[Picaro]

My previous bladders all had some sort of taste them. Ended up with Platypus, solved the problem permanently. If a Platy mouthpiece will fit your tube ( likely it will ) that would be a definite fix.

[DannyS]

Tasadam I had that problem with an Osprey bladder, very strong taste of plastic leaving the water undrinkable.

Get boiling water and baking soda, pour the mix into the bladder and suck it up the tube and leave to sit for a few hours, I had to repeat this twice before the taste was removed. I also repeated this process with white vinegar. The bladder no longer has any residual plastic taste.

[wayno]

camelbaks use silicon rubber mouthpiece, has no taste to it...

[Swampy460]

I had the same problem with a cheapy i got from Annaconda, after many attempts with different methods still tasted BLAH. So bought a camelbak bladder , problem solved

Swampy

[troutboy]

Hi all, slightly off topic but i have had for some time a couple of bladders that are sold through australia post shops that are the best i have ever used. I have never cleaned it in the 2 years i have had it, i constantly leave water in the bladder for up to a week at a time,it has never gone slimy or produced a funny taste, cannot fault this product in any way. Cost with daypack is $25. cheers troutboy

[tasadam]

Just a reminder, the taste is definitely coming from the mouthpiece.
From what I can tell, it's the black rubbery bit that has the split in it to let the water through when you bite it. If I can pull it apart without destroying it I will confirm that, it will be pretty easy to identify - really strong.
It's MSR brand, so it surprises me it's as bad as this.

Thanks for the suggestions on cleaning the existing one, I shall give them a go & report back.

[AlbinoNeutrino]

If it's a rubber taste/smell you are describing, and it's coming from actual rubber, then the only solution is outgassing. Stick it out in the sun for a few days.