Is there a chance that your CEE smells odd, like dead fish??
Reason I ask is, I've had one bad batch. Now the current Kg batch I have, is about 3 months old. I took it out just now and gave it a whiff, just to make sure. Smells faintly like chemical, which is what you should smell.
One time, I had an off yellowish batch, and it smelt bad, ammonical or mildly like fish will smell when its not fresh. I sent that batch back, because I know my chemistry and suspected it had degraded, probably in hot storage.
Should be the case, that you can take CEE in water, and not notice much taste. You should NOT be loading up on more than few grams a time. I usually throw in a little taurine and magnesium citrate - and the taste is mildly lemon like. Nothing that would make you gag.
I do not recommend you take your creatine with whey protein. Reason is that the protein may block absorption in the gut..and, the combination of some wheys that are insulinogenic (insulin release promoting) and creatine, which can be mildly irritating to gut can lead to...ahh, gut unpleasantness, at a time when you're not interested in spending valuble time in the bathroom attending to pressing matters. Such actions can leave you feeling wrung out and weak. Definitely counterproductive.