Unsolved Mysteries

There are a lot of us on this forum who just can't brew a good hoppy IPA. (and sometimes it happens with low hop styles too) We try RO water, control the ph, change equipment, skip the sparging, build water profiles etc. and still cant make a beer without that astringent, strange bitter after taste.
It is even happening on different continents.
We make a thread about it, try the suggestions and then most of the threads get abandoned because of no results.
In my case (and in a lot of other cases too) the off taste shows up after bottle carbing.

I just cant get over the fact that we cant solve this issue so i gonna try some esoteric approaches.

If anyone wants to check out these threads i can collect a lot of them, i have them bookmarked etc.

So now i want to try some more obscure stuff.

Is it possible that i have leftover chlorine/chloramine in the water i use to sanitize and it still affects my beer in this miniscule amount? (my tapwater definitely contains chlorine or chloramine)

Can i drop campden into my star-san solution?

The amount you're talking about is negligible, but it's easy to fix if it will ease your mind. This is not the problem, though. Also, RO water is not good for IPA, you need a moderate amount of hardness and alkalinity, particularly in the form of a decent amount of sulfate and a relatively smaller portion of chloride.

Typically, though, the biggest complaint I see about making good IPA is that their beers aren't hoppy enough. Honestly, the NUMBER ONE problem people have when they say they can't make a good hoppy beer is NOT USING ENOUGH HOPS. To get flavor and aroma like Sculpin, you need a ton of hops. My rule is 3-4 oz of late hops (20m and later) and 3oz of dry hop for a standard west-coastish IPA.

If you could link the threads you're talking about in the OP, that would be handy for reference.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/bitter-aftertaste-whats-going-450137/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/trying-troubleshoot-lingering-bitter-aftertaste-128525/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/help-same-aftertaste-multiple-brews-450759/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/bad-aftertaste-what-am-i-doing-wrong-342067/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-possibly-second-beer-soapy-harsh-bitter-aftertaste-317007/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/ipa-hop-astringency-365391/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/bitter-aftertaste-any-ideas-tonic-water-like-420362/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/musty-dirt-earthy-aftertaste-167539/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/off-flavor-ipas-438725/

HARDCORE THREAD: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/al...te-bad-please-help-me-new-suggestions-264639/

HARDCORE THREAD: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/still-tastes-bad-237243/

the last two are the longest but they contain the longest and most insane troubleshooting without results

Did not go through all the threads you linked, but is it possible you are priming with a bit too much sugar and what you are experiencing is the "harshness/biting" of an overcarbonated beer? Not sure what your priming procedure is, but maybe that is a possibility. Generally, when I primed and bottled, I used a bit more than 2/3 of a cup but less than 3/4. That is a fair amt. less than the amt you get in one of the prepackaged bags for priming.
*corn sugar and 5 gallons of beer.

I made some crappy IPA's and Pale Ales for more than a decade. Water and probably pH were my problems. When I got those in hand, my pale ales got really pretty good. I don't make a lot of true IPA's, but those have turned out much better too. Generally, I would say my water numbers are:
Ca = 50-100
Na and Mg = very low
Sulfate = 150-200
Chloride = 30-40
Bicarb = 75 ish

Mash pH around 5.2-5.3

Temp. never goes more than about 160-165 on sparge.

As mentioned above - hopping could be a part of it too. Some hops are just harsh. Some of my first, good pale ales I used Facloncer's Flight and Falconers Flight 7 C's.
1 oz. @ 60
Then 1 oz. @ 15 and 5
2 oz. at flame out
and maybe an ounce dry.

They are really good blends and it takes the issue of hop selection and combination off the table as far as worrying about what hops go well together. 7 C's makes a great american pale ale. I like falconers flight in ambers in particular. But that might be another variable you could look at.

I know your frustration. Hang in there and keep looking for the answer.

By the way - I run my water through carbon filter for star san. You could also mix up a batch of star san with RO water......

Another thought ..... have you entered your beers in any competitions for feedback. Or, are you in a homebrew club with BJCP members who could give you some thoughts? Take it to LHBS, local brew pub and ask them for honest, objective feedback...... Not there to "feel good" about your beer - there to fix it. Might even be able to seek someone out on here to sample your beers and give you an experienced opinion.

This would maybe eliminate some other possibilities like infection, etc.

It is always hard to diagnose "taste perceptions" of others without tasting yourself.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of "off flavors" created throughout the brewing process. I think the most common is contamination and Oxydation. I had the same problem with my beers. It seemed as though they all had some type of an off flavor that I couldn't fix. Since then, I have read a lot of books, talked to local brewers and come up with my list of most common problems in brewing beer that I use. Now my beers, except bad recipes, come out as good as a commercial-brewery based on the following:

1. Sanitary tools, buckets fermenters etc. I found that pumps and cold plates hide trub, hops and wort, even after running water and cleaner through them. The items later turn into a cesspool of bacteria. I resolved this by whirl pooling the wort first to keep the trub and hops out of the line.
2. Not enough yeast. One vile/smack pack is fine for a simple ale, if the yeast is viable and hasn't begun to deteriorate. I think that by the time you buy the yeast it has already deteriorated some. I think that every time you make beer, you should use a starter with one to two yeast vials/packs. See Mr. Malty's Yeast Calculator for the correct amount of yeast.
3. Yeast aeration and nutrients. Shaking the carboy gives you about 8 parts per million (PPM) of O2, while using an air pump along with an aeration stone and air filter will give you the right amount of about 12 PPM. O2 gas can give you 12 PPM and more if needed (i.e. High ABV Barleywines). A stainless steel aeration stone kit at your brew shop can hook up to a cheap O2 bottle from the hardware store, and works great.
4. Temperature control: This is extremely critical when making most beers. Most ales ferment around 65-68°. The best way to know what temp works best for the yeast, go to the manufacturers website. When your yeast is too cold it hibernates. When it is too hot, it gives off horrible off flavors similar to nail polish remover. The yeast flavors are part of the profile of the beer. So if you don't treat them correctly, your resulting beer will taste awful.
5. A very critical part is Oxydation. When your beer has finished fermenting, it is absolutely critical that your beer never come in contact with Oxygen/air. If so, it will give off cardboard like flavors and make your beer dull and boring.
6. Water: This makes up a large portion of your beer. Taste your water, do you love it, hate it or what? Try using Reverse Osmosis water and throw in 3 grams (and up to 5 grams) of Gypsum per 5 gallons for a bright taste that gives a dryness and accentuates the hops. For beers that you want a soft, sweet and opposite of dry, try 3-5 grams of Calcium Chloride.

Braufessor said:

Did not go through all the threads you linked, but is it possible you are priming with a bit too much sugar and what you are experiencing is the "harshness/biting" of an overcarbonated beer? Not sure what your priming procedure is, but maybe that is a possibility. Generally, when I primed and bottled, I used a bit more than 2/3 of a cup but less than 3/4. That is a fair amt. less than the amt you get in one of the prepackaged bags for priming.
*corn sugar and 5 gallons of beer.

I made some crappy IPA's and Pale Ales for more than a decade. Water and probably pH were my problems. When I got those in hand, my pale ales got really pretty good. I don't make a lot of true IPA's, but those have turned out much better too. Generally, I would say my water numbers are:
Ca = 50-100
Na and Mg = very low
Sulfate = 150-200
Chloride = 30-40
Bicarb = 75 ish

Mash pH around 5.2-5.3

Temp. never goes more than about 160-165 on sparge.

As mentioned above - hopping could be a part of it too. Some hops are just harsh. Some of my first, good pale ales I used Facloncer's Flight and Falconers Flight 7 C's.
1 oz. @ 60
Then 1 oz. @ 15 and 5
2 oz. at flame out
and maybe an ounce dry.

They are really good blends and it takes the issue of hop selection and combination off the table as far as worrying about what hops go well together. 7 C's makes a great american pale ale. I like falconers flight in ambers in particular. But that might be another variable you could look at.

I know your frustration. Hang in there and keep looking for the answer.

Click to expand...

It is not impossible that i overcarb but others had success with my sugar amounts, i individually carb all my botles with 2.5-3grams sugar which would result in around 2 volumes according to the calculators.

I tried different waters, i personally have not tried RO (with added salts) (others tried without success) yet but i think i will have to soon, my numbers so far were nothing extraordinary except my bicarbonate/HCO3 (it was way too high in every water i tried) which i tried to fight with precipation. According to Bru'n'Water my precipated and adjusted waters produced proper ph with 4% acid malt. By the way these beers were not even a little bit better than my simple tap water beers in terms of this aftertaste. Some paper ph strips showed good results but i know that those are unreliable.

I did not even sparged one of my beers, the mash temp never went above 150F before the boil. (except during adding the grains to the water where the water was around 160F but it cooled down to 150F within 2 mins)

I made about 7 different IPA recipes, 3 were clones of beers i have personally tasted and did not detected this off taste, i used about 6 different hop types, i dont think it was the hops.

At this point i think it is either a water issue in my case or what it is more likely, it is some kind of sanitization issue or wild yeast living in my house. In my case the off taste happens only after bottle priming and carbing, maybe that is when the wild yeast can take over the beer yeast. I had a high alcohol (10%) beer which failed to carbonate even after 2-3 months and it didnt produced this off taste, maybe because both the yeast and the wild yeast got killed off by the alcohol.

Do you think i should try brewing in a different house or outside for a test?

Btw my FGs are all a bit lower than the calculated amounts but they are still within 80-85% attenuation which is not impossible with US-05. Maybe it is a sign of wild yeast?

edit: i dont think we have BJCP judges in my country but i will take it to homebrew events

If it is contamination, you will taste off flavors at the back sides of the tongue.



Hopefully you figure it out,
Cheers

dlester said:

If it is contamination, you will taste off flavors at the back sides of the tongue.



Hopefully you figure it out,
Cheers

Click to expand...

I do taste it there, around the time (aftertaste) when normal bitterness should kick in.

In reply to your previous post:

1. I replaced everything, (pots, hoses, fermenters etc.) i wanted to switch to a bigger setup anyways but i have not tried the new setup yet

2. In the beginning i don't think i used enough yeast but with my last 3 brews i added almost like half pack of an US05 to a 1 gallon batch. (i personally tried US05 only but others in the threads listed tried a lot of things)

3. My aeration is definitely lacking but i use dry yeast anyways. I am transferring wort to the fermenter via a strainer and then shake the carboy for a while. My fermentations started within 12 hours. I bought yeast nutrient and from now on i will rehydrate my yeast and will do that olive oil trick too just for fun.

4. I use a swamp cooler, the temperature in my room is a stable 70F while my swamp is around 68F. Interestingly my first 3 brews turned out fine while they were fermented at 60F in a wine cellar but i dont think my issue is temperature related, these beers were full of esters but cleaned up after a few months while my later beers produced cleaner and cleaner fermentations as i dropped more yeast. All my later beers have this bad aftertaste by the way. The first 3 were kinda lightly hopped (no dryhop too) cascade ales while all my other brews (5 different clones and own recipes) were dry hopped IPAs, DIPAs and APAs. Maybe the fact that a while ago i was able to brew beers without this aftertaste shows that it is a contamination issue? (and i was absolutely a beginner then, i am pretty sure the ph, sparging, yeast amount, ferm, temp etc. were incorrect but they still turned out fine)
Some of us in the threads i linked gets this aftertaste with highly hopped and dryhopped beers only.

5. I do only primary fermentation in glass carboys, during bottling i use a bottling bucket. On the other hand i leave my beers in the fermenter for 4 weeks, maybe it is too long for hoppy beers? By the way from now on i will transfer immediately into the bottles with an auto-syphon during my next brews. Also i think i will lower my fermentation times to two weeks.

6. I tried 3 different waters but others in the linked threads got this aftertaste with RO and adjusted RO and other different waters, someone even tried rainwater.:cross:

Preface: I did not read through all the linked threads.

The_Glue said:

i individually carb all my botles with 2.5-3grams sugar which would result in around 2 volumes according to the calculators.

Click to expand...

I think this is a bad idea. Pretty much all forms of sugar have biologicals with them. I would dissolve the sugar into boiling water, chill that and then put it into a bottling bucket, rack over to the bottling bucket and then bottle.

The_Glue said:

At this point i think it is either a water issue in my case or what it is more likely, it is some kind of sanitization issue or wild yeast livingn my house.

In my case the off taste happens only after bottle priming and carbing, maybe that is when the wild yeast can take over the beer yeast.

Click to expand...

I bolded the things that would go along with my theory. I hope that helps.

GL

It sounds like your issues are arising during bottling. Do you have any brewfriends near you with a kegging setup. Maybe you can convince them to let you keg a gallon or two of your latest brew and see if you still get the off flavors? I'm thinking you can make a 5 gallons batch and then split it 2.5G into bottles and 2.5G into the keg? If you need to motivate your friend, you can tell him that he will get the 2.5G of beer that you keg after you "test" it.


Just a thought....

Zamial said:

Preface: I did not read through all the linked threads.
I think this is a bad idea. Pretty much all forms of sugar have biologicals with them. I would dissolve the sugar into boiling water, chill that and then put it into a bottling bucket, rack over to the bottling bucket and then bottle.




I bolded the things that would go along with my theory. I hope that helps.

GL

Click to expand...

I agree that it is definitely a weak point of my process. I have a lightly hopped beer sitting in primary since two months.

What i want to try is make a lot of different bottles with different priming methods.

- just add the unboiled sugar like i did before
- use boiled sugar
- pasteurize a few bottles before i add anything to them and then add yeast and boiled priming sugar

then see what happens to the different bottles, what is sad this is a really low hop beer

vinylrooster said:

It sounds like your issues are arising during bottling. Do you have any brewfriends near you with a kegging setup. Maybe you can convince them to let you keg a gallon or two of your latest brew and see if you still get the off flavors? I'm thinking you can make a 5 gallons batch and then split it 2.5G into bottles and 2.5G into the keg? If you need to motivate your friend, you can tell him that he will get the 2.5G of beer that you keg after you "test" it.


Just a thought....

Click to expand...

Sadly i think pretty much everyone bottle carbs here, there are about 50 homebrewers in the whole country, the second brewshop just opened a month ago, if i want to try this i have to approach a pub i think.

I can offer some persopective.

Over 150 batches, the ONLY batches I dumped were the 2 over the top IIPA's I attempted.

2 for 2 out of 150. Not coincidence, not process.

Since I have moved, I made one successful IIPA after another. I went batsh!t making them I was so thrilled.

Same equipment (except for a new brewpot), same process (except that I chill much faster now)

I now use enameled brewpot, aluminum before, and I now chill with sanitary ICE.

I am still on "Louisville Water", supposed to be pretty good quality, but the water or the pipes is all I can figure.

I tasted my low hop beer which sit in the fermenter for 2 months, it tasted perfect so i decided to bottle it.

I transferred directly into the bottles with an auto-syphon. I used star-san.

I bottled some with my usual (bad) priming method, some with boiled priming sugar and then i primed some with boiled sugar and pasteurized them. I capped the bottles and put them into 180F hot water for 20 minutes.
Then i cooled them down to room temp and added dry yeast to the bottles and recapped them.

Did i killed my beer with pasteurizing? I dont think that the alcohol escaped, i turned my bottles upside down during cooling sometimes to get the alcohol back in solution if it evaporated.

The_Glue said:

I tasted my low hop beer which sit in the fermenter for 2 months, it tasted perfect so i decided to bottle it.

I transferred directly into the bottles with an auto-syphon. I used star-san.

I bottled some with my usual (bad) priming method, some with boiled priming sugar and then i primed some with boiled sugar and pasteurized them. I capped the bottles and put them into 180F hot water for 20 minutes.
Then i cooled them down to room temp and added dry yeast to the bottles and recapped them.

Did i killed my beer with pasteurizing? I dont think that the alcohol escaped, i turned my bottles upside down during cooling sometimes to get the alcohol back in solution if it evaporated.

Click to expand...

Your approach to see if the cause is at priming is a great idea. However, anytime you approach 163° or higher, it will kill the yeast. Pasteurizing the bottle is also a good idea, but only after the carbonation is complete. Also, your alcohol will distill off at around 173° from what I remember.

Try using a test bottle during pasteurization. Place the thermometer in an open test bottle that is in the same water as the bottles being pasteurized. Pull all bottles at 165°F.

BTW: You probably don't need to pasteurize if you figure the source of contamination (e.g., unsanitized sugar). However, if the bottles are not refrigerated or they are sent to a competition, pasteurization is a great idea.

Try again, because it seems to me that the priming sugar might be the cause of the contamination.


Good Luck,

Happy Update:

I tasted one of the pasteurized bottles two weeks after bottling and it tasted perfect. (by perfect i mean it did not featured any of this aftertaste) It is a low hop recipe though. (30ish IBU, miniscule amount of hops at flameout, no dryhop)
It's carbonation was lower than my previous brews though.

Now i have to find out:

Was it the auto-syphon? The Star-San? The recipe? The pasteurizing? Will it turn bad by time? Will i be able to make a good beer with lots of hops?

Let's say i will have to pasteurize every batch from now on to make them good.
Will it mess with the taste? Can the high temps destroy my esters and aromas?

Does the off-taste ever settle out? what is the longest you've waited? Just wondering cause, maybe every so often I end up with an off-taste and no or little aroma/hop flavor (I really only brew pales/Ipa's) BUT, after a few weeks/month that taste subsides. It's always the exact same taste if it happens. My process seem pretty much the same as yours other than priming. Do you have something against adding your priming solution to the bottling bucket?? Seems alot simpler than priming every bottle.
You could try those prime tabs r whatever there called too. Just wondering If I'm another person on your list! I'd like to figure this out too, things are never as simple as they would seem though

Devilsnight said:

Does the off-taste ever settle out? what is the longest you've waited? Just wondering cause, maybe every so often I end up with an off-taste and no or little aroma/hop flavor (I really only brew pales/Ipa's) BUT, after a few weeks/month that taste subsides. It's always the exact same taste if it happens. My process seem pretty much the same as yours other than priming. Do you have something against adding your priming solution to the bottling bucket?? Seems alot simpler than priming every bottle.
You could try those prime tabs r whatever there called too. Just wondering If I'm another person on your list! I'd like to figure this out too, things are never as simple as they would seem though

Click to expand...

My oldest brew with this off-taste is about 3-4 months old. It did not get any weaker.
The reason i avoided adding priming sugar to the bucket before is that i did not used a bucket for my first 3 brews and i heard stories about bad mixing of the sugar and bottle bombs. If my next few batches will came out good i will add the boiled priming solution to the bottling bucket.

I think my next brew will be a more bitter one but without dry hops and it will be still pasteurized. If it will came out good i will slowly reintroduce things like bottling buckets and dryhopping and will hope for the best.

I don't think pasteurizing is your answer. There is a lot of bottle carbing going on. I would guess 99.99% of brewers who bottle carb don't pasteurize and don't have any problems.

My guess is not boiling your sugar or tasting them too young.

Don't worry about bottle bombs using a bottling bucket. You can always stir with a sanitized spoon every 6-12 beers if you're worried about pockets of sugar in your beer.

elkshadow said:

I don't think pasteurizing is your answer. There is a lot of bottle carbing going on. I would guess 99.99% of brewers who bottle carb don't pasteurize and don't have any problems.

My guess is not boiling your sugar or tasting them too young.

Don't worry about bottle bombs using a bottling bucket. You can always stir with a sanitized spoon every 6-12 beers if you're worried about pockets of sugar in your beer.

Click to expand...

it is not impossible that my priming sugar infected the beer

on the other hand i still get this taste in beers i primaried for 1 month and bottle conditioned for 3-4 months, i dont think that is too young

The_Glue said:

it is not impossible that my priming sugar infected the beer

on the other hand i still get this taste in beers i primaried for 1 month and bottle conditioned for 3-4 months, i dont think that is too young

Click to expand...

Fair enough. I still don't think post-bottling pasteurization is the answer.

i'd say thats long enough. My hoppy pales and ipa's are usually great after 3wks primary, 1wk carbing (with some exception) I'd say your on the right track, anythings worth trying. Also as stated already, if your priming in the bottling bucket just make sure you carefully stir the heck out of it. I've had no bombs or oxidized bottles yet from this method. Interested in what you find, keep us posted!

4 weeks later a pasteurized bottle still tastes fine. Btw the carb is somehow lower on these beers than any of my previous beers.
At week 6 i will open an unpasteurized one, if it is bad then the off taste should be there already.

At 6 weeks an unpasteurized one with unboiled priming sugar was tasted and it tasted good, so it looks like the whole batch is good.

Is it good because i used star-san and an autosyphon for the first time instead of sucking on a tube and chemipro oxi or it is just the recipe and my high hop beers will still suck? (this one was a really low hop beer)

I think it is a fermentation issue. I had the same thing going on until I really controlled fermentation temperature. I hit my ales with a perfect starter amount at about 62-64 degrees for 3 days. Then finish it off at room temp, upper 60s.

This got rid of this sour/bitter/nagging after-taste. I also limited my dry hop additions to 24 hours each and started hopping during the boil in a voile bag.

Mine was unquestionably the tap water.

I moved and made 5 over the top IPAs in the first 6 months just because I suddenly could.

cheezydemon3 said:

Mine was unquestionably the tap water.

I moved and made 5 over the top IPAs in the first 6 months just because I suddenly could.

Click to expand...

This too.

$40 later I have amazing tasting water from my whole-house filter I installed in the basement.

A lot cheaper than buying bottled/RO water every brew.

The amount of hops I see bigger batch users post on this site is sometimes very low. Besides a yeast issue this winter, I have had amazing results with my IPAs. Very near commercial level hop-punch-to-the-face.

I'm usually using between 3-4 oz of hops PER GALLON!!! 4 oz is pretty standard for my 1 gallon recipes. That is 20 oz if it were a 5 gallon batch. Furthermore, at most, I use 1 oz in the boil. 75% of my hops hit the batch POST BOIL. My recipe from Friday night saw 2/3 oz during the boil (FWH then all late additions) 1/3 oz at flameout and 1 oz steep for 30 minutes. I will dry hop with two ounces. This seems to be the method a lot of commercial breweries are taking lately. Heady uses no hops in the boil, Firestone has said that only 5% of their IBUS come from bittering additions, the rest is late additions and whirlpool.

I also see no reason to ever let a standard IPA sit in the fermenter for 3 weeks...ever. I give it 3 days from the drop of high krausen then a 4-7 day dry hop and bottle. I'm drinking them 10 days later. No carb issues, no green beer (at least not detectable with the hop levels). My IPAs are less than 4 weeks grain to glass and this is with bottling. Hop aroma will last months with some potency. Treat your yeast well and it will do its job fairly quickly.

I have also stopped cold crashing. There are a few articles that don't quite say it is a fact, but suggest that hop oils can drop out with the yeast when you crash. Its also another couple days that I feel are not necessary when the objective is a super hoppy beer. You can get a clear, hoppy beer, but I just don't make it a priority, nor does it impress me anymore.

Back to my only real disappointment this year in terms of a hop disaster. I was using 05 in my basement which is usually 60-62 in the winter. It got down to 57 and even my cooler and towel wrap, it threw off massive peach esters that swallowed up the whole beer. I switched it notty which produces an amazing clean profile at this temp and even gives off some faint fruitiness.

Finally, understand that some hop batches are just not that good from time to time. I though summit was lacking this year. And consider that some hops are just more aggressive than others. Citra is very potent.

I was using this outline for about a year with poland springs water and no water adjustments. Now that I bump my sulphate levels close to 300 and control my pH better, its even more bright, clean and aggressive than before.


EDIT- I don't want my post to seem like this is the ONLY WAY to get there. Its probably over the top. All I'm saying is there are a lot of posts over the last year with disappointing results. I am very confident that my hoppy beers will shine through every time. If you have a consistent system, decent water, nice grain bill, give the above a try and if that does not work...something mysterious really is happening

Calichusetts said:

The amount of hops I see bigger batch users post on this site is sometimes very low................


EDIT- I don't want my post to seem like this is the ONLY WAY to get there. Its probably over the top. All I'm saying is there are a lot of posts over the last year with disappointing results. I am very confident that my hoppy beers will shine through every time. If you have a consistent system, decent water, nice grain bill, give the above a try and if that does not work...something mysterious really is happening

Click to expand...

NICE post!

You are correct. INSANE amounts of hops will eclipse most off flavors, but is that really a solution?

At the height of my lupuline shift, everyone thought my IIPA was AMAZING......except me. I could clearly taste the band-aid.

I think saying that all my IPAs are bad are a bit misleading since i have never brewed anything else than IPAs except for this last beer which turned out good. I really should brew new beers with my new bottling technique to see what happens.

The_Glue said:

At 6 weeks an unpasteurized one with unboiled priming sugar was tasted and it tasted good, so it looks like the whole batch is good.

Is it good because i used star-san and an autosyphon for the first time instead of sucking on a tube and chemipro oxi or it is just the recipe and my high hop beers will still suck? (this one was a really low hop beer)

Click to expand...

Might this have something to do with it?

DakotaSouth said:

Might this have something to do with it?

Click to expand...

WOW. Missed that. Good call.

Is it actually rare to use your mouth when transferring beer? I swear i have seen a lot of post saying that "i just suck the tube". Maybe not on this forum though...

I have seen a couple of threads explaing why sucking is a horrible practice, but thought it was generally understood to be unsanitary, and unnecessary.

Even without a syphon, fill the hose with sanitized water (no rinse), let the no rinse pull the beer into the tube, let the no rinse go into a bucket or trash can,move the hose to your keg or bucket when beer runs out.

Syphoning is easy. NEVER SUCK.

Even if that wasn't the problem, it is a bad practice.

I think i finally produced a good IPA with lots of hops and dryhops and no astringency.

It is probably the Star-San and auto-siphon which helped me solve the problem.