uglygoat

Recipes 

blend it with another beer...

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A barrel of malt, a bushel of hops, you stir it around with a stick
The kind of lubrication to make your engine tick

never argue with an idiot, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Sea

Recipes 

I added 1 cup honey boiled in two cups water to an oat stout that I had similar problems with, just dumped it right in the keg. Pretty much hid the astringency, but now it's too sweet. You, as well as I, may be SOL.

WormBoy

Recipes 

My two cents based on when this happened to me - just cellar it for a few months. If mellows over time and won't be nearly as pronounced. In my case I actually really enjoyed it after it aged. Push the bottles to the back of the beer shelves and keep brewing.

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Fermenting: My desire to brew!

MashStirBrew

Recipes 

I have had an ESB in the bottle now for about 4 months and I still can't drink it. I plan on keeping them around untill I need the bottles then dumping. Sucks but the next batch will be better.

E-Brew

Recipes 

Another thing to check is your water. If your water is too alkaline it can cause an astringent taste and a harshness with the hops. My first few batches had this taste until I started diluting. Lactic acid was never enough.

MVKTR2

Recipes 

My first batch, a fat tire clone, was good but had a off flavor. I believe this was astringency. I held my specialty grains at 154 approximatly I thought!!! on the stovetop with an electric burner. Now move forward to last Sunday night I brewed a Northern English Brown with a small partial mash (2.3lbs grain). I'm using a MLT. Anyway I couldnt' seem to get the temp high enough in the mash tun so I added a pint of 190+ degree water trying to boost the temp. Short version, I think I was getting false readings on the themometer and I added a bit too much water and raised the temp too high, extracting some tannins. Though this time I think it'll be minor... well one can hope atleast!

So my question is this what kind of thermometer are yall using? I've got a regular kitchen probe themometer. Thoughts on a digital thermometer?

Schlante,
Phillip

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"Perhaps wisdom for me is understanding how truely small I am, and that there is no smug self centered moment of clarity when there is so much more to learn" Anthony Bourdain

Bearcat Brewmeister

Recipes 

UPDATE:

I tried the gelatin and it worked well. I think it would have worked better had I gently stirred it in and had the beer not been carbonated. I read after I added it that stiring it in helps it bond electronically to the negatively charged particles before settling out (I assume the tannins are negatively charged). Still, a 1/2 teaspoon of gelatin (hydrated in 1/2 cup of water then boiled and cooled) knocked out at least half of the astringency, maybe more, even though a lot of it settled out without contacting all of the contents. I also added it to my Scottish ale which normally is crystal clear but this time had chill haze. Used 1/4 teaspoon and it worked like a charm.

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Kegged: Belgian Dark Strong, Robust Porter
Secondary: --
Primary: --
Next Up: Ryewine
Projects: Freezer Conversion (Done), HERMS (Done), Lager Fermentation Mini-fridge Extension (Done)
Drinking: Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, Fuller's 1845, Lakefront Fixed Gear, beers from SAVOR

tbone

Recipes 

[QUOTE=Bearcat Brewmeister;636092] First, it was the lowest smallest grain bill I ever used (OG - 1.039), but I sparged as if I did my normal 12+ pound grain bills, so oversparged.

Bear.Brew. - Can you detail what you mean by your comment. I do a mash out that results in getting 1/2 of my boil volume followed by two equal sparges to get the other half. Would this have to change when using a small grainbill?

EvilTOJ

Recipes 

tbone, he means he used the same amount of sparge water for 12 lbs of grain (say, about 6 gallons or so) but the grainbill was smaller. The less grain you use, the less sparge water you need. Once the SG of the runnings hits 1.005 (I think?) the sparge water starts extracting tannins from the grain.

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tbone

Recipes 

I guess that I am a bit confused. You still need to end up with 6.5 gallons or so for a 5 gallon batch. So do you sparge with less then top off to 6.5 gallons? Don't want to hijack the thread but the reason that I am asking is that I did my 8th AG with a small grain bill and had problems that I never had with a large one.