Well...time to get back on the horse - Page 2

SwAMi75 · 02-27-2006, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makita

First off...Hi! I wish I had thought of looking for this kind of forum earlier. This is just what I need.

I haven't brewed anything in almost 2 years. It's sort of like those romantic comedies where the protagonists want to fall in love but they refuse to because they have been hurt too many times. I need help.

I've only made about 6 or 7 beers in my life (ales, mostly Papazian recipes), but haven't had a lot of success. One was great, one was not consumable, and the others were "drinkable" but not worth the effort to get them down.

Let's skip the two outliers and talk about the recurring problem with the others:
They all seem to be overly carbonated and have an astringent taste to them.

The carbonation is not "foamy" like beer, but more "fizzy" like cola. I have decided that, carbonation-wise, the beer is much better if it has been allowed to sit open for a few hours and I mix it around alot to release the fizz. Also, my beers tend to have very little head, and what is there goes away quickly - again, somewhat like cola.

Then there is that funny taste. I can only describe it as astringent. Very bitter, but not a good bitter. It's a bitter that you can smell and can taste at the front of the tongue. Drinkable, but not worth giving to somebody else. Even the one great beer I made had a tiny hint of this, but it was probably only noticable to me.

For now, I will intentionally leave out the details of how I made these beers because I want to see if anyone recognizes these specific characteristics rather than reacts to my procedures (which are normal as far as I can tell).

Please help. I can't go any longer without making a good beer.

Welcome to the forums! Hopefully we can figure it out and get you brewing again.....

The only questions I can come up with at the moment are: At what temp were you steeping your grains, and for how long?

What type of yeast were you using, and what were your ferment procedures/temps?

Darth Konvel · 02-27-2006, 02:08 PM

Referring back to the OP, here's my theories on the matter

Without knowing your actual procedure, I'd be willing to guess that at least part of the problem may have been from not giving the beer enough time. That is, it sounds as though you may have been bottling too soon, which can lead to overcarbination as well as possibly getting a fair amount of yeast, which can throw the taste off. Young beer also has a tendency to taste a little rough around the edges.

If you were steeping grains at too high a temperature for too long, it's also possible that you extracted tannins, which will cause astringency. The effect is often described as what would happen if you sucked on a tea bag.

Good head retention is a little harder, but it can be improved with better ingredients, or the addition of ingredients specifically for that purpose.

**david_42** · 02-27-2006, 02:26 PM

Quote:

They all seem to be overly carbonated and have an astringent taste to them.

Bacteria infections. There are a lot of different types of bateria that can cause problems, but over-carbonation, astringent taste and lack of head are common to bacteria that eat the normally non-fermentable sugars. You might also notice a vinegar smell.

I started with a BrewSack and it was VILE! I purchased a basic brewing kit, some extract and hops, sanitized everything and made a good batch. In six years, I've had four off-batches. Each time, I went back to the basics and cleaned & sanitized everything. This includes cleaning the brewing area with something like TSP.

casebrew · 02-27-2006, 04:18 PM

Boiling in an enamel pot with a chip in it can kill several batches of beer. The rust puts tooo much iron into the beer. So, I'd guess cooking it in a pot with rust stains, or an iron pot is no wueno... Aluminum or Stainless both work... rusty hose barbs also not good.

Makita · 02-27-2006, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

Sounds like an infection issue to me, for the most part.

Okay...I thought I was even overdoing the cleaning. It's possible that I was doing something wrong and didn't realize it.

I am brewing with:
Brewer's Best equipment kit - Plastic carboy for primary, glass carboy for secondary.
Ingredients - Munton's DME, Wyeast, and pellet hops, all from the local brew store.

For priming, I always add light DME. 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 cup depending on the recipe.

As for cleaning, I have used bleach or One-step, and have always assumed that rinsing with tap water was okay (bad assumtion??). For my first batch ever, I soaked the equipment and new bottles in the One-step that came with the kit. In the end, the beer didn't taste right, so the next batch I used bleach instead and the beer tasted wonderful.

However, in every subsequent batch, I used bleach and the beer was always bad. Maybe it's the way I'm using the bleach. I don't really do separate cleaning and sanitizing steps. When I'm done making a batch, I scrub out the carboys with water and a scrub brush and put them away. As for the bottles, I rinse them out after drinking and put them away.

When it's time to make a new batch, I go straight to sanitizing by soaking everything in the bath tub in bleach for about 30 min. - 1 hr. I don't really measure the bleach. I just pour it in until I can smell it in the water. Afterwards I rinse well with tap water.

I sanitize the bottles either with bleach or One-step (can't remember when I did which) and rinse with hot tap water using a Jet faucet attachment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam75

At what temp were you steeping your grains, and for how long?

Hmm...I don't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure I let the grains steep (in the muslin bag) for 15 min. I can't remember if it was a near boil or already boiling.

**Walker** · 02-27-2006, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makita

[q]At what temp were you steeping your grains, and for how long?[/q]

Hmm...I don't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure I let the grains steep (in the muslin bag) for 15 min. I can't remember if it was a near boil or already boiling.

That might be the problem with the anstrigency. The grains should not be steeped at temps over 180 degrees. Near boiling or boiling temps would extract tannins from the grain husks and give you a nasty flavor that makes your tounge 'dry up'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makita

EDIT: Oops! How do I quote here?

use [ quote=<name of quotee> ] instead of just [ q ].

-walker

Makita · 02-28-2006, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walker

That might be the problem with the anstrigency. The grains should not be steeped at temps over 180 degrees. Near boiling or boiling temps would extract tannins from the grain husks and give you a nasty flavor that makes your tounge 'dry up'.

I just found the recipe that I used for the last beer I made. The recipe was from my father-in-law, and it does say to boil the grains for 15 minutes. So, that may have been the problem.

But what about the fizziness? I wouldn't think that would be related to boiling the grains so I must have two distinct problems. I like my beer smooth and foamy, not sharp and fizzy. Yuck.