All my brews have a similar aftertaste

I have made 6 5 gal batches so far. All of them have been pre-made extract kits, either from Brewers Best or my local homebrew shop.

All but one of my batches have had a similar aftertaste. I don't think I'll be great at describing it. But its almost a creamy-ness that kinda sticks to the back of the mouth. It almost feels like a cream sticking to the mouth and kind of lingers.

Maybe this isn't a bad thing, but the fact that it is in all of my beers makes me think this shouldn't be there as it makes all my beers taste pretty similar. I wonder if the beers are over-carbed. Could this affect taste at all or leave a sticking taste?

My other hunch is that its my local water. The water tastes fine but my area is known for having EXTREMELY hard water. I have a batch in primary that I used spring water for, so I'll see if that makes a difference.

I've had this aftertaste in a cream ale, APA, and Brown Ale.

Did you add the extract on flame or off flame? There is a peculiar flavor that extract brews can develop if you add the LME on flame - the extract doesn't dissolve immediately and can over-caramelize.

Assuming, from your handle, that you are at Clemson, yes, your water sucks. Try distilled, or at least filtered (filtering kits readily available at Tri-County Ace).

While I don't remove the pot from the burner, I always turn off the stove completely while adding the LME. I always stir constantly but there has been a time or two I've noticed a little burn at the bottom of the pot when I'm done.

While I went to Clemson, I actually live in the midwest now.

Has the yeast been the same in all the batches? The other thing that comes to mind is diacetyl. At lower levels it can leave a slick taste in your mouth, higher gives you butter like flavors. What are your fermentations temps like?

I would say the slick taste is what I experience.

No, I don't think I've ever used the same yeast twice. I'm mostly using different Wyeast smack packs. The temperature varies between 68-73 degrees. I do my best to keep it constant, but I struggle, even with it in a large water-filled plastic tub.

ClemTiger0408 said:

I would say the slick taste is what I experience.

No, I don't think I've ever used the same yeast twice. I'm mostly using different Wyeast smack packs. The temperature varies between 68-73 degrees. I do my best to keep it constant, but I struggle, even with it in a large water-filled plastic tub.

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So the two reasons this occur is poor sanitation or stressed yeast. So make sure you sanitize everything on the cold side. Try to push your yeasts toward the lower end of their fermentation ranges and see if it stops.

And I'd add that you should check to make certain that you have enough yeast (use, for example, the Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator). When using liquid yeast, try making a starter. Or switch to dry yeast (Fermentis and Danstar have some very good yeasts). Underpitching stresses the yeast, too, and as 217 writes, can give off-flavors.

I am pretty obsessive when it comes to sanitation and sterilization so I don't think that's the issue.

I'll try fermenting at a lower temperature from now on.

What about over carbing and my extremely hard water? Could that not be the culprit?

Probably not. Hard waters tend to increase the bitterness of beers, and over carbination can do that as well. I bet its unhappy yeast.

Here's a list of off flavors from DRAFT magazine. Check out diecytl; http://draftmag.com/offflavors/