Plagued by Metallic Taste – Looking for Suggestions

Hi there.

I am battling a irritating metallic taste in pretty much all of my brews so far. I am on brew #6, and my most recent (Jamil's Raison de Saison) is my first all grain, and I can smell and taste a bit of it already tonight while I was checking the gravity (although it has a lot of drying out to do still and is very sweet). I have tasted this in all my previous extract and PM brews (Porter, Oatmeal Stout PM, IPA, Wit and Hef).

I am using a pair of basic stainless 20 QT brew pots for strike and sparge water and a 10 gallon stainless brew kettle from Instawares. I also use a brand new copper wort chiller (again, only for the last few brews) and I even recently switched to using Star San instead of OneStep. I have a Brita filter on my faucet and the water tastes pretty much fine out of the tap.

So, besides using a different approach to water, I have tried to eliminate the most obvious causes – sanitation, etc.

Another homebrewer in my same neighborhood is using the same water and all he does is use the 5.2 pH stabilizer, but again, before going all grain I noticed it.

So I am looking for some suggestions on what I should consider looking at next.

Could it be the pipes in the house between the supply and the faucet? Is it possible that my water can taste OK out of the tap using the Brita charcoal filter but changes during fermentation? Should I switch to spring + distilled?

I'm stumped.

Thanks in advance.

Daniel

Can you get a copy of your water report?

I suppose I could. I guess I was suspecting something in my process (pots, pipes, etc) since I know a few people in my neighborhood that are having decent results using the same water supply.

I'll give a call and request a report, though.

Thanks for replying!

You could also try brewing a batch using your friends/neighbors water and see what you get...

Other than water what is the only constant with all of your batches? It seems you changed alot of things but still have this flavor. so what has always been used? same water and what else?

Well, for the last three batches, I used the same brew kettle, which is brand new, and is stainless (has a machined metal finish), so unless the manufacturer was lying about it's construction, stainless shouldn't imparting flavors, right? Below is a pic of it.

Besides that, I can only say I did starters for each, using a basic glass growler, cleaned and sanitized, topped with aluminum foil. Did those a few days before and kept them at room temp until just before pitching.

Also, basic water info for my location are as follows:

Basic Summary:
http://www.amwater.com/files/PA_5020039_TWQ.pdf

Detailed Report:
http://www.amwater.com/files/PA_5020039_CCR.pdf

Might do your next brew with bottled spring water. Also, how do you clean your pot? I always used bar keepers friend and a sponge only used on my brew pot.

Your filter may not be taking out all the iron or manganese that is in your water. Small amounts of these can affect flavor. Can you try using bottled water or another source for your water?

I sure can try to use spring water maybe? Or should I be cutting my tap water with distilled?

Suggestions for approaches are welcomed. I am new at this...

Thanks again to everyone for the replies.

100% bottled water allows you to isolate that variable, rather than diluting the tap water.

sfrisby said:

Might do your next brew with bottled spring water. Also, how do you clean your pot? I always used bar keepers friend and a sponge only used on my brew pot.

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I clean it using some very hot water and OxyClean Versatile and a sponge, then a few good rinses and again with clean water and a sponge, and rinses again.

Go all the way to figure this out. Don't try to skimp. If you do use spring water add some gypsum to help the yeast (1/4 tsp per gallon of total water used), this is said to be a big factor in yeast health.

Thanks guys!

dpipitone said:

Also, basic water info for my location are as follows:

Basic Summary:
http://www.amwater.com/files/PA_5020039_TWQ.pdf

Detailed Report:
http://www.amwater.com/files/PA_5020039_CCR.pdf

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Neither of those reports is of much use for brewing. They are "health" reports to let people know the water is safe to drink and do not contain specific levels of important brewing ions like Calcium, Sulphate, Chloride, etc. However, one thing stands out. The total dissolved solids is ~350ppm which is a fair amount. This hints that your problem may be related to metallic ion content in your water. Metallic off-flavors would not likely be process based considering your stainless steel and glass equipment.

From "How to Brew" by Palmer:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Metallic
Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort but can also be caused by the hydrolysis of lipids in poorly stored malts. Iron and aluminum can cause metallic flavors leaching into the wort during the boil. The small amount could be considered to be nutritional if it weren't for the bad taste. Nicks and cracks ceramic coated steel pots are a common cause as are high iron levels in well water. Stainless steel pots will not contribute any metallic flavors.[/FONT] "




Getting a detailed water report with a full list of ion content should be done. Even without experiencing problems it's a important part of all grain brewing information.

I had a similar problem that surfaced when I added canned cherries to batch of Belgian Dark Strong.

The flavor was wonderful, until the metallic twang.

I suspect that the can was old, and was the source of the off-flavor. The issue resolved after racking and keg conditioning with a neutral yeast.

Please let us know how you ferment and age your beers.

Iron came to mind when I read the title. I live in iron county but surprisingly have very low iron. Send out a sample to Ward labs if you can't get the info from your municipality.

That poor little britta filter can't possibly filter well enough for brew water unless it's brand new for each batch and I still have doubts. I use three stage under sink filter, to avoid funny tastes (in my case its primarily a medicine taste from chloromine, blech!) And it's hooked up in my basement where my brewing stuff lives, so that it's only used for brewing, and I always know how much "mileage" it has on it. Anyways, trying a brew with spring water is definitely the test that will narrow down the problem. If it IS your water look into a filter like this:

http://www.waterfilters.net/Pentek-US-1500-Under-Sink-Water-Filter.html#tablist

not cheap by any means, but it'll easily filter a thousand gallons, so when compared to purchasing a thousand gallons of spring water at the store, I think it's a hell of a deal.

Is it metallic or medicinal? I was battling a medicinal flavor and the only thing I found that removed it was to crush 1 tablet of potassium metasulfide into my brewing water before I started anything. $3 for 100 tablets at the LHBS I really can't complain.

If its truly metallic, then I would boil a few gallons in your brew pot let it cool and then taste it.

Let us know!

VFib said:

Please let us know how you ferment and age your beers.

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I use a glass carboy for most, and occasionally a basic Ale pail (less often). I have tried racking to secondary, but I have opted to only do that if I have a good reason to and have done most of the batches so far using a single fermentation in the glass carboy and bottle conditioning.

McCuckerson said:

Is it metallic or medicinal? I was battling a medicinal flavor and the only thing I found that removed it was to crush 1 tablet of potassium metasulfide into my brewing water before I started anything. $3 for 100 tablets at the LHBS I really can't complain.

If its truly metallic, then I would boil a few gallons in your brew pot let it cool and then taste it.

Let us know!

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It seems to be metallic. Smells and tastes like the inside of a can.

Would boiling some plain water in the brew pot suffice?

Thanks everyone for the great responses. Great information here. I love this forum!

dpipitone said:

I use a glass carboy for most, and occasionally a basic Ale pail (less often). I have tried racking to secondary, but I have opted to only do that if I have a good reason to and have done most of the batches so far using a single fermentation in the glass carboy and bottle conditioning.



It seems to be metallic. Smells and tastes like the inside of a can.

Would boiling some plain water in the brew pot suffice?

Thanks everyone for the great responses. Great information here. I love this forum!

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Boiling won't remove iron. I live in Iron County as well, and at my house in town I have very little iron (if any) in my water. But at my cottage, the iron content in my water is very hight.

I also have hard water, with high alkalinity. In some beers using roasted/chocolate malt, I can get a metallic flavor. It seems to be the combo of high alkalinity and the dark malts that are responsible.

I'd spend the $16 and get a full brewing water report. It's worth it!

Thanks for the advice, Yooper!

So just to close the loop on this thread, is there anything anyone thinks I can do at this point to save the currently fermenting brew? (Saison)

For example, someone earlier mentioned potassium metasulfide tablets. Is there anything I can try adding into the primary to try and improve things that won't completely ruin the batch, or am I better off seeing if the yeast can clean things up?

Here's a good site with ideas for off-flavors.
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/off-flavors.html

Thanks for the link, Brewham.

Forgive me if I am being dense (which may be since I have been moving pretty fast to upgrade my equipment), but is it possible my stainless kettle is not "Passivated" (sp?) as this link suggests:

When stainless steel is cleaned without passivating the surface (oxidizing to produce a layer of protective oxide on the surface) the unprotected steel can also cause off flavors.

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Or should I continue assuming this is a water problem?

dpipitone said:

Thanks for the link, Brewham.

Forgive me if I am being dense (which may be since I have been moving pretty fast to upgrade my equipment), but is it possible my stainless kettle is not "Passivated" (sp?) as this link suggests:



Or should I continue assuming this is a water problem?

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It is not your kettle and almost certainly your water.