Damn water

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Apollo

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So, one batch quite a while ago was really nasty. It kind of had a metal off flavor to it. I just attributed it to old stale extract. The current batch I'm drinking has a very similar flavor, but not quite as bad. I knew the extract was ok since I tasted it and it was nice and sweet.

Fast forward to last night, I take a swig of plain, unfiltered tap water, and what do you know, I taste the same nastiness. I get the water for brewing from the frig which has a carbon filter (which hasn't been changed since we got the frig 5 years ago). We drink ice water from the frig all the time and not once have we noticed the nasty metal/chlorine taste.

The weird thing is I've brewed batches between the 2 nasty ones and they turned out fine. Last weekend was my first all grain brew and I'm going with all grain for now on. I know I could get some 5 gal water jugs and use that water, but I'd prefer to not have to do that. Any ideas on how to improve my water in a relatively inexpensive way?
 
So, one batch quite a while ago was really nasty. It kind of had a metal off flavor to it. I just attributed it to old stale extract. The current batch I'm drinking has a very similar flavor, but not quite as bad. I knew the extract was ok since I tasted it and it was nice and sweet.

Fast forward to last night, I take a swig of plain, unfiltered tap water, and what do you know, I taste the same nastiness. I get the water for brewing from the frig which has a carbon filter (which hasn't been changed since we got the frig 5 years ago). We drink ice water from the frig all the time and not once have we noticed the nasty metal/chlorine taste.

The weird thing is I've brewed batches between the 2 nasty ones and they turned out fine. Last weekend was my first all grain brew and I'm going with all grain for now on. I know I could get some 5 gal water jugs and use that water, but I'd prefer to not have to do that. Any ideas on how to improve my water in a relatively inexpensive way?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/attention-all-extract-brewers-harsh-bitterness-aftertaste-128731/

A few of us on here have had the same problem, this thread is good reading, I am going to use distilled water for the next few batches and see what happens. There is already enough minerals in extract to make things happen with the yeast, and the consensus is when there is too many minerals in the finished product this persistent flavor doesn't go away.

My personal hypothesis is that if your water is a constant, then depending on your recipe the amount of minerals in a given extract will change, which depending on the style of beer you are making, is why it will sometimes be very apparent and other times be minimal.
 
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