Bitter Taste

I have brewed 5 batches, various styles (IPA, Black IPA, Stout, Amber Ale, IBA), and all 5 have had a bitter aftertaste. I brew extract, boiling 4 gallons of water, and cooling my beer to 68* before pitching yeast. When using specialty grains I mash at 155, so I don't believe it would be the tannins. I have used both tap water and distilled water and this aftertaste is still present. It does mellow some the longer I let the beer sit in the secondary or bottles, but is still present regardless. I have not been able to remedy this problem. I hope someone can help. Thanks!

Some people have a heightened sensation to "bitterness". The most easy way to tell if you are is if you find diet soda to be as sweet or sweeter than regular soda, or if it has an off flavor.

Personally, I can only drink diet dr. pepper, and find other diet drinks unbearable. In the classroom "experiment" where they have each person taste a strip of paper penetrated with some substance, I find it very bitter (while some don't taste it at all).

I am very conscious of bitterness on the back of my tongue. I have learned to recognize this and embrace it. With that said, I cannot handle the very bitter IPA's. This bitterness is very different from hop "aroma".

The fact that it fades may indicate that it is the bitterness of your early addition hops. (I have also seen some talk about having extract additions during the full boil rather than late in the boil increasing bitterness).

I will let others talk about the intricacies of causes of increased bitterness of beers but just wanted to toss my experiences out there.

HoppilyEverAfter said:

I have brewed 5 batches, various styles (IPA, Black IPA, Stout, Amber Ale, IBA), and all 5 have had a bitter aftertaste. I brew extract, boiling 4 gallons of water, and cooling my beer to 68* before pitching yeast. When using specialty grains I mash at 155, so I don't believe it would be the tannins. I have used both tap water and distilled water and this aftertaste is still present. It does mellow some the longer I let the beer sit in the secondary or bottles, but is still present regardless. I have not been able to remedy this problem. I hope someone can help. Thanks!

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Maybe I am not understanding the problem, but all of those styles would have a bitter taste to some degree. Certainly the IPA, Black IPA, and IBA would all have a pronounced bitter taste by design. Are you saying that they are more bitter than you expected, or perhaps you mean astringent rather than bitter? You mentioned that you don't think the taste is due to tannins, which are normally described as astringent rather than bitter, so perhaps that is the taste you are trying to remedy?

I am a bit confused as well. There is a big difference between hop aroma and hop bitterness which is why we add selected quantities of hops at certain intervals of the boil. There is also a huge difference between the unsweetened coco or coffee flavor of astringency and hop bitterness. If you don't like bitter beers it seems that you would brew another style or change the hop schedule to give you more of shop aroma over hop bitterness. I pride myself on my west coast IPA ringing in at 97 IBUs, but malty cloying beers are not my cup of brew.

Perhaps try brewing a low IBU beer such as an ESB, Scottish ale, or Belgian style ale and see if you get the same "bitterness."

You said the bitterness faded with a little age which is right on target with hop bitterness. Hoppy beers degrade in hop bitterness and begin to create a very complex flavor profile with age. That is why for a pale or IPA I brew for competition I make sure it's about a month and a half old by the time it will be judged or it might be knocked for low IBUs and not being balanced.

You may also want to buy a couple commercial examples of these hop monsters you are brewing and see if the same flavor exists with those as well. It may be that the style is just not something you are fond of.

Keep us posted, I'm curious to see how this turns out.

Tannins are not just extracted with high mash/sparge temps, but also with high pHs. It is possible your water is too alkaline and you are extracting more tannins than you think.

Though as others have said, is this a hop-derived bitterness? What sort of bittering additions did you do on these beers?

(and what is an IBA?)

It is certainly not that I am not fond of the hop bitterness of these styles. I have been drinking them for many years. I have also tasted the commercial versions of these beers and they do not have the taste I am trying to explain. I have around 5 bottles of the Black IPA that I brewed so I will let them sit and see if that helps. IBA=India Brown Ale. Cross between Scotch ale and IPA.

I'm leaning towards your water being an issue. As was mentioned, alkaline water can really cause a harsh bitterness.

What kind of water are you using? Any additions?

I saw a recipe one time that had gypsum in the recipe, and if someone added that without knowing their water chemistry, that could cause some of that harshness, too. That's why I ask.

I have used both City water and Distilled water and have had the aftertaste present in both.

How much water do you steep with?

4 Gallons for a 5 Gallon batch.

HoppilyEverAfter said:

4 Gallons for a 5 Gallon batch.

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It's possible (but not all that likely) that you're getting a bit of a high pH with steeping grains in that much water.

Try steeping grains in 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, and then using water to top off up to your boil volume once you remove the grains.

You've never added gypsum or anything like that to the water? And the steeping temperature has never exceeded 165 degrees?

I have never added Gypsum and I have never let the water reach 165. I will try steeping with less water and see if that helps. Thanks for your input.

HoppilyEverAfter said:

I have never added Gypsum and I have never let the water reach 165. I will try steeping with less water and see if that helps. Thanks for your input.

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It's a head scratcher, that's for sure.

Using the correct amount of water in the steep/mash may help if the cause is a high pH but that's a bit of a stretch as it may not be that. The only other thing I can think of is unhealthy yeast, either underpitching or too warm fermentation temperatures, but even then it's more common to get off-flavors in combination with chlorinated water.

When you say too warm, what do you consider too warm? I cool my wort to 68* and then ferment at around 71* since that is what my house is at. I could try a fermentation in my bath at cooler temps if you think that would help.

HoppilyEverAfter said:

When you say too warm, what do you consider too warm? I cool my wort to 68* and then ferment at around 71* since that is what my house is at. I could try a fermentation in my bath at cooler temps if you think that would help.

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Yes, that's definitely too warm!

What I mean is this- fermentation itself produces heat. In an active fermentation, I've personally seen beer temperatures 10 degrees higher than ambient temperature! That means that if your room is 71 degrees, if the beer is fermenting well, it could easily be 80 degrees.

When we talk about fermentation temperature, we are talking about the beer temperature, not the ambient room temperature. I have an IPA fermenting now in my 57 degree laundry room, and the stick-on thermometer reads 64 degrees. You really want to have the beer temperature under 70 degrees, depending on yeast strain. If you used nottingham yeast, and the temperature hit 72 degrees, it can actually get pretty "off" tasting, like bandaids mixed with angostura bitters. Some yeast strains can handle 72-74 degrees, but most do not do well at any higher. I'd definitely do a water bath and never let the ale get above 70 degrees. 64-70 degrees works well for almost all yeast strains.

Im with ya on this one I too have done around 5 batches extract used tap and distilled and I also have a bitter taste a friend told me to let it sit longer and that might cure the problem so im going to give that a try
perhaps two months or so. as to the style of beer I have done a summer ale an american ale and a weizenbier
and a pumpkin ale and all have had the same taste the pumpkin being the least bitter and pretty much good. as for it being tannins in my beer I dont think it is as some didnt even have grains just liquid extract and I always boil without a lid.