Seminole Squirrel Steam Beer - nasty aftertaste

Hello all. Last night I bottled my second batch of beer - Hell's Bells Hefeweizen. Since bottling the second batch is a momentous occasion, I decided to crack open my first bottle of my very first batch: Seminole Squirrel Steam Beer (Anchor Steam clone). This is where I ran into trouble.

It looked great. First taste on the tongue was excellent, very close to Anchor Steam. Nice balance of malt and hops. Then! Then comes the nastiest aftertaste I think I've experienced in a beer. Wretched! As you can see my wife barely touched her glass.

The brew went pretty much by the book. There are only two things I can think of causing this.

1) It was bottled May 23rd. I knew I was jumping the gun a little since I planned to let it sit until June 14th before cracking a bottle. Is it just the yeast still chewing away in there?

2) I steeped the specialty grains for probably 40+ minutes since I was having trouble hitting 170 degrees. I read that could cause astringency.

What do you think experts? Just tasting it too soon? Or is there another problem here?

Thanks for the advice!

Way too soon. I'd wait a few more weeks. Patience is a virtue. In the mean time, go brew another batch and fill up the aging pipeline.

Next time don't use so much squirrel!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Nate1977 said:

Then comes the nastiest aftertaste I think I've experienced in a beer. Wretched!

2) I steeped the specialty grains for probably 40+ minutes since I was having trouble hitting 170 degrees. I read that could cause astringency.

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Well "nasty" aftertastes can come in many forms. I'm assuming you tasted an astringent or more likely a bitter aftertaste. My green beers (and that beer is pretty green) frequently have a bitter taste because the bittering hop flavors have not had a chance to mellow out. Give it time. If it is astringent rather than bitter, it might not go away so easily. Steep your specialty grains between 150 and 160 and sparge at 170. Steeping them at 170 or higher could cause some tannin extraction and astrigency.