NASTY astringent taste in my first homebrew

Well the taste was there when I took it out of the fermenter and two weeks of conditioning hasn't changed that taste in the slightest Don't know what else to do with my first batch. Its drinkable, barely, but the astringent aftertaste is overpowering and nasty.

Also a hydrometer sample of my second batch is having hints of the same kind of taste. The two batches have COMPLETELy different ingredients but the the same nasty taste seems to be coming in. Don't have a clue what to do

What kind of recipes? Did you steep or mash at too high of a temperature maybe?

Both were extract only recipes and I only boiled the extract enough to kill any bugs in it.

Well, there are a couple of things that can cause an astringent taste- one is steeping grains at too high of a temperature. Sometimes, some hops can have an astringent taste. Also, if your water is very alkaline. Sometimes an infection can cause it too.

If you type out your recipes and technique, we could probably help figure it out.

What are you sanitizing with?

Water is less important in extract batches, but I agree with Yooper, it can lend the flavor you are speaking of. This happened to a friend of mine, what does your city's water profile look like?

Well it not from cooking at too high of a temp (first one wasn't even really cooked at all) and its not from hops (since both used different hops and the taste from hops is very different from this taste) and as for water I've been using bottled water. Could bottled water have this effect?

Doesn't seem likely. Did you sanitize everything well?

Recipes are:

1. two cans of muntons Imerial Stout pre-hopped liquid extract. Mixed with hot water to dissolve and them topped off bottled water and pitched with munton's dry yeast.
2. Boiled a bunch of cascade hops and then added a bunch of dme and a kilo or so of honey. Poured into fermenter and then topped off with bottled water and pitched with munton's dry yeast.

For cleaning I'm using what I think is unscented bleach (its in Korean and my Korean isn't that good). But I rinsed everything real good so it didn't have any bleach smell before I used it...

paranode said:

Doesn't seem likely. Did you sanitize everything well?

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Bleached everything good and then rinsed it until I couldn't smell any bleach.

whenever you use a sanitizer that requires you to rinse after use you'll run the risk of infection, it's rare but it is possible. try to get a sanitizer that is a no rinse product. i use star san.

Check out this link:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

Cheers.

Hmmm, don't think its infection. Definately nothing that looked even remotely like an infection.

Axegod: look at that link it says that the muck that sticks to the side of a fermenter is very bitter and can make beer bitter if it washes in. Well I did move my fermenters around a bit and picked them up to get hydrometer reading. Could that much sloshing around cause enough muck to wash off the sides to ruin a whole batch?

This may be a silly question....

When you pour your beer are you pouring everything into your glass? If you pour that sediment from the bottom of the bottle into your glass it can be pretty foul tasting....I have done it a couple times tasted awful./

NYeric said:

This may be a silly question....

When you pour your beer are you pouring everything into your glass? If you pour that sediment from the bottom of the bottle into your glass it can be pretty foul tasting....I have done it a couple times tasted awful./

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Ya, that sediment does taste awful but the thing is the ENTIRE bottle tastes EXZACTLY like the sediment on the bottom of the bottles and this taste hasn't changed a bit in two weeks. My bottles are 1.5 liter ones so if I take a sip from the top I shouldn't taste sediment, but that's exactly what I taste Maybe a whole bunch of sediment is being suspended in the beer somehow, I don't know.

What I've done is stuck all the beer in a nice cold fridge. Maybe that will make the crap settle out.

How long was it in the fermentor(s)?

How clear was the beer when you bottled?

My last beer that I brewed with honey had an off taste at first. I might call it astringent. I originally thought I may have crushed my steeping grains too finely and thus got extra tannins into the wort/beer. Now that I have been drinking from that keg for 3 weeks or so, I have come to realize that the taste of "astringency" was just green beer. The last week or so the beer's been awesome! I think beer made with honey takes some extra time to mellow out. I recommend you give this brew a few more weeks to mellow. Good luck!

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

How long was it in the fermentor(s)?

How clear was the beer when you bottled?

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Was in primary for two weeks, don't have a secondary. Wasn't clear at all beacuse it was a stout. As far as I can tell (hydrometer readings/taste) its fully fermented.

the taste of "astringency" was just green beer

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Should I do that at room temp or in the fridge? Also the one that tastes very nasty is the stout that has no honey. The honey one is still very green (it only began brewing this weekend) but it seems to be mostly fermented and same the same kind of taste, but its still very green so I have more hope for that one.

Stouts typically do need some time to condition, maybe it will mellow. In the future you might have better luck with fresh hops, DME, and liquid yeast rather than the all-in-one pre-hopped liquid stuff.

Condition at room temp in the dark.

let it sit a month and try it. it could also be the liquid prehopped extract was crap to start with.

I'd age it at a consistent temp, anywhere from 45 to 75F is probably fine but try to keep them in dark and in a place/spot that doesn't have wide temperature swings.

Next time let the beer sit longer in the primary if you have no secondary.

And I would try bulk LME or DME, fresh hops etc from a HBS (homebrew store).

Next time let the beer sit longer in the primary if you have no secondary.

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How long would you recommend. If you let it sit for too long than doesn't the lees start making the beer taste funky?

uglygoat said:

let it sit a month and try it. it could also be the liquid prehopped extract was crap to start with.

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Ya, that's what I'll do I guess.

Realistically you'd have to let it sit on the lees for like 6 months before you will have problems unless your temps go up considerably. Some on here will argue that, but most brewing professionals would agree with my statement.

I feel like three weeks is the max for a plastic fermenter. Also, I would recommend washing out the bleach with boiling water to avoid the risk of contamination.

How old is the extract?

Are you really in Seoul?
Does this affect the types of materials you can get?
I would stay away from bleach. Try to get ahold of StarSan, SaniClean, or Iodophor. Bleach is really sticky, and it's hard to remove all of it. It then interacts with all sorts of compounds in beer to produce all sorts of bad flavors, especially band-aid like chloro-phenolic compounds.

I would also stay away from canned especially pre-hopped extracts and use fresh extract and fresh hops if you can source them.

Finally, be sure to properly rehydrate your yeast before pitching. If you're dumping yeast right onto the beer they can get stressed and produce all sorts of bad flavors.

Bump of the day!

Hey Bosh, I believe I also have the same problem. My beer tastes great except for a somewhat harsh astringent~bite that just shouldn't be there. I'm wondering if it's an effect of the yeast...

Quincy - this is a very old thread - you may or may not get a response from "Bosh"

However, like the request of the original post, if you can post your recipe and your methodology, we may be able to help.

Initially, steeping grain temperature comes to mind. But other things can certainly get in the way. Add some info to your question and we'll see -

My first brew (a German Style Light) has an extremely potent and bitter aftertaste. Recent research has led me to suspect it comes from the fact that I knocked a bunch of the "krausen-ring" sludge back into the brew during fermentation.

The beer tastes great... when you can, y'know, taste it.

What do you mean by"it wasn't really cooked at all". How long are your boils? Are you doing full boils or partial and then adding water. What is yourprocess. Also how are you starting the fermentation. Are you using a starter at a low temp> 60 f or are you pitching hot?

What do you mean by"it wasn't really cooked at all". How long are your boils? Are you doing full boils or partial and then adding water. What is yourprocess. Also how are you starting the fermentation. Are you using a starter at a low temp> 60 f or are you pitching hot?

Oh boy is this ever the "bump of the day." And the sad thing is that this was "bump of the day" 5 months ago... This thread is 3 years old.

BigB said:

Oh boy is this ever the "bump of the day." And the sad thing is that this was "bump of the day" 5 months ago... This thread is 3 years old.

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Yeah, kind of strange how this thread went.

That being said, I read through the thing and I'm surprised no one asked Bosh about fermentation temps. All my beers have lost that bite ever since I can effectively control my ferm temps. Now I'm working on pitching techniques to reduce off flavors.

Right, after I posted I saw how old it was......

I have been brewing for 11 years. last year I scored an old fridge a ranco 2 stage controller a few erlenmeyer flasks and built two stir plates. the only way the beer tastes bad now is with what I have done in the mash or the recipe....even my "bad" beers people think are greeat and drink them right up. Temp control and healthy yeast definately the key. Cheers

Right, after I posted I saw how old it was......

I have been brewing for 11 years. last year I scored an old fridge a ranco 2 stage controller a few erlenmeyer flasks and built two stir plates. the only way the beer tastes bad now is with what I have done in the mash or the recipe....even my "bad" beers people think are greeat and drink them right up. Temp control and healthy yeast definately the key. Cheers

I'm also surprised that no one was more curious about decanting. Some of the biggest problems that I ran into when I was first brewing was getting foul tasting beers because of the trub getting into suspension while I was pouring. Not so much an issue with the 12 oz. bottles, but much more with the bombers because I didn't have glassware large enough to hold a full one. I would pour out a glass, drink it down a bit, and then fill it the rest of the way.

One day, I realized that any backflow into the bottom of the bottle was disturbing the trub and making my beer taste like crap. So I bought some 25 oz. mugs. Now, when I take my beer places, I usually decant it myself into growlers so people who are less experienced with home brew don't pour it out wrong and ruin the flavour of the beer.

I can't tell you how sad it makes me when I hear stories from friends who like good beer, but who have poor experiences with home brew because the person making it is not serving it properly. I'm thinking of one case in particular, where an acquaintance noted a friend of his was a home brewer, but he didn't like the flavour, he felt it was off, abrasive. I mentioned fermentation possibly being off, &c. but, on a whim, asked him how it was served. Straight from the bottle. His friend just handed him a bottle of the stuff and told him to drink it. Absolutely insane. I can't even conceive of someone who has any understanding of how the carb/bottling process works doing that, but there you go.