BIAB and Astringency

My last all grain batch came out very astringent tasting after fermentation and I am unsure of the root cause.

Details:

-BIAB batch mashed overnight with 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain and batch sparged until I had approx. 7.25 gallons of wort.

-Mashed at 158F and did an overnight mash.

-Batch sparge with 150F water.

-I do a split boil so after boil off I end up with around 5.25 - 5.5 gallons of wort.

-All water was ran through a Brita filter and treated with 1/4 tab of Campden each, for both the mash and sparge water. My water company has their analysis below:

http://www.amwater.com/files/NJ_2004002_CCR.pdf

-The grind on the gain was very fine but not floury. The recipe was Yooper's Dogfish Head 60 clone: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-60-minute-clone-ag-extract-25709/

-Fermented at 60F using one packet of rehydrated S-04 for 3 weeks.

Questions:

Could it be that the PH levels in my water was the cause?

Would using bottled or spring water work better?

Did I possibly over sparge?

Id say you oversparged, I may be wrong but oversparging can cause that I think. Also, what temp water were you sparging with.

Arneba28 said:

Also, what temp water were you sparging with.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Batch sparge at 150F.

When I get a min I will put it in brunwater. I am almost certain it's pH.

Just curious, what is the reason for mashing overnight? I thought we only mashed for an hour to two until the starches were converted. Don't the proteins degrade at 158 in a couple of hours?

<-very new to all grain so really wanting to learn here

Well the water link you listed doesn't give good brew info. We really need calcium, magnesium and Bicarbonate.

Using my numbers, you would be in pH trouble and need to add gypsum and lactic acid. Also keep in mind that a sparge has less of the acids from the washed grain that help lower the mash pH and excessive sparging will raise the pH. My Mash pH also goes up a bit over an hour. I do not think it would continue all night but I have considered limiting my mash times if not needed for conversion. Call your water company and try to get Ca, Mg, and bicarbonate as HCO3 or CaCO3. Then put the info in brunwater. If pH is high cut with RO or add lactic acid and or gypsum.

bigdongsr94 said:

Well the water link you listed doesn't give good brew info. We really need calcium, magnesium and Bicarbonate.

Using my numbers, you would be in pH trouble and need to add gypsum and lactic acid. Also keep in mind that a sparge has less of the acids from the washed grain that help lower the mash pH and excessive sparging will raise the pH. My Mash pH also goes up a bit over an hour. I do not think it would continue all night but I have considered limiting my mash times if not needed for conversion. Call your water company and try to get Ca, Mg, and bicarbonate as HCO3 or CaCO3. Then put the info in brunwater. If pH is high cut with RO or add lactic acid and or gypsum.

Click to expand...

Thanks really appreciate it!

charlestonsailing said:

Just curious, what is the reason for mashing overnight? I thought we only mashed for an hour to two until the starches were converted. Don't the proteins degrade at 158 in a couple of hours?

<-very new to all grain so really wanting to learn here

Click to expand...

I do it for time constraints on the weekend. I've also noticed a slight increase in efficiency. Mash in the night before, and do my boil in the morning which then frees up the rest of my day.

Theres a good thread on it here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/overnight-mash-keeping-my-cool-295579/

Very cool. Thank you for the link. I may give it a try.

Would sparging with distilled water help reduce astringency? I believe my water stats are the same as in this thread as my township is included:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/central-jersey-hard-water-good-mashing-174493/