Hey folks,
I already have three all-grain batches under my belt. The problem is only, that all three did turn out a little sour. Definitely not infected, a friend of mine checked my last batch under a microscope and couldn't find any lactobacillus. Also it's not getting more sour as it ages, what from my understanding it should, if it was infected. The sour flavor doesn't really go away with aging either. It's not that it's undrinkable, but definitely more sour than a store bought beer. All my beers had a pretty high apparent degree of fermentation (ADF). They where all above 80%, last one around 84% and in addition to this, only very moderately hopped. I used US-05 with the last one. Before that I used S-04 and I will try Nottingham with my next batch. So to this point I'm thinking maybe my beers are just way too dry and I will try keeping my temperature higher during mashing next time. Though I'm not a hundred percent sure if this will help and a little scared of producing just another undesired beer.
I was thinking about my water, so here are the values:
CA = 19,7 ppm
MG = 2,7 ppm
SO = 26,9 ppm
NA = 6,5 ppm
CI = 10,5 ppm
HCO3 = 35,39 ppm -> Alkalinity = 29 ppm
From my understanding they are all fairly low. I don't know if this could be the source of the problem. Right now I'm not adding anything to my water.
Anybody some other ideas?
Thanks in advance!
I already have three all-grain batches under my belt. The problem is only, that all three did turn out a little sour. Definitely not infected, a friend of mine checked my last batch under a microscope and couldn't find any lactobacillus. Also it's not getting more sour as it ages, what from my understanding it should, if it was infected. The sour flavor doesn't really go away with aging either. It's not that it's undrinkable, but definitely more sour than a store bought beer. All my beers had a pretty high apparent degree of fermentation (ADF). They where all above 80%, last one around 84% and in addition to this, only very moderately hopped. I used US-05 with the last one. Before that I used S-04 and I will try Nottingham with my next batch. So to this point I'm thinking maybe my beers are just way too dry and I will try keeping my temperature higher during mashing next time. Though I'm not a hundred percent sure if this will help and a little scared of producing just another undesired beer.
I was thinking about my water, so here are the values:
CA = 19,7 ppm
MG = 2,7 ppm
SO = 26,9 ppm
NA = 6,5 ppm
CI = 10,5 ppm
HCO3 = 35,39 ppm -> Alkalinity = 29 ppm
From my understanding they are all fairly low. I don't know if this could be the source of the problem. Right now I'm not adding anything to my water.
Anybody some other ideas?
Thanks in advance!