Help Troubleshooting my Beer

[Dlawrence529]

I brewed my first beer (partial mash) in about 2 years. It came out with some pretty bad off-flavors (Bitter, Astringent, Grainy/Husky). I was hoping to get some help troubleshooting my process. There were definitely a few spots that didn’t go so well. Hopefully someone can help eliminate 1 or 2 of the possibilities. The recipe is a collaboration between a local brewery and home brew shop to create a clone of one of their flagship beers, so I would like to think the recipe is well thought out and balanced (not considering this as a source of the off-flavor).

Possible Sources of Error:

-Mashed at too high of temp. I tried to brew from memory and started mashing at 170 degrees instead of 150 degrees. I noticed I was wrong after 17 min and brought the temp down to 152 degrees. I mashed for 60 minutes after the temp was brought down (77 min. total mash time).

-Water/Mash pH. I used grocery store brand “natural spring water”. I didn’t check pH of the mash. I haven’t found much guidance on pH for partial mash brewing. Should I follow guidance for all-grain mash pH?

-Sparge volume/time. This is the first time I’ve sparged mash. I haven’t found much guidance on sparging for partial mash. I put my muslin bag in a metal strainer and poured 155 degree water over it until it ran clear. Would this be considered over sparging?

-Trub in fermenter. At least 50% of the trub made it into my fermenter. I’ve seen a lot of people say this isn’t an issue, but I thought I would list it anyway.

-Yeast not fully activated. My smack pack of Wyeast didn’t break. I poured the yeast and nutrient pack into the fermenter. It hit the target FG, so the yeast appears to have worked well.

-Fermentation temp a little high. My fermenter temperature ranged from 70-74 for the first week. The target range for my yeast is 60-72. I bought a cooler bag for my fermenter, but I only had it for the 2nd week in the fermenter. Temperatures were 67-70 after I got the cooler bag.

Recipe

Fementables:

5.0 lb US 2-row (Grains crushed by local homebrew shop)

1.0 lb dextrose

3.3 lb Pilsen Light LME


Specialty Grains:

0.75 lb Flaked Barley

0.75 lb Flaked Wheat

0.5 lb Flaked Oats

0.5 lb 2 Row


Hops:

0.5 oz Columbus (60 min)

0.5 oz Columbus (15 min)

1.0 oz Falconer’s Flight (Hop Stand)

1.0 oz Summit (Hop Stand)

1.0 oz Centennial (Hop Stand)

1.0 oz Falconer’s Flight (Dry Hop)

1.0 oz Centennial (Dry Hop)

1.0 oz Columbus (Dry Hop)


Yeast:

Wyeast 1272


Targets:

SRM=4

OG=1.059-1060

FG=1.012-1.013

Batch Size=5 gal


Procedure

-Heat 2.5 gal to 184 degree

-Add Specialty Grains and 5.0 lb US-2 row in muslin bag. Mashing done in brew kettle with lid. Adding heat with propane burner as needed to maintain temp

-Realize I should be mashing at 150 instead of 170. Drop temp after 17 min by adding 0.5 gal water

-Mash for 60 min at 150 degree

-Sparge grains by placing muslin bag in metal strainer. Pour approx. 2 gal of water at 155 degree until clear water comes out of muslin bag.

-Bring to boil. Add dextrose and LME.

- Boil for 60 min with hop additions

-Kill heat and add hop stand for 15 min

-Chill with copper wort chiller. Beer reached 70 degrees in 14 min.

-OG measured as 1.060 (Target 1.059-1.060)

-Transfer to 6 gallon glass carboy.

-Pitch yeast. Smack pack didn’t break. Poured yeast and nutrient pack into fermenter.

-Added dry hops after 1 week.

-Bottled after another week (2 weeks total in fermenter)

-FG measured as 1.012 (Target 1.012-1.013)


The beer has a slight alcohol taste to it. It is pretty bitter/astringent. There is a slight toasted grain aftertaste to it (Grainy/Husky?).

It seems like the obvious problem is my mash temp, but I also hit the target OG and FG.

I’d like to hear what others have to say about the sparging technique I used. I’ve read over-sparging can cause these flavors, but I’m not sure if this falls under over-sparging.

My fermentation temp was a little high. Is this high enough to cause off-flavors?

Does anyone see any other issues?

 

[chickypad]

I'm betting that your mash pH was high with that grainbill and no acid so that could be the culprit. A mash is a mash, so the same principles apply to partial mash and all grain. You might have also oversparged. It's easier to do with a partial mash since your grainbill is smaller, you probably don't want to sparge to your total boil volume.

 

[Dlawrence529]

Thanks chickypad. I did a little reading on mash pH. It looked like a lot of articles say water adjustments take your beer from "good to great". Is there something I should look for in a water profile that would cause these off-flavors? These flavors are strong enough that I think it's out of the"good to great" difference

Are there any guidelines for determining the amount of sparge water? Something like the 1.0 to 1.5 at of strike water per lb of grain. How much would you recommend?

 

[chickypad]

High pH is a cause of astringency, and with a very pale grainbill you usually need to add some acid even with low alkalinity water and we don't know what you used. See below for a basic guideline that should get you in the ballpark starting with RO water.

With fly sparging the number I see quoted is to stop before you get to about 1.010 gravity. Batch sparging would be a little safer in that regard. If you had the mash pH right to begin with and batch sparged with 2 gals of some low alkalinity water you should have been okay (dunk the bag in a bucket or second pot that has the sparge water, stir the crap out of it, then drain again). Also you don't want to use little muslim bags that have the grain all bunched up, get a big bag that will line the pot so you can stir and the whole mash is uniform.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/a-brewing-water-chemistry-primer.198460/

 

[Hayden123982]

I think over-sparking is a myth... The mash pH may be your culprit, but hard to say without checking pH. I’ve had pale malt mashes with distilled water and my measured pH was higher than I like it, but not sure it was high enough to get astringent beer (I corrected with acid malt so not sure how it would have turned out). pH meter’s aren’t too expensive if you ever want to upgrade your process. Check out the beer myths episodes on the Genus Brewing YouTube channel for some great info on the common beer myths out there

 

[Dlawrence529]

High pH is a cause of astringency, and with a very pale grainbill you usually need to add some acid even with low alkalinity water and we don't know what you used. See below for a basic guideline that should get you in the ballpark starting with RO water.

With fly sparging the number I see quoted is to stop before you get to about 1.010 gravity. Batch sparging would be a little safer in that regard. If you had the mash pH right to begin with and batch sparged with 2 gals of some low alkalinity water you should have been okay (dunk the bag in a bucket or second pot that has the sparge water, stir the crap out of it, then drain again). Also you don't want to use little muslim bags that have the grain all bunched up, get a big bag that will line the pot so you can stir and the whole mash is uniform.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/a-brewing-water-chemistry-primer.198460/

Thanks again. That link was really helpful. I also found some good info on the Bru'n Water website.

I will grab a larger bag. I also saw some info about leaving muslin bags on the bottom of the pot causing off flavors. I guess there's really high heat where the flames hit the bottom of the pot

 

[Dlawrence529]

I think over-sparking is a myth... The mash pH may be your culprit, but hard to say without checking pH. I’ve had pale malt mashes with distilled water and my measured pH was higher than I like it, but not sure it was high enough to get astringent beer (I corrected with acid malt so not sure how it would have turned out). pH meter’s aren’t too expensive if you ever want to upgrade your process. Check out the beer myths episodes on the Genus Brewing YouTube channel for some great info on the common beer myths out there

Thanks Hayden. I was hoping to avoid buying a pH meter and doing water adjustments, but I guess I'll be taking the plunge before it costs me another batch.

I really like the Genus Brewing channel. Those guys are good at making things understandable

 

[chickypad]

I will grab a larger bag. I also saw some info about leaving muslin bags on the bottom of the pot causing off flavors. I guess there's really high heat where the flames hit the bottom of the pot

I would not have the heat on with the bag in there. Use a calculator to determine your strike temp, heat the water, then add the bag and grains and stir. Wrap it up in a blanket or put it in a preheated oven and leave it.