Soooo....
I'm getting an astringent flavor in my beers... it's bizarre and I don't know where it's coming from. Let's go down the list and try to figure out the likely culprit. Note that I am an "extract with grains" brewer.
1) Water pH. Highly unlikely the problem. I always use bottled water, usually half spring and half distilled. As an extract brewer I'm less sensitive in theory anyhow..
2) Too hot when I steep. Very doubtful, I'm pretty anal about shutting it off at 160F and letting it steep without any further heat. I.e., it'll steep from 160 down to 150 or so. I don't think I'm milling too fine because I've always milled like this and the problem is new...
3) Overhopping. Impossible. I am not a "big hops" guy. I prefer a very subtle hop character. IPAs are some of my least favorite beers, for example.
4) Infection. Doubtful, but not impossible. I use iodine, but usually rinse anyway because I don't want iodine flavors in the beer (even though in theory they should be imperceptible assuming you dose correctly). I just recently got a new wort chiller, and I was afraid it was the copper...but I cleaned it repeatedly and I soak it in iodine water before I use it each time. It's possible that the rinse is the culprit and I should move to something "no-rinse" or rinse with pre-boiled water. Dunno. I have a tap system and I was afraid that was the issue (mold in the tap or line) so I flushed iodine water through it and took it apart to clean it. Seems ok. Any thoughts?
5) Temperature in the fermenter. I'm leaning towards this as the culprit, which is fantastically annoying since I have a fancy temperature-controlled chest freezer specifically to avoid this. I usually ferment at 68F or so, but I know that the beer is often 5 degrees warmer than this. In the case of this last batch (trippel) fermentation went absolutely bonkers and I would not be surprised if it was +10F in the beer, which is way too hot. I consider this likely a culprit. But is "astringency" a common result of high fermentation temps? I don't recall ever reading that... Thoughts?
6) Nasty brown kreusen getting into the beer. Possible, as I did not connect the blowoff tube on this last batch until probably a bit later than I should have. If I'm using a plastic fermenter I would think this is avoidable by skimming it off (although this seems excessive as hell given that it should stick nicely to the sides). In a 6.5 gallon carboy the "stick" method is the only method. Thoughts?
So, I'm looking for advice. I've recently upgraded a lot of my equipment, so this "astringent" beer problem is really starting to depress me.
I'm getting an astringent flavor in my beers... it's bizarre and I don't know where it's coming from. Let's go down the list and try to figure out the likely culprit. Note that I am an "extract with grains" brewer.
1) Water pH. Highly unlikely the problem. I always use bottled water, usually half spring and half distilled. As an extract brewer I'm less sensitive in theory anyhow..
2) Too hot when I steep. Very doubtful, I'm pretty anal about shutting it off at 160F and letting it steep without any further heat. I.e., it'll steep from 160 down to 150 or so. I don't think I'm milling too fine because I've always milled like this and the problem is new...
3) Overhopping. Impossible. I am not a "big hops" guy. I prefer a very subtle hop character. IPAs are some of my least favorite beers, for example.
4) Infection. Doubtful, but not impossible. I use iodine, but usually rinse anyway because I don't want iodine flavors in the beer (even though in theory they should be imperceptible assuming you dose correctly). I just recently got a new wort chiller, and I was afraid it was the copper...but I cleaned it repeatedly and I soak it in iodine water before I use it each time. It's possible that the rinse is the culprit and I should move to something "no-rinse" or rinse with pre-boiled water. Dunno. I have a tap system and I was afraid that was the issue (mold in the tap or line) so I flushed iodine water through it and took it apart to clean it. Seems ok. Any thoughts?
5) Temperature in the fermenter. I'm leaning towards this as the culprit, which is fantastically annoying since I have a fancy temperature-controlled chest freezer specifically to avoid this. I usually ferment at 68F or so, but I know that the beer is often 5 degrees warmer than this. In the case of this last batch (trippel) fermentation went absolutely bonkers and I would not be surprised if it was +10F in the beer, which is way too hot. I consider this likely a culprit. But is "astringency" a common result of high fermentation temps? I don't recall ever reading that... Thoughts?
6) Nasty brown kreusen getting into the beer. Possible, as I did not connect the blowoff tube on this last batch until probably a bit later than I should have. If I'm using a plastic fermenter I would think this is avoidable by skimming it off (although this seems excessive as hell given that it should stick nicely to the sides). In a 6.5 gallon carboy the "stick" method is the only method. Thoughts?
So, I'm looking for advice. I've recently upgraded a lot of my equipment, so this "astringent" beer problem is really starting to depress me.