Refining Flavor and Increasing Sustainability

[Surfmase]

Hello,

I've been generally a bid dissatisfied with the outcome of some of my beer flavors lately particularly as they age.

I've been homebrewing for 13 years now and since the last 5 years I've been using different all-grain setups. My equipment has gotten nicer, but the beers perhaps only marginally. I'm looking for some advice on overcoming this stagnation.

One thing I've noticed is that moving from San Diego to Zürich my beers dropped a notch. I think water has something to do with this, and I've been using the brewersfriend recipe builder to calculate mineral and acid additions. The other obvious factor is that only Weyermann malts are available here. I'm using a Braumeister and run single and multiple mash rests, for what its worth. My main complaint is that the flavors are muddled and flat (tasting not carbonated).

Earlier this year I acquired a uni-tank for fermenting. It's got everything and I was obviously hoping to see some signs of improvement. What I have noticed is that the beers are actually much better at bottling than for example 1 week later. I'm counter-pressure filling bottles and kegs and notice a steady decline in flavor, over 2 months and its almost unpleasant. Perhaps oxidation at bottling is my problem.

I know this is vague. I do have some things to follow up on, but maybe someone can clue me in onto something I'm overlooking. Thanks for reading.

 

[madscientist451]

My first thought is to try to hook up with other local homebrewers and get opinions on your perceived flavor problems.
Here's an article on homebrewing in Switzerland where blending of Weyermann malts to emulate British malts is briefly discussed:

https://beerandbrewing.com/VNtbJCcAACcA8fBd/article/homebrewing-in-switzerland

 

[Surfmase]

Thanks, the article is surprisingly accurate. I have made lots of connections in the small brewing community here, but have only seldom had my beer tested.... I'll take your advice on this. Actually I just entered a homebrew competition which promised to share the review from a jury of beer sommeliers, I just got the reviews and the info is pretty pathetic. Each category had a scale of 5, more like --, -, 0, +, ++ and the notes were no different than what my friends say... The only helpfull comment was on an amber that was apparently phenolic.