Tips for Reducing Sorghum Extract "Twang"

[kdw2pd]

Hi all,

I have a bunch of liquid sorghum extract (the Northern Brewer Maillard stuff) that I'd like to use in a couple of beers, and was looking for some additional tips and tricks for reducing the metallic "twang" that people seem to get. I've read Iglashion's "Brewing Better Extract Beers" list (http://beyondbarley.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-brewing-better-extract-beers.html) for recipe construction. Other suggestions I've read from the forum (and elsewhere):

1.) Reduce the amount of time the sorghum is boiled.
2.) Add ClarityFerm (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/how-to-reduce-or-eliminate-sorghum-twang.630042/).
3.) Adding food-safe EDTA. Did anyone ever try this?
4.) Time.

Does anyone have additional suggestions for making quick turnaround sorghum extract brews?

 

[glutarded-chris]

It has been a long time since I brewed with sorghum syrup but had some very good pale ales and amber ales.

My view is that you need to be hop forward with hops that pair well with the citrus twang of sorghum. Cascade, Amarillo and Columbus work well in my opinion. I always dry hopped. If you don't like hoppy beer, consider all grain.

My rule of thumb for sorghum based brews was (5 gallon batch):
- 1.0 lb Belgian candy syrup (syrup, not hard candy!)
- 0.5 lb 100% buckwheat honey
- 0.5 lb maltodextrin
- final gravity target of 1.060

I don't know about ClarityFerm for sorghum twang reduction, but I am skeptical. I doubt that the offending flavors that we taste are associated with the larger proteins and molecules that would be broken up and removed with ClarityFerm. I have not tried it so have no direct experience so don't know for sure. I would love it to be true but seriously doubt it.

No experience with EDTA.

Time always helps but I can never wait.

 

[kdw2pd]

Cool, I'll try Iglashion's Grapefruit IPA recipe again. Do you have any suggestions for a water profile? The recipe suggests gypsum for RO water, but I'd think CaCl to help with body, and hopefully decrease some of the sharpness from the sorghum.

The eventual goal was to do GF kettle and mixed-fermentation sours, but I don't want to make an acidic batch if that's just going to accentuate the metallic sharp flavor.

 

[brewGF]

I have brewed about a dozen batches with sorghum extract syrup. First, I fully agree with Chris's post of using a hop forward approach. Second, of the four items you listed to reduce the twang the only one I have confidence in is number 4, time. I do have one more item that that I believe is effective and that is yeast selection. I've noticed that when I use it clean yeast US- 05 it allows that twang to shine through more. When using a different yeast such as T-58 or Nottingham, my feeling is that the Twang is either reduced, or at least covered up and is not as noticeable. Overall, I think the Breiss syrup is a fantastic product and the metallic taste is not so bad, for me at least, it has not dimished my enjoyment of the resulting brew.

 

[glutarded-chris]

Good point on the yeast. Another one that I had good results with is Windsor.
The water profile is important for all grain because of the mashing, but with extracts and syrups, the conversion has already taken place. Palmer says just use good tasting water. If it tastes good to you then it will be good for your extract brew.

 

[kdw2pd]

In the month or so since I posted this initially, I ran into descriptions of BrewTan B, as described by the guys over at Brulosophy (http://brulosophy.com/2018/02/12/th...ous-beer-characteristics-exbeeriment-results/). Of particular interest is the bit about chelating iron.

Would the chelating iron effect help with the sorghum twang at all? Elsewhere on the forum, people cite the high iron concentration from the unmalted sorghum used to make the syrup as a possible source of the twang.

Being able to drink an IPA fresh, or with a reduce (<3 months) wait time would be awesome if possible.

 

[brewGF]

No clue on that but it was an interesting read and I hope to read part 2.

Just a thought, much like BrewTan, ClarityFerm also clarifies beer and improves shelf-life. If you are really interested in pursuing a possible solution, it would be an easy enough experiment to brew up a batch and split the wort into two fermentors, add ClarityFerm to one and keep the as the control. It's possible Clarityferm is a cheap and easy solution to your dilema. Username "Labatts" is pretty certain it is.

 

[Murika]

We used clarity ferm on our last brew, and it still has twang unfortunately.