6 or 7 batches ago I switched to an electric brewery from my old biab setup. I guess its what you call an ebiab brewery but im not sure. Its a 50L stainless pot with 2x2200w elements in the bottom. Inside this is a custom made stainless vessel with a fine mesh bottom that holds my grain during the mash (similar to the malt pipe used in other commercial elec breweries). After the mash this vessel )is lifted up and locked in place above the level of wort for sparging to pre boil vol. I basically fill the bag with my sparge water (at 75 degrees celcius) stir and let it drain. Due to the fine mesh in the bottom of my stainless bag this takes 10 or 20 mins, and is more thorough than when I used to do it with biab.
Anyway, every single brew I have put through this setup except 1 has had a really strong and unpleasant bitterness. I think calling it astringency would be misleading but another guy on this forum picked it spot on when he said it tastes like tonic water...the flavour is very similar to that and is in different strengths in different brews.
I assume its something to do with the sparge process OR the boil. I noticed straight away that my elec boil doesnt throw hops up the sides of the pot where they get stuck and wasted, like my gas boil used to do.
My questions are...
1) has anyone else experienced this flavour and what caused it?
2) has anyone experienced a sudden increase in hop utilisation when switching to elec from gas?
3) does anyone think my sparge process could be causing the issue?
Cheers,
Anyway, every single brew I have put through this setup except 1 has had a really strong and unpleasant bitterness. I think calling it astringency would be misleading but another guy on this forum picked it spot on when he said it tastes like tonic water...the flavour is very similar to that and is in different strengths in different brews.
I assume its something to do with the sparge process OR the boil. I noticed straight away that my elec boil doesnt throw hops up the sides of the pot where they get stuck and wasted, like my gas boil used to do.
My questions are...
1) has anyone else experienced this flavour and what caused it?
2) has anyone experienced a sudden increase in hop utilisation when switching to elec from gas?
3) does anyone think my sparge process could be causing the issue?
Cheers,