After reading through all the posts here, I'm going to throw my $0.02 on the side of water and mash issues. Too high a pH during mashing and sparging will extract tannins from the grain which will give you astringency, which it sounds like you might be getting. So will over-sparging. I use bottled spring water for my brews and find that I need a few ounces of acidulated malt to help keep my mash pH low enough (5.2 - 5.4), particularly with lighter beers (darker, roasted malts will help acidify the mash, so I don't tend to need the acid malt).
If you are getting the same astringency in all your beers, try checking your mash pH. Or see if adding some acid malt helps. Or try sparging less - some folks monitor the gravity of the runnings and stop sparging when the gravity drops below a certain point (I want to say 1.010, but I'm no where near certain on that).
I have a hard time blaming this particular off flavor on too high a fermentation temp. Yes, too hot a fermentation can cause off-flavors but those tend to be medicinal or phenolic or fusel alcohols or esters. Can't say I have ever heard of astringency or bitterness coming from too hot a fermentation.
This is fixable.
If you are getting the same astringency in all your beers, try checking your mash pH. Or see if adding some acid malt helps. Or try sparging less - some folks monitor the gravity of the runnings and stop sparging when the gravity drops below a certain point (I want to say 1.010, but I'm no where near certain on that).
I have a hard time blaming this particular off flavor on too high a fermentation temp. Yes, too hot a fermentation can cause off-flavors but those tend to be medicinal or phenolic or fusel alcohols or esters. Can't say I have ever heard of astringency or bitterness coming from too hot a fermentation.
This is fixable.