Help With Same Aftertaste on Multiple Brews

I'm trying to narrow down what is causing a bad aftertaste on the beers I've been making. No matter what beer I brew, ale or lager, (Wheat, IPA, Pilsner, Bock) I'm getting the same aftertaste which overpowers the beer (as well as a similar smell for all of them). It's an astringent aftertaste that lingers in the back of your mouth, and the best way we've been able to describe it is tasting similar to how the grains smell during mash.

I'm thinking (hoping) the most likely cause is my water. I use municipal water and do not filter. The water tastes good out of the tap, so I assumed I would still be able to make decent beer with it. After all of these failed batches, I have a couple fermenting that I used filtered water for. My city water has a PH of 8.5 so I've also started looking into that to try to lower it during the mash. Could this be causing these flavors as well?

I'm just trying to actually make a beer that does not have this same smell/taste to it. Any pointers would be appreciated.

The ph of your mash could be too high, but from what I understand the ph of your water has little to do the ph of your mash. You need to find out the ion content of your water. I just got a ph meter and my ph has been too high on lighter colored mashes I've done so far, even though my water ph isn't high.

How about more detail on your recipe and methods (mash time, temps, volumes, gravities)?
Astringent frequently means over sparging or too low a mash PH, but no way to tell without more information.

pdxal said:

How about more detail on your recipe and methods (mash time, temps, volumes, gravities)?
Astringent frequently means over sparging or too low a mash PH, but no way to tell without more information.

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The one I just tasted was a Mexican Lager. Details below:

2.5 Gallon Batch:

2# Pilsner 2-Row
1.5# Flaked Corn
1# 6-Row
0.6oz Carafa II

Mash in 5.67 qt at 163.7. Mash at 152 for 75 Minutes
Batch Sparge with 2.23 Gallons 168F water.

OG of 1.051, pitched with WLP940.

It definitely sounds like a water issue.

For $26, you could get a complete water test at Ward Lab.

Are you treating for chlorine?

pdxal said:

How about more detail on your recipe and methods (mash time, temps, volumes, gravities)?
Astringent frequently means over sparging or too low a mash PH, but no way to tell without more information.

Click to expand...

Too high of a mash pH could cause it, not too low

I would also guess water profile.

Yep, misspoke, too high pH of mash with runnings/late runnings. What was the gravity of your last runnings BTW? Astringent doesn't sound like chlorophenols, though, does it?

pdxal said:

Yep, misspoke, too high pH of mash with runnings/late runnings. What was the gravity of your last runnings BTW? Astringent doesn't sound like chlorophenols, though, does it?

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I did not record the gravity of my last runnings.

I have a couple batches fermenting with filtered water, I'll see if that helps improve it. I also got some lactic acid to use on future batches to help with the Ph. Although, on the batch I just did, I entered in all the info to the Bru'n Water calculator and it came out that my mash Ph should be fine based on my grain bill. So I guess I'll see how this batch comes out and go from there.

Yooper said:

It definitely sounds like a water issue.

For $26, you could get a complete water test at Ward Lab.

Are you treating for chlorine?

Click to expand...

Boom!