Astringency after several weeks

[doug293cz]

Shoots, I don't even know what an astringent flavor is. Some judges had said some of my dark beers have it to some degree.

Put a small pinch of alum on your tongue. That will give you some over the top astringency.

Brew on

 

[Sandbrew]

Passedpawn has great advice. You have to calibrate with both. But you only need a tiny bit! Just enough to cover the probe in a shot glass.

The storage solution isn't a big as a deal.

Great info.. Thanks. Planning to brew an Amber Ale this weekend, I'll be utilizing all the advice I got from here! Wish I joined this forum sooner now

 

[w8av]

Don't ever put anything into your cal solutions. Pour some out into a separate container, or a cap or something and test there. If you contaminate a cal solution yer screwed.

Here's some bulk cal solutions that I use. I cal every time I use my probe, which is a couple times a month. The calibration is good for a day - I've done stability testing on mine and while it does move around a bit, it's very small over a period of hours.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0063MWYMQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

View attachment 676891

Passedpawn is totally right. Pour small amounts of the calibration solutions into small vessels, like shot glasses, do your calibrations, then throw the solutions away. Do not reuse them or return them to the original bottles. With care the shelf life of the buffers is about one year. You can also get the sachets which are single use and may be a bit cheaper.

I also have second set of shot glass handy to rinse the probe before calibration in the pH 7.0 buffer. I then gently shake and rinse the probe in some 4.0 before placing it in the "calibration vessel" of 4.0 for the second step. You do not need 10.0 buffer for brewing calibration, a two point calibration is sufficient. Save your money.

Also get a bottle of storage solution for the probe. It is potassium chloride and is the recommended way to store the probe. Do not store it in tap water, distilled/RO water, or even buffer solution. This will shorten the life of the probe. Storage solution is cheap and a small bottle will last you a quite while since you only need enough to cover the bulb of the probe. I calibrate once a month and change the storage solution at that time. I'd rather spend a few bucks on storage solution rather than between $60-70 on a new probe sooner than I have to.

Finally remember, that with good care, you will get two maybe three years out of your probe before you have to replace it. That is the nature of the beast. I have pushed one to about 3.5 years, but that is about it. You will know when the calibration steps take way longer to complete or you get an error message on the display. The probe in my Milwaukee SM-102 is starting to show signs of maybe needing replacement. It still calibrates but it is getting slower during the 4.0 step.

Hope this helps.

 

[C-Rider]

Put a small pinch of alum on your tongue. That will give you some over the top astringency.

Brew on

LOL Googled alum yea don't think I'm gonna go buy any just for a taste. Mahalo for the though., LOL

 

[passedpawn]

LOL Googled alum yea don't think I'm gonna go buy any just for a taste. Mahalo for the though., LOL

Got a styptic pencil? Get a few licks of that. (I was into wet shaving for a couple of years, really destroyed myself regularly, self-medicated all the time with the pencil).

 

[MattGuk]

I would consider myself to have enough experience to be able to say that with my 3 different BIAB systems (1 homemade, and 2 braumeisters)and having had a 2 vessel, and now a three vessel. I am fanatical about beer quality, and I could never get a BIAB, to actually taste as good as a non. So the BIAB systems sit on my shelf.

I'm fairly new to brewing, done it for a few years, took a break now back at it.
I have done various methods for AG, from cooler mash and fly sparging, cooler mash and batch sparging and also full volume, no sparge.
Now I'm doing BIAB with no sparge.
None of my brews have differed in quality to the point I would say something isn't worth trying again.
I have had astringent flavours before, but could never nail it down to a certain method or practice.
That said, I never check my mash PH ( lazy ) nor do I treat my water other than using sodium metabisulphite , maybe my water differs throughout the year, but saying BIAB isn't worth it is ridiculous.
I used to treat my water to a point and still got astringent flavours on the odd brew, then wouldn't happen until several brews later.
Lately my BIAB batches have been more than good enough to me and friends of mine without treating water other than, like I said, for chlorine/ chloramine