BucketHead
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- Jun 21, 2020
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Hello.. question about me using dark grains and soft water.
I have made several Stouts and Porters. I do add salts to my water for mash Calcium, etc.... all my goldens and ambers do very well.
My stout beers do well also, they are clear (although dark, I can see when I pour they are clear, transparent other than being very dark... 36 ot 44 SRM)... they tast very nice for the first month.... then they develop a slight to strong sour/acrid taste. I have been trying to determine why. First I thought I must have some bacterias or foreign material acivities due to not being able to clean the sanke kegs well enough. With time, I've eliminated that as the possible cause. I have bottled the last several batches. I notice that my last RIS, from bottles, has the same taste, although not strong enough to dump them.
This sour/acrid taste only comes from my dark beers. I then considered that one of my malts must have gotten damp or moisture in it and caused sourness to develop. I can't seem to get past this although I thought because I bottled, it would not happen.
my question then is... for someone who really knows water chemistry effects.... Is it possible that because I don't increase the hardness of my water with any salts.. ( I don't have access to Lime) ....would this be giving me the flavors I am experiencing when I all grain brew 'dark' beers?
In my last Stout, which is still in the fermenter, so I don't know how it will finish out after a month or more after bottling/kegging... I did use some Bicarbonate (baking soda).. to try and help avoid this flavor... It is not terrible, but it isn't a flavor that I want in my dark brews.
I have made several Stouts and Porters. I do add salts to my water for mash Calcium, etc.... all my goldens and ambers do very well.
My stout beers do well also, they are clear (although dark, I can see when I pour they are clear, transparent other than being very dark... 36 ot 44 SRM)... they tast very nice for the first month.... then they develop a slight to strong sour/acrid taste. I have been trying to determine why. First I thought I must have some bacterias or foreign material acivities due to not being able to clean the sanke kegs well enough. With time, I've eliminated that as the possible cause. I have bottled the last several batches. I notice that my last RIS, from bottles, has the same taste, although not strong enough to dump them.
This sour/acrid taste only comes from my dark beers. I then considered that one of my malts must have gotten damp or moisture in it and caused sourness to develop. I can't seem to get past this although I thought because I bottled, it would not happen.
my question then is... for someone who really knows water chemistry effects.... Is it possible that because I don't increase the hardness of my water with any salts.. ( I don't have access to Lime) ....would this be giving me the flavors I am experiencing when I all grain brew 'dark' beers?
In my last Stout, which is still in the fermenter, so I don't know how it will finish out after a month or more after bottling/kegging... I did use some Bicarbonate (baking soda).. to try and help avoid this flavor... It is not terrible, but it isn't a flavor that I want in my dark brews.