Grain taste; not a fan

[jasonshave]

So I've done a few BIAB recipes of late and I've noticed a very grainy taste to the beer. There is no other way I can describe it other than that....and it's not great. It certainly doesn't seem right.

Could someone shed some light on why this would be?

1. Could my mash temperature be too high? I did notice it did creep up a couple of times during my mash.

2. Could someone describe the 'best' way to sparge the grains? I simply poured the water over my grain bed and gently pushed on the top of the grains to extract as much fluid as I could before ditching it and starting my boil.

3. Could it be a technique issue with how I'm milling the grain?

4. Could it be a matter of not having enough 'conditioning' time for the beer in the keg before tasting it? I have noticed some batches have a drastic change in taste even after one week of waiting in the keg.

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Is it actually 'grainy' tasting? If so, pilsner malt can be a grainy grain. But it sounds more like you're talking about 'husky' tasting grain- the flavor from the husks that is unpleasant and not bready/grainy like malt flavor.

If so, that is almost certainly related to water chemistry, especially a too-high mash pH.

What kind of water are you using? Do you add anything to the water at all? If you are using hard/alkaline water it's almost always that the mash pH is too high, and especially with BIAB if you're mashing with more water than traditional mashers would use.

 

[jasonshave]

Tap water. Pretty hard here in Edmonton Alberta. I could test pH and adjust if I knew what the ideal pH should be. Also what is the ideal water to grain ratio?

 

[madscientist451]

What is the grain bill of your last brew? What mash temp and how long?
What yeast are you using? What was the ferment temp, how long , the gravity before and after the boil and the final gravity? How long was the boil?
Is the taste grainy? Or malty? Taste like corn? Can you get someone else to taste it and put it what they say?

 

[jasonshave]

So i wanted to circle back on this one. I found that dialing back the grain crush has eliminated the off flavors (grainy, astringent). My efficiency went way down to the point where a 15lbs all-grain recipe (Kolsch) is giving me about 57% (1.048 OG) as a side effect of this though...

I also switched to spring water since our water contains a lot of chloramine (http://www.epcor.com/water/water-quality/reports-edmonton/Pages/wq-daily.aspx). Unlike chlorine, it can't be left to evaporate over time and boiling it only increases concentration (through evaporation).

It was likely I had a multi-faceted problem which I'm glad to report now is resolved! I'm back to making excellent tasting brews

 

[MindenMan]

OP, are you still getting low efficiency? It is great to hear you make great beer.

 

[RM-MN]

So i wanted to circle back on this one. I found that dialing back the grain crush has eliminated the off flavors (grainy, astringent). My efficiency went way down to the point where a 15lbs all-grain recipe (Kolsch) is giving me about 57% (1.048 OG) as a side effect of this though...

I also switched to spring water since our water contains a lot of chloramine (http://www.epcor.com/water/water-quality/reports-edmonton/Pages/wq-daily.aspx). Unlike chlorine, it can't be left to evaporate over time and boiling it only increases concentration (through evaporation).

It was likely I had a multi-faceted problem which I'm glad to report now is resolved! I'm back to making excellent tasting brews

With a coarser crush your grains will be slower to convert and give up their sugars. You might think about a 90 minute mash to accommodate them if you can maintain the mash temperature that long. You might have to start out a couple degrees warmer to account for the temperature drop.

 

[JonM]

I could test pH and adjust if I knew what the ideal pH should be.

5.3 to 5.6ish at room temp is ideal. Lighter beers are better at the low end, dark rich beers are better at the high end.

Here's a good place to start.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460

(And don't be tempted to use that 5.2 "stabilizer" stuff. It's junk.)

 

[jasonshave]

Ya, i've been doing a 90 min mash (before and after my recent changes). Changed from batch to continuous sparge system which seems to have improved conversion efficiency a bit.