Grain Taste

[mattmuir]

Hi all. When I do AG batches i can really taste the grain that I brewed with..duh right ? I do not taste grain when I do kits. Is this just the green taste of a young beer or can you always taste the grain. I try to do 2 weeks in the primary then a week on the keg. I am sure the grain taste mellows but just can not remember.

 

[Quaker]

Can you describe you mashing and sparging process and what grains were in your recipe? When you say grain taste, is it tannic or dry tasting?

 

[mattmuir]

Og gosh no bad taste at all,,just grainy. The last batch I did was an AG from Northern Brewer, a Cream Ale. I mash in a 10 gal rubbermaid @152 for 60 min and batch sparge @170 fo a volume of 13 gal. Boil for 60, cool and pitch. I really think the taste does mellow but just cant rember. I hear of beer tasting green but dont know what that means.

 

[Quaker]

I can't say I've tasted a difference between extract and all-grain, but I've done well keeping my pipeline full and usually don't taste them very young.

 

[mattmuir]

I am guilty of rushing a beer now and then. Even a young HB tastes better than most store bought.

 

[asterix404]

I think it is a balance between malt and hops. I brewed a bock which had an IBU:GU ratio of about .25-.30. You can take the dark munich. In fact, you can only taste the dark munich. I would try increasing the hops a bit if you are worried since it seems like a mismatch but your beer is suppose to taste grainy. The fact that extract doesn't should tell you something about extract.

 

[gfinockio]

I think it is a balance between malt and hops. I brewed a bock which had an IBU:GU ratio of about .25-.30. You can take the dark munich. In fact, you can only taste the dark munich. I would try increasing the hops a bit if you are worried since it seems like a mismatch but your beer is suppose to taste grainy. The fact that extract doesn't should tell you something about extract.

What would that be, exactly?

 

[charliehorse]

First of all, there isn't a damned thing wrong with using extract. All extract is is the sugars that we get from the grains and had a lot (or all) of the water removed. That said, the "grainy" taste that you're finding may be that you're not converting all of the starches into sugar. Do you use the iodine method to verify this? I normally mash for 90 minutes just to make sure because I'm too cheap to buy Iodine.

 

[adiochiro3]

Also look at your thermometer accuracy. You may be mashing too high or low. Happened to me and I could taste the grain too (I was mashing too low).

 

[blueseamonkey]

My first AG batch was slightly grainy in the first couple of weeks in the bottle - it was a very lightly hopped, malty Scotch style ale.

Things to check are:
the age of your grain - I was using the last of a friend's stock of malt that had been sat around for a while, my own grain hadn't arrived yet.
the temperature and length of your mash - as mentioned above, not getting full conversion of all the starches might add a grainy flavour.

But if these are both ok, the grainy taste should disappear with a bit more patience. Mine vanished after a month in the bottles. 2 weeks fermenting and a week in the keg is pretty quick.