Grainy Aftertaste

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hawkeyes

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I have brewed about 5 or 6 all grain batches using BIAB and never experienced a grainy aftertaste on any of my beers (except for a cream ale, but I don't remember if it was the exact same taste). I have recently switched to the traditional All-Grain brewing with Batch Sparging. I made 2 Blonde Ales that have a strong grainy taste and smell. One of them was aged over a month in the keg and has not improved; this one was brewed with filtered tap water. The second one I brewed with RO water. I built up the profile according to Bru n' Water with water additives and acidulated malt. At first this one only had a slight grainy taste but as gotten worse with aging.

The first one I crushed with my mill (the one with tap water) and the second one was crushed by a friend of mine that has been brewing for a while. I also paid close attention to my batch sparge, making sure I did not drop below 1.010. I have no idea what I am doing wrong but I am starting to think it's the sparging, considering I never had any issues with BIAB. I recently brewed a Saison that was crushed by the Homebrew shop. I used RO water, with water additives and acidulated malt. This one is young but unfortunately I taste that same grainy taste.

I use a voile fabric bag surrounding the braided hose in my mash tun. I do not need to vourlauf because absolutely no grains can get through the voile fabric.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is? I don't have a way to check my mash and sparge pH but the next time I brew, I am planning on doing the 'No Sparge Method'.
 
You are apparently doing what you should be to avoid tannin extraction...using RO water and acid malt. The question is if your RO water truly has the very low mineralization its supposed to have? Have you checked the water with a TDS meter? It should have less than 25 ppm TDS in most cases.

Although stopping runoff at 1.010 should be OK, I've found that the margin of error is a little too close in my brewing. I now stop my runoff at 1.012 (3 brix) and that has eliminated my tannin extraction problem. And this was when I'm using verified high quality RO water and proper acidification. So runoff final gravity is an important factor in eliminating tannin extraction.
 
I have never tested the RO water with a TDS meter. I wish I had a pH meter so I can check the pH levels of the mash and sparge.

I don’t have a refractometer to check the brix but doesn't the temperature of the wort effect the outcome on a hydrometer? My Saison got down to about 1.004 until it cooled to room temperature, then it was 1.014.

On my next brew, which is a Amber. I am going to use RO water and build the profile up with 'Amber Balanced' with acidulated malt. I plan on doing No Sparge and increase my grains by 10% - 15%. I am really hoping this will fix my issue. At least until I get a pH meter. You think this is a good idea? I really think I am extracting tannins from the sparge.
 

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