Harsh aftertaste

[Cajunbrewer87]

Hey all. I bottled my Irish red from
Northern brewer(extract) 3 weeks ago and there is still a sharp bitterness at the finish. I did make a couple of noob mistakes like not rehydrating my yeast and not steeping the grains properly(followed NB's instructions of steeping for 20 minutes or until it reaches 170, mine didnt reach 170) I used a very soft artesian water also. If this bitterness is coming from the hops Ive heard it will mellow over time..my question is should I let it mellow in the fridge or leave it at room temp longer? It is carbonated well and has pretty good head retention. Thanks

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

And I didn't cool my wort fast at all..not sure if that effects bitterness

 

[byrone]

Did you dump all the contents in the boil kettle into the fermenter? This could be one reason. My other thought would be the water. Do you know the mineral content of the water you used? Specifically the bicarbonate level? My first two extract batches had very harsh finishes. I was using tap water which I found out later has a moderate level of bicarbonates, then I switched to spring water with a much lower level and it got much better. I also avoided dumping the trub into the fermenter after boil which helped as well. A couple things to try.

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

I accidentally poured in a tiny bit of the stuff at the bottom of the kettle but it was a very very small amount, hardly anything. I used bottled kentwood water and this is the report http://www.water.com/files/nonbrand/waterqualityreports/Artesian_Water_Quality_Report.pdf
I didnt see bicarbonate on there anywhere, but I was worried it may be the water as well. Thanks for the advice

 

[BreezyBrew]

Did you dump all the contents in the boil kettle into the fermenter? This could be one reason. My other thought would be the water. Do you know the mineral content of the water you used? Specifically the bicarbonate level? My first two extract batches had very harsh finishes. I was using tap water which I found out later has a moderate level of bicarbonates, then I switched to spring water with a much lower level and it got much better. I also avoided dumping the trub into the fermenter after boil which helped as well. A couple things to try.

It's absolutely the amout of high barcarbonate in the water.

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

Thanks, glad I know what it is now. I couldnt find bicarbonate in the water report, just so Ill know when looking for a new water source, where is it on the report and what is a good amount for brewing?

 

[byrone]

An easy fix to the water issue is to use reverse osmosis or distilled water. RO water is available at most grocery stores or you can buy large jugs of distilled water. Difference is that RO water still has some minerals still in the water and distilled should have zero.

 

[BreezyBrew]

I probably brewed around 15-20 beers with varying degrees of my tap water. I had a water report and was using Bru'in water. I really wanted to make beer with the local water source you know? In the end, any amount of tap water made my hoppy beers finish like a punch to the throat.

I kept dialing back the hops in my recipes since that's what I thought it was. Now I'm still gun shy, but my last beer had 120 theoretical IBUs, (Whirlpool hops etc.) and isn't over the top. Before if I was pushing 60 it was astringent. An important aspect of enjoying the beer is an aftertaste that I like, and when it has that, I am much happier. CHEERS!!

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

Thanks for all the help byrone, I will just use distilled next time. The only thing is I need to know how breezybrew knew that it has high bicarbonate, I keep looking at the report and cant find the word bicarbonate on it..is there another word for it?

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

Breezybrew, Yeah, I know my tap water is hard so I used the artesian..I looked at the report and it said "nd" on nearly everything so I figured it was soft enough. Guess I missed the bicarbonate somewhere or didnt do enough research. Do you use distilled water now?

 

[BreezyBrew]

I got a water report. One in August and one in Feb. You wouldn't believe the difference. One was nice brewing water and the other just kinda sucked lol. Very hard, lots of bicarbonate and TDS. Just goes to show you that they may use multiple supply sources.

 

[Cajunbrewer87]

Wow, that explains a lot lol. Well from now on with extract I'll used distilled. But I'll be making the jump to all grain pretty soon

 

[byrone]

You're welcome Cajun. Hope all this helps. Bicarbonate I don't think is listed on many water reports though I've seen some spring water labels show it but when I asked for a water report from my region listing specific items, they responded back saying that they don't test for bicabonate. BreezyBrew is right when saying that the levels change often and like him I wanted to use my tap water but didn't end well. I think that distilled is the way to go as I've read that treatment through RO can leave quite a bit of bicarbonate in the water if the source has a high level. I can't confirm this but have seen this posted on forums. When you move into all grain knowing what is in your water becomes even more critical as more things are affected by the water but that's a discussion for later.

Cheers

 

[BreezyBrew]

I think that distilled is the way to go as I've read that treatment through RO can leave quite a bit of bicarbonate in the water if the source has a high level.

I hadn't read that but makes perfect sense in my own conclusion. I've used as little as 15% tap water in my recipes and it shined through like crazy.

 

[byrone]

Really? That's crazy. Do you use distilled water now?

 

[BreezyBrew]

Yup... Sure do. I use bru'in water and build up from scratch. Takes less time then collecting it all and filtering from tap too. I also reference the Water book often as well.