Lingering Bitterness, not pleasant can't fix

[dirtyb15]

Hello all. So i have done about 15 all grain batches now, and no matter what i do, my pale ales / ipa's are all ending up with the same lingering bitterness that says on the back of my tongue forever. Some of these are clones, and others my own recipes. I have done a couple of blondes, and vienna lagers and did not have this problem. I do 8.5 gallon batches, keggle HLT, round cooler mash, and keggle kettle. I have a fermentation chamber and usually ferment around 64-65 degrees (with probe on outside of carboy.) I mash at 150 and never higher than 152. I was convinced that my water was the problem after getting a water report showing high sulphates so i installed an RO system and built the water for my last batch with 100% RO water. I thought i finally had it fixed, the first week the beer was great and i did not notice the lingering after-taste. However, I dry hopped this beer and as the taste faded, the lingering bitterness was there again so maybe it was covering it up? I also bottled half of that batch, and it tasted the same. So....not sure where to go now, what else could be causing this? I am planning on entering a competition just so i can get feedback on what it could be. (Or i can send to someone here if anyone wants to help me out ? ). My only other thought is maybe the RO did not strip enough of the sulphates out. I may try with 100% spring water next time? Any help would be greatly appreciated, getting frustrated

 

[ong]

What's your hop schedule look like? Are you always bittering with the same hop? Also, is this strictly your perception, or do others have the same complaint? Maybe it's just a matter of changing up your recipes. I'm a total hophead, but I don't do much of a bittering charge -- I love to just hammer the beer with late and whirlpool hops.

 

[dirtyb15]

Dont have my latest recipe with me, but generally i do 60, 20, 5, then a dry hop. I have been bittering only with Magnum, 20, and 5 min additions vary. (Last recipe was citra and cascade. ) IBU's should be about 32 or so

 

[ong]

That's for a pale, I take it? That sure doesn't seem like much. Can you tell if this is a hop bitterness, or more like some astringency from the grain (tannins)? What do other people say about the beer?

 

[dirtyb15]

Yes, a pale. Unfortunately most of my friends don't drink anything but light beers so I am pretty much the only one that drinks them. My brother in law said he liked the last batch i did, but not sure if i can get honest feedback from him.

I am not even sure i could tell you what astringency tastes like. I have never sucked on a tea bag. I do drink alot of pales and ipa's whenever we go out though, and none have the same aftertaste i am experiencing.

 

[ong]

If I were you, I'd try brewing a really simple SMaSH, something like 10 lbs of Maris Otter, with an oz. of Cascade at 60, another oz at 15, and 2 oz at flameout. Pitch a very clean yeast (I don't love US-05, but that one would be fine, or WLP090, or whatever), and just let it ferment out at 65-ish. I would also make sure to get new (2014) hops from a trusted source (I've had some bad hops that really screwed up a few batches before).

Sometimes it can be helpful to try to eliminate variables with issues like this.

 

[dirtyb15]

Thanks, i may try something like that. I have been using a bells yeast that i harvested, guess i could try a new vial of something.