Metallic Aftertaste

[FATC1TY]

Just peeking around at ideas here..

I have an IPA that I did. New recipe I came up with, but nothing far off from what I normally do.

Hopped it with 2012 crop leaf hops.. Smelled great, fermented it with a new dry yeast I haven't used before. Fermentation temp was controlled, and the beer fermented out pretty well.. 1.076 to 1.012.

I dry hopped with 2 oz of Cascade and Citra in there.

A few things.. I use a SS pot, and glass carboys. I did install a new valve on my kettle, the "Kettle Valve". I'm assuming it's probably not completely SS, but I wouldn't imagine it would be something that would leach anything into the wort.

I racked to my kegs, which have had other beer in them that tasted perfectly fine. I tossed some water in the keg, got the junk out of it after the other IPA kicked in it, and added some star san.. Shook it around, and dumped and racked into it after purging with co2.

One thing I did do, was set the keg to 20psi in the kegerator, and then leave it for 3 days at 38*F.

I'm thinking carbonic bite perhaps? The beer doesn't taste overcarbed at all, and to top it off, my bottle ran out somewhere in the middle of that process.. when, I don't know...

I also used knox gelatin for the first time.. I forgot I ran out of irish moss when I brewed this beer, so I used gelatin in the primary when it was done fermenting out. Let it sit for a day I think it was in the cold garage.

The other thing, was I used whole cone hops the entire process. I didn't bag them, just loose in the boil. It was a PITA to drain my kettle, I used the valve, and into a funnel with a paint strainer bag that I sanitized to catch any crap coming out. I squished some of the hop cones in the kettle while tipping it.. Doubt that did anything, but tossing that out there. Tons of hop pollen in the kettle, and in the carboy.

Also- I don't check pH, which I'm sure I should be doing, but didn't. I used RO water, not tap, and in my haste, I didn't do my normal water additions, but simply tossed in a pack of Burton Salts in the mash water.

Any ideas??? It's a slight astringent flavor at the end, mainly the blood/penny taste at the very end of the sip. The nose and the flavor are great. If you drink it fast, you don't taste it, until you stop drinking and swallow.

 

[FATC1TY]

Carbonic acid bite, perhaps?

It's been in the keg, now for a week I think.. Racked it last Saturday... I think it could be over carbed, but I'm out of Co2 at the moment. Maybe it'll purge the keg and let it sit in the kegerator for another week and see.

Seem plausible?

 

[pernox]

Stupid question maybe.. Any chance that there was some residual metal dust/debris from the valve install floating around in there?

Other than that or too much iron in the water, maybe you're just picking up something in the new yeast that translates into that taste for you. Have any other people reported the same flavor profile without your telling them what to expect?

I thought I had infection issues for a few batches, but after sharing out beers with other craft beer folks who detected no off flavors, it turns out I just really don't like Nottingham yeast for whatever reason. Most people on here will tell you that it's clean and neutral - to me, beers fermented with Notty tend to taste like the schmeg that washes out of the bottom of a keg after leaving it at room temp for a couple weeks.

 

[zilch]

If you drink it fast, you don't taste it, until you stop drinking and swallow.

Just don't stop drinking

Ok... I had a similar problem with a brown ale a few months back. But I knew it was way overcarbed. If I let it sit in the glass for several minutes the metallic taste would not be as noticeable.

were the hops fresh - stored in the fridge?

Mind posting the grain bill?

 

[FATC1TY]

There were some SS shavings in the kettle, but it was washed and rinsed and cleaned out well. I used it to heat strike water, and sparge water, and then I boiled in it. It's not a stupid question though.

Too much iron, possible, but unlikely. It's RO, filtered, water from a machine. I use it for every beer that runs through my system. The water taste great, it's what I have in my water cooler at the house too.

I haven't used this yeast, so it's possible. BRY-97 west coast ale yeast. Haven't read anything like that on it yet. I also rushed this beer when making it, splashed a little IC water from the hose in there, but I have no signs of infection, and it wasn't much. It's a copper chiller so no real issues with the water/metal deal.

I did a little experiment though.. I figure it's worth a shot, and the beer is young, so I'm not tossing that out, but I've normally been able to drink my IPA's after a week mostly in the keg. This one is a bigger IPA at 8.5% ABV, but it's not a huge beer by any means. It's also not a real sweet beer. Has C10 and C20 in it, and less than .5 # or so.

So I pulled a small 8oz taster this afternoon thinking about what could have caused this. I tasted it, and sure enough, finish was metallic. So I swirled it.. it "appears" very carbed, but it doesn't taste it, but could very well be. I swirled it and allowed it to sit for 5-10 minutes and swirled it again. I let it warm, and swirled it some more.. Took a sip... it's... better... Still a slight taste there, but I'm looking for it at this point. It has a slight hop astringency to it in the finish, that dry note, but I'm okay with that..

So.. I'm wondering.. over carbed and green beer? I'm gonna give it another week or 2, and see.. I almost wanted to dump it I was so disgusted with the after taste and the outcome.

 

[FATC1TY]

Just don't stop drinking

Ok... I had a similar problem with a brown ale a few months back. But I knew it was way overcarbed. If I let it sit in the glass for several minutes the metallic taste would not be as noticeable.

were the hops fresh - stored in the fridge?

Mind posting the grain bill?

I think the over carbed could be the issue. Young and over carbed perhaps.

Hops were fresh, 2012 crop, save for the Citra, all whole leaf, and all stored frozen/fridge.

9# MO
3# Vienna
1# Munich
.5# C10
.5# C20
.75# Table Sugar

I was going to just use C20 in there at 1#, but decided last minute to try some C10.. way too light, wont do that again.

Mashed at 150.

Hopped to 75 calculated IBU's, with Magnum, Citra, Cascade, Simcoe and Amarillo. Dry hopped with Citra and Cascade.

 

[granpooba19]

I had the same problem with an India Brown Ale I brewed recently. I kegged it and it had a metallic taste for the first two weeks or so. After a 3-4 weeks it got better and didn't have the metallic taste. I think it was all due to over carbonation. Once I lowered the pressure on the regulator for a bit it got much better.

 

[FATC1TY]

Good to hear that all signs point to overcarbing.

I can't remember it having that taste before I put it in the keg, but I was drinking that night at the house with family that was in town, and remember tasting it and giving out hydro samples to check the FG before I kegged it to figure out the final ABV.

No one commented on the metallic aftertaste.

I'll report back in a week.. What the best method to move this process along? Purge the keg and let it sit?

 

[granpooba19]

I believe so...assuming its carbonated enough, I think you would set it to serving pressure, bleed the excess, wait a bit and try it out every once in a while.

 

[tmoney645]

Can't oxidation also cause a metallic taste?

 

[FATC1TY]

Can't oxidation also cause a metallic taste?

Perhaps, but it's usually a sherry or a stale cardboard taste. Not ruling it out, but can't see that as probable. It's far too young to get any of those notes, and wasn't moved at all other than lifting to my beer work table to rack to the keg.

 

[FATC1TY]

Appears that, after opening the keg, my dry hop bag that was packed with 2oz of leaf hops, had gotten heavy, and tugged on the SS hose clamp I had holding it to the PVR.

Apparently the SS hose clamp, broke somehow.. It's also apparent that it's SS, except for the screw to tighten it.

It dropped in the bottom of the keg, and turned black.

I racked the beer to another keg, got the clamp, and tasted the beer tonight a couple of hours after racking it.

Taste metallic still, not as bad, but enough to coat my mouth. I think this batch of Imperial IPA might get dumped as much as I hate to do it. Has a wonderful taste to it, but man the metallic after taste is disgusting a couple of seconds after a drink.

Just wanted to update it. I'm brewing one day this week, or this weekend. I've got 2 grain bills milled for a Citra Pale Ale, and another that is a APA/IPA depending on what I do with the hop bill, but I'll have something shortly to fill the void..


Yuck......

 

[micahhowe]

Don't dump it, you can fix it! I had exactly the same thing happen to me, SS clamp on a dry hop bag with a screw that was not SS fell into beer. Strong metallic aftertaste to the beer.

Read this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/removing-metallic-flavors-beer-using-edta-156935/. I bought some EDTA supplement capsules off of Amazon, cracked one open and dumped the powder into the keg. The metallic taste was gone almost instantly and the rest of the keg tasted great. Did some online research before adding the powder, EDTA is an FDA approved food additive that is in a lot of the foods we eat.

 

[Sark]

I had an issue with metallic aftertastes the first time I used a set of brand new kegs. I cleaned well beforehand, but each one of them still imparted a metallic flavor to the first batch. I didn't have any issues after using each of them once.

I think I recall seeing in a different thread that you recently bought a stainless hop basket. Any chance this was the first time you used it for brewing? I recently bought one, too, and given my experience with using new kegs, I plan to submerse it in a 60 minute boil of water before chancing it with wort.

 

[FATC1TY]

I had an issue with metallic aftertastes the first time I used a set of brand new kegs. I cleaned well beforehand, but each one of them still imparted a metallic flavor to the first batch. I didn't have any issues after using each of them once.

I think I recall seeing in a different thread that you recently bought a stainless hop basket. Any chance this was the first time you used it for brewing? I recently bought one, too, and given my experience with using new kegs, I plan to submerse it in a 60 minute boil of water before chancing it with wort.

I did infact buy a new SS screen for hops in the boil, but this batch I hadn't ordered it yet. Infact the very batch that prompted me to get a screen is this one.. TONS of whole cone hops in the boil and was a PITA to get into the fermenter.

I didn't do much with the screen.. washed it up with soapy water, and then dunked in sanitizer until I used it in the boil.

That batch was my Choc. Oat Porter, and it taste great.