Metallic taste in beer!

[Afrey1143]

Hello all! First post here, but long time reader.

I have brewed 9 batches of beer so far. Mostly different styles. From Vanilla Porter- to a Summer Ale. All of these beers have had a similar finishing taste, and that taste can be best described as Metallicy.

A lot of people on the forums seem to most often associate this problem with bacterial infections. The problem is, no signs of bacterial infections. Smell is great with the brews, no sediment layer on the top of the fermenting beer, no rings around the inside of the neck of the bottles. Of course, we cannot write off infection, but I have paid extra diligence to minimize the risk!
I thought perhaps it was due to the use of LME. Perhaps a taste of the LME or even cans it's comes in. But this theory was squashed with my first AG brew that also had a similar finishing taste.

Here's where it gets interesting. I brought all my equipment (the equipment I always use) to a friends house. To repeat a brew that he really enjoyed, "Andrew's Ale." I brought the same equipment, the same ingredients, and we brewed the same recipe. The beers came out completely different! At my house the beer was most similar to an IPA; nice bitterness up front, florals in the middle, and metallic finish... Grr...
At my friends house; much lighter in color, sweeter in taste, the earthy/piney flavors from the Northern Brewer hops were great, and no metallic after taste!
(So good we brewed it again 3days later)

So is this it?! Did I just answer my own question? There was only one variable: The water!

I know that the water in my area is very high in alkalinity, and even higher in calcium. The path my brain goes down, is that they are excessively high leading to a metallic after taste in my beer.

I know you all will help me to think outside the box here, and come up with other possible explanations and solutions!
Has anyone else expirenced this problem? What was the cause?
For anyone that has read John Palmers book on water; does he talk about metallic flavors in beer?

Thank you,
Andrew

 

[drainbamage]

I think you're on the right track: most likely the water. Are there high iron levels in your water supply?

Try doing a batch with RO water and see if you notice a change.

 

[hunter_le five]

I'm guessing it's your water.

have you tried brewing w/ RO water for comparison?

 

[Afrey1143]

Not too much iron over here. Mostly calcium. My emails to the water department were not very helpful...

What's the best way to go about it? Is Reverse Osmosis water the same as the stuff you can buy from the grocery stores?
Is that water completely free of minerals? Do you have to (or like to) add minerals back into the RO water?

 

[hunter_le five]

What's the best way to go about it? Is Reverse Osmosis water the same as the stuff you can buy from the grocery stores?
Is that water completely free of minerals? Do you have to (or like to) add minerals back into the RO water?

Grocery stores usually sell "Spring Water" and "Distilled Water", etc. Look at the labels. If it specifically says "filtered by reverse osmosis", then that is RO water.

You can brew with either, but I like to use RO water instead of "spring" so I can start with a blank slate, and so I know exactly what the content of my water is.

I start with RO water and doctor it up per this thread:

Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride dihydrate (what your LHBS sells) to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist.

Deviate from the baseline as follows:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles). Use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride and increase the sauermalz to 3%

For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): Skip the sauermalz.

For British beers: Add 1 tsp gypsum as well as 1 tsp calcium chloride

For very minerally beers (Export, Burton ale): Double the calcium chloride and the gypsum.

I start with RO water because the water in my town is VERY hard. I'm a dummy when it comes to water chemistry, but this method works for me.

 

[Afrey1143]

Thank you for the information! I'm going to try using the RO water in my next batch and I will report back with results.

 

[Afrey1143]

Hello again! So time has passed and beers have been brewed. And wonderfully iv managed to get rid of that metallic taste in my beers. I simply used half of my tap water with the other half being RO water.
I figured this way I wouldn't have to play chemist. It has diluted the metallic taste beyond the flavor threshold.
Thank you all for you help and suggestions, hope this helps people in the future!

 

[mmb]

Do you have well water or a municipal water source? From your mention of "the water department" I'd guess municipal. How do they treat the water and do you do anything to remove/mitigate the chlorine or chloramines in the water?

High alkalinity will affect mash performance and the yeast as well which is shown in your experiences with the similar recipes being drastically different. Sending a sample to Ward's might be a good idea just to see what you're starting with and then you can use any of the water calculators to get your water where you may want it to be. Or, get two test kits and send your friend's water in with your own to see what the differences are, then modify your water to match his.

https://producers.wardlab.com/BrewersKitOrder.aspx
http://wardlab.com/FeeSchedule/WardLabs_FeeSchedule_Web.pdf#page=10