Metallic taste

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riverme

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So recently my last 2 batches I've recently had to dump and I have a feeling one conditioning in the keg will be next. I'm trying to narrow down the issue. Of the 3 batches 2 were used with stored grains and 1 the grains were purchased from a local brewery. 2 were IPA's and 1 APA. All 3 lack any hop aroma even though they were all dry hopped.

The taste have been bitter with a sharp metal taste. This last batch I filtered the water and made water adjustments to make it ideal for a hoppy apa. After 3 days of being on the keg at 10 psi I'm starting to get that same metallic flavor with no aroma.

The last 3 were brewed as a electric biab and were all kegged. I sanitize with oxiclean and starstan.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
So recently my last 2 batches I've recently had to dump and I have a feeling one conditioning in the keg will be next. I'm trying to narrow down the issue. Of the 3 batches 2 were used with stored grains and 1 the grains were purchased from a local brewery. 2 were IPA's and 1 APA. All 3 lack any hop aroma even though they were all dry hopped.

The taste have been bitter with a sharp metal taste. This last batch I filtered the water and made water adjustments to make it ideal for a hoppy apa. After 3 days of being on the keg at 10 psi I'm starting to get that same metallic flavor with no aroma.

The last 3 were brewed as a electric biab and were all kegged. I sanitize with oxiclean and starstan.

Any help would be appreciated.

I would guess tannin. but that it comes on gradualy makes me wonder if it's some exotic anarobic infection. *shrugs

--Adam Selene
 
I've gotten a metallic taste before in kegs that faded over time and read that this can occur do to the co2. I have also heard that there are two types are co2. Not sure how true this is but it's all I've got if you know that water and mash temps are good (and there were no signs of infection-or reason to believe there could be a infection).
 
I've gotten a metallic taste before in kegs that faded over time and read that this can occur do to the co2. I have also heard that there are two types are co2. Not sure how true this is but it's all I've got if you know that water and mash temps are good (and there were no signs of infection-or reason to believe there could be a infection).

I've conditioned with the same co2 where the beer did not have this flavor. But I'm running near the end of the bottle and I read on one thread that he changed the co2 and it worked for him so I might try doing the same.
 
You don't mention which hops you are using, and how fresh they were. I don't remember which hops I won't use as to me all I get is nasty metallic flavor that increases. Or, you may have something hiding down is a spot in your keg (s) that is really aggressive, and stays moist between keg fills/empties. I am just as baffled as you guys are.
 
I thought the same thing about the hops so this last batch I used different hops that were brand new. I currently have a 4th beer fermenting. I'm going to change the co2 and maybe change cleaning solutions for the keg to see if that helps.
 
The taste have been bitter with a sharp metal taste. This last batch I filtered the water and made water adjustments to make it ideal for a hoppy apa. After 3 days of being on the keg at 10 psi I'm starting to get that same metallic flavor with no aroma.

Did the sharp flavor come on gradually, or was it just that you first noticed it at 3 days in the keg? If it was always there perhaps its a sparging issues as the other poster mention...
 
It does sound like the water is at fault. If the water was filtered that would remove sediment but it would not remove
Everything in the water that could cause off flavors. I'd suggest reverse osmosis or distilled water to start with in the next batch to see if that fixes any issues.
 
Thanks for the responses. I will try a batch with distilled water next to see if that helps. How do you over sparge in case that is the problem? Is it just over crushing the grains?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Thanks for the responses. I will try a batch with distilled water next to see if that helps. How do you over sparge in case that is the problem? Is it just over crushing the grains?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Do not brew with distilled water alone.

Cut your water with 50 % distilled.

It does sound like a possible water problem. Too much iron in the water perhaps?
 
Thanks for the responses. I will try a batch with distilled water next to see if that helps. How do you over sparge in case that is the problem? Is it just over crushing the grains?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

You can get off flavors from over sparging and extracting tannins from the grain, also from too high of a sparge water temperature. I defer to others with more experience though that point to a water issue.
 
Recently (force) carbonated beer can have a slight metallic taste, or carbonic acid bite. It matures out over a week.

Could be your water or any steel parts in your brewing system that touches your wort. Cleanly scrubbed Stainless can leave a metallic taste if it's not passivated first.
 
I'm posting this with my phone so sorry if this comes out looking funky. Here is my water. The past 2 batches I've added gypsum and calcium chloride. With the last batch being 8g gypsum and 4g for calcium chloride. With the grain bill of
12lbs 2-row
1lb victory
1.25lb cyrstal 20l
.25lbs caraplis

Ca+2Mg+2Na+Cl-SO4-
1 18 5 5
Alkalinity10
pH 8





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I'm posting this with my phone so sorry if this comes out looking funky. Here is my water. The past 2 batches I've added gypsum and calcium chloride. With the last batch being 8g gypsum and 4g for calcium chloride. With the grain bill of
12lbs 2-row
1lb victory
1.25lb cyrstal 20l
.25lbs caraplis

Ca+2Mg+2Na+Cl-SO4-
1 18 5 5
Alkalinity10
pH 8





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew


Maybe you have some iron or something in the water?

I have no idea what that 2Mg, etc, means at all. You must have more than 1 ppm of calcium in the water if you added calcium chloride and calcium sulfate.

Anyway, do you have a water profile of your tap water? That's what you need to make any adjustments.
 
Okay so I looking at notes and what everyone has said I may have been over sparging? Since moving to biab the water volume has ranged from 7.25-7.6 gallons of water that has been heated from 160-164 and mashed from 150-156. I do sparge/mash out raising the temp to 168f and dunk the bag for 10 minutes while its heating. I've also noticed from looking through notes that the ph at the 30 minute mark of the mash was around 5.8.

Does this sound like something that may have cause the off flavors? If so what corrections should be made. Thanks
 
Okay so I looking at notes and what everyone has said I may have been over sparging? Since moving to biab the water volume has ranged from 7.25-7.6 gallons of water that has been heated from 160-164 and mashed from 150-156. I do sparge/mash out raising the temp to 168f and dunk the bag for 10 minutes while its heating. I've also noticed from looking through notes that the ph at the 30 minute mark of the mash was around 5.8.

Does this sound like something that may have cause the off flavors? If so what corrections should be made. Thanks

A mash pH of 5.8 is definitely higher than you want. With your water as it is, and the additions, it shouldn't be that high (depending on grainbill).

I'd suggest a brewing spreadsheet (Brewer's Friend is a free online one that is quite good) to help try to predict mash pH. You can add some lactic or phosphoric acid to your mash to keep the mash pH 5.3-5.5.

Still, that shouldn't get a "metallic" taste. That generally comes from things like metals (iron) in the water.

One thing that comes to mind is oxidation. There have been a few times when I"ve had a metallic taste in beers that used darker malts like black patent or chocolate malt that had a bit of oxidation. That definitely came across as a metallic flavor in the finish. Normally, with lighter colored beers, oxidation comes through as a "sherry" oxidized flavor but with darker grain bills I have occasionally picked up a metallic note.
 
The reason why you have a metallic taste is because you are adding metal ions (iron) when you scrub stainless steel. Not all stainless is the same, which means it does not all clean the same.

In food manufacturing, EDTA is used to remove it, otherwise rinse your keg with citric acid/water solution before you sanitize. If you wash your keg the day before (as long as it is completely dry) the iron will oxidize and you should be good to go as well.

Personally, I have some food grade EDTA that I use to remove the metallic flavor whenever it happens to me...so far 2 batches out of about 75. Iron ions dissolves in acidic solutions (wort, fermented beer) and the taste threshold is extremely low...something like 2-5 parts per million. It literally only takes about a pinch of the EDTA to remove the metal flavor instantly. Use about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon per 5 gallons.

By the way, don't let the big scientific name for EDTA to scare you...it chemically reacts with both calcium and iron to produce harmless salts.

You can research it more, or just buy the stuff for cheap on amazon. there are two different kinds, the one you need is here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VEDTEO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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