Moved to new house. Beer doesnt taste as good.

[jonp9576]

A few years ago I moved into a new house. A few towns over. Before I moved I was brewing some pretty decent beer. I don't know too much about it. I do extract brewing with minimal knowledge.

Since I moved, my beer just tastes off. My one buddy says it tastes like feet. This poor taste has been through at least 4 brews.

My process has been the same. Sanitation all the same. Maybe even better since I now have more dedicated space in the basement.
The fermentation temps are more stable in this house too. My old basement didn't hold temperature like this new place does. My new basement is always nice and cool.

There are two differences I can think of that could be the culprit.

The water comes from a different company. Both my old and new house have city water and they both taste good to drink unfiltered from the tap. But they do come from different companies.

I was doing full boils at my old house out on the big burner. Nice rolling boil. My new house has a big gas stove so I have been trying partial boils inside. The problem is I haven't been able to get the wort to a nice rolling boil like on the big burner. I can tell it is boiling but barely.

Which one would cause the biggest problem? Both?
My next beer I'm going to get the big burner out and also try bottled water. If it still has the same taste then I don't know what else to try.

 

[agrazela]

Well if you change both the water and the burner you won't know which one it is!

My money's on the water. Can you get reports from both? Does maybe the new place use chloramine? Do you do anything to treat for chlorine/chloramine?

Are you buying the same extract (and hops, for that matter) from the same place you used to?

 

[jonp9576]

almost all of my ingredients come exclusively from my local shop or the same online shop i always use.

maybe ill try a 1 or two gallon batch with bottled water to see if it makes a difference without wasting 5 gallons.

 

[d3track]

Most likely water or carmelization (or both). I'd try water first

 

[dyqik]

Water is by far the most likely culprit. Can you get any information from the two water companies that is useful? An annual report with pH, hardness, TDS and chlorine/chloramine levels (if you don't use Campden tablets to remove chloramine) would at least tell you if the water is significantly different. Or if you just post the two town names, there may be other brewers who have detailed water reports for those towns that would help a lot.

If you are actually in Lansdale, PA or nearby, there might be some useful information on your water in this thread. There's also an email address there to get some basic water report info from NPWA if you are in their area. The last post in the thread gives a report for Lansdale. It looks like there's some variation in chloride and sulfate levels in their area, which will make a difference to perception of maltiness vs hoppiness.

I don't think DMS (which leads to "corn" taste) is an issue with extract brewing, so the only differences I can think of with the new boil set up might be lower hop extraction and less caramelization.

A third option is that your brewing kit picked up an infection during the move - check your plastic parts for scratches on the inside etc. and replace if necessary. Packing stuff in plastic fermenter buckets for example might lead to scratches and infection.

If you can describe the nature of the change in taste at all, that might help pinpoint things.

 

[Mexibilly]

Dude I use my local Kroger RO water for extracts. My first attempts with tap water weren't that good. Tried bottled spring water, better, but still not great. Went with distilled and that made good beer.
I then got a couple of 5 gallon refillable water jugs that I fill from the RO machine. I fill one all the way up to the very top and get a couple of fresh distilled gallon jugs, total cost is like $5.
Last brew, 60 minute boil, only took the really full 5 gallon jug and 1 distilled for a full boil, no top off.

 

[jonp9576]

This is the water report from the company website from my old house. http://www.nwwater.com/images/documents/literature/2014waterqualityreport.pdf
this is the report for the company where I live now. http://northpennwater.org/uploads/wqr-main-web-2014.pdf

 

[jonp9576]

Well. Here's some new information. Both water companies use the same water treatment facility. So it's the same water I guess

 

[SpeedYellow]

Wait, are you using UNFILTERED tap water? Just because the water tastes ok does NOT mean it'll make good beer. If I use unfiltered water, my beer is ruined, guaranteed.

 

[flars]

All municipal water is treated with chlorine or chloramines. Some supplies have higher levels than others. Try RO water for your next brew to see if the quality of the beer improves. If the quality improves, brew the same beer with your tap water, but treat it with Campden.

Your problem is likely using the treated water to brew with. The "if it tastes good, it is good to brew with", is very often not true with municipal water.

 

[dyqik]

There is more chlorine residual in the latter water report, but I don't know that is enough to cause problems, and chlorine levels will vary with time anyway. Throwing a quarter of a campden tablet in per 5 gallons will eliminate that though.

Other detailed brewing water reports from the area (see link above) indicate that your water is likely good to brew with apart from the chlorine, so I'd try campden tablets first.

 

[MannyEdwards]

There's only one thing to do. Move back.

 

[imasickboy]

Just to clear up some misinformation here:

Chlorine will evaporate out of the water if you just fill your kettle the night before, and let it sit on the counter overnight.

Chloramines, however, require treatment with campden tablets. Dissolve 1 tablet in 10 gallons of water, and chloramines should definitely be broken down within minutes.

A good read can be found here: http://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water

 

[gatsby174]

I will agree, use ro/di water, especially for extract brewing! The extract already has all the minerals you need in it, tap water gives the beer a "tang".

 

[dyqik]

By the way, when I say "chlorine residual" above, I don't know if that chlorine is coming from chloramine or chlorine in the water. The water report doesn't say in the table, and I didn't read most of the text. Campden tablets will remove either kind of chlorine source, while standing over night will only remove free chlorine in the water.

I will agree, use ro/di water, especially for extract brewing! The extract already has all the minerals you need in it, tap water gives the beer a "tang".

Only tap water unsuitable for brewing will give beer a "tang", not all tap water. The NPWA water at the OP's house appears to be relatively low mineral water perfectly suitable for brewing once the chlorine/chloramine is removed.

 

[Viking4]

Are you drinking your beer from frosted mugs? If so, your beer can pick up flavors and aroma that are much like your freezer. My wife reported a "feet" taste from a beer that was tasted from a frosted glass.

 

[TheBeerGuy]

I live close to you in Allentown, PA and I would never use my tap water, even to drink, the stuff is nasty. We drink from filtered water in the house. When I brew, too much according to my wife, I always get reverse osmosis, UV treated water from Walmart or Weis Markets. I found that even in my old house, Bethlehem, PA, the water tasted great but the pipes in my house was adding something that was throwing the beer off flavors. When I was not too sure what it was I made a small batch using tap water and spring water. Made them the same way on the same burner using the same ingredients and they both were different.

A long winded answer to just tell you to try a spring water from a good source. Let me know.

 

[LandoLincoln]

The fermentation temps are more stable in this house too. My old basement didn't hold temperature like this new place does. My new basement is always nice and cool.

Your next expenditure should be a temperature-controlled chest freezer to ferment in. When I first started out I brewed at a friend's house and his basement was also always nice and cool, but our beer wasn't tasting as good as other homebrews that we tried. We purchased some of those stick-on thermometer strips and we found out that yeah...the basement wasn't keeping the beer as cold as we thought it was. A $50 chest freezer from Craigslist and a $40 homemade temp controller later and bam - our beers stayed cooler and we got a lot better taste.

But in answer to your question, yeah, it's most likely the water that's causing your problems.

 

[LandoLincoln]

It's becoming increasingly rare for municipalities to use chlorine over chloramine, since chloramine is much more stable and probably cost-effective.

Campden tablets are a godsend for either.

 

[starsman20]

I am going to disagree about it being the water although that is certainly a possibility. You specifically said it tastes like feet. If it is barely boiling then it probably isn't really boiling. Along with all the steam that comes off a good boil goes some bad flavors. My guess is feet could be one of these. I've had a few beers that I was trying to conserve gas on so just barely got them boiling. Didn't turn out well so now I be sure to have a hard roiling boil as much as possible. I think it is more noticeable in the lighter styles.

 

[vraftsman]

Using RO or distilled may help, but to really answer your question about what's changed, get the water for your next brew from your old neighbor or someone that you're positive has the same source as your old place. Doesn't necessarily fix your problem but pretty easily confirms or denies the water change being an issue.

 

[PlexVector]

I was going to get through the whole thread before saying anything, but @starsman20 beat me to it. My first thought was possibly DMS from not having a proper boil.

 

[dyqik]

I might be wrong on this, but I thought that DMS was not an issue with extract brewing, because the wort used to make the extract has already been heated to concentrate or dry it.

This is why the common procedure of adding much of the extract late in the boil is not a problem.

 

[dyqik]

Of course, hop utilization and isomerization will be way off with a very weak boil, which might give a weird taste to the final brew.

 

[PlexVector]

I might be wrong on this, but I thought that DMS was not an issue with extract brewing, because the wort used to make the extract has already been heated to concentrate or dry it.

This is why the common procedure of adding much of the extract late in the boil is not a problem.

Of course, hop utilization and isomerization will be way off with a very weak boil, which might give a weird taste to the final brew.

Good point. I seemed to had forgotten it was extract. It's been about 25 years since I've done extract. I was going by what the friend said about feet.

 

[jonp9576]

Thank you all for the insight. We get water delivered to my work so I'm gonna grab an extra jug next time and brew with it. I'm also gonna get out the big burner. I was just using my stove out of laziness. I know I should have a better boil next time.

Another thought. When I used the stove I was doing partial boils. And on my larger burner I was doing a full boil.

 

[fantomlord]

I'm in the "it's the water" camp. But, if you want to verify, I would do a batch with your burner like you did previously, and that way the only variable changed will be the water. This tell you for sure if your issue is the water because Science.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Thank you all for the insight. ...

You still never said whether your filter your tap water, whether the water has chlorine versus chloramine, or whether or not you use campden tablets.

So without even knowing the basics, we're just shooting in the dark.

 

[rmyurick]

I use city water and make good beer with it, but I pre-boil to get the chlorine out. Residual chlorine can produce a "band-aid" flavor when it combines with certain malt components. Btw, how does byte know what feet taste like?

 

[jonp9576]

You still never said whether your filter your tap water, whether the water has chlorine versus chloramine, or whether or not you use campden tablets.

So without even knowing the basics, we're just shooting in the dark.

I have never filtered the water. not at the old place or at my new place.
i dont know if its chlorine or chloramine.
i do not use campden tablets.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Uh yeah, I'm going with water then. That was easy! Water quality can be irregular -- ours sure is (lake MI). Caused havoc with my beer and coffee until I figured it out years ago.

Brewers MUST deal with the chlorine/chloramine in their water, as an absolute rule.

 

[jonp9576]

Well if you change both the water and the burner you won't know which one it is!

im going to change both because i know i should use the large burner any way. i never liked how my stove didnt boil that well and i prefer to do the full boil any way.
so i feel like im really only changing the water.

 

[soccerdad]

I would keep everything the same and sell beer to people with a foot fetish. But that's just me ...

 

[PlexVector]

Those toe jam notes are the bomb!

 

[rmyurick]

Maybe take your beer to a local homebrew club or microbrewery & have someone taste it.

 

[slym2none]

*EDIT* Thank you, mods!