My second batch is extremely astringent

[shattstar03]

I brewed a chocolate stout, I tasted it, I had a few friends taste and were pretty overwhelmed by it.

The aroma is great, the initial taste and mouthful is great but it leaves a horribly nasty after taste in your mouth. It taste like dirt, old coffee, feet and chocolate blended together. It was extremely astringent, like tasting something extremely bitter to the point where your mouth dries up, its a horrible finish to a otherwise great beer.

I decided to go back and recheck my techniques, maybe I over-sparged my grain bag? I didn't squeeze the bag by any means but over sparging could be a possibility, perhaps possible contamination or maybe the beer is too green? I have no clue.

The brew has been sitting in the bottles for about 5 weeks already.. Initially they were extremely bad as well but they have been getting slightly better over time.. Do some beers take longer to develop? I'm a newbie, so your thoughts will be amazing to me.

I used 1 and half ounces of centennial hops
1/2 ounce of fuggles for aroma
1/2 ounce of fuggles for finishing

 

[RM-MN]

Different beers certainly do take longer to mature. Wheat beers are supposed to mature quickly and are ready to drink perhaps in 2 weeks from adding the yeast. As one goes to darker beers and higher gravity beers the time to maturity increases. I've had a dark porter really come into its own in about 2 months, seeming to mature in that last week. Give your stout another month and I'll bet that you'll like it a lot better.

In the meanwhile, brew another beer. If you really like stouts, start another now so it will be close to ready when this one is gone.

 

[wyzazz]

Recipe? That will help us determine where that astringent flavor is coming from. And how hot was your steep? Thanks!

 

[brandonhagen1]

what temp did you ferment at anything over 75 can give it that kind of flavor but we really need more info to help alot

 

[daksin]

Yea, I would look to ferment temps, and also steeping conditions. If you steeped super hot or boiled your grains, you could get some tannins and astringency.

Recipe?

 

[helibrewer]

Astringency is caused by tannins...leaves your mouth very dry. It's different than bitterness.

Was this an extract, extract/steeping, or all grain recipe? I would look carefully at your notes for how you handled the grain (temp/high pH from dilute steeping, etc.)

 

[brewDudeSF]

Kind of along these lines, if I may ask, what temp is considered super hot? What is the hottest the water should be to steep? I've been aiming for 155-170.

 

[daksin]

Kind of along these lines, if I may ask, what temp is considered super hot? What is the hottest the water should be to steep? I've been aiming for 155-170.

Thats right where you want to be
150-160 is probably safer, though, and you'll still get all the flavor you need.

Super hot would be 180+, I guess? Boiling grains is a no-no, as I imagine you gathered.

 

[RM-MN]

As long as the water is acid even boiling the grain won't get you tannin extraction, but I would always try to keep it between 150 and 160 just to be sure. I don't have a pH meter.

 

[brewDudeSF]

Boiling grains is a no-no, as I imagine you gathered.

Yup, this much I do know

I think I was upping it (unneccessarily, but to no detriment I hope) up to 170 to take into consideration how much the water will cool (strike temp?) when adding the grain bag. I'll shoot for the lower range for my next batch.

Thanks!!

 

[helibrewer]

I start my grains in cold water on the stove top, 1.5 qts per pound of grain, I slowly raise it to 150-160 and then leave it there for 30 min. I pull the grain bage out, let it drain through a colendar over the pot. While this is going on, I warm up about 3 gallons of water in the kettle, dissolve all my extract while the temp is around 100 degrees, that way I can reach in and feel the bottom of the kettle to make sure I don't have any undissolved extract sitting on the bottom. Add the liquor from the steeping grains, crank up the heat and boil.