Slight acidic aftertaste on all homebrews

[mabrungard]

So I can simply put a teaspoon (or whatever amount) of baking soda in the mash ? It's that simple?

I recommend that all mineral and acid additions be added to the mashing water first, since that allows you to assure that they are fully dissolved and distributed. But yes, you would just be adding a dose of baking soda to the mashing water to avoid an excessive pH drop. Of course, you do have to figure out how much is the correct amount. A tool like Bru'n Water provides guidance.

 

[PhinneyWoodBrews]

I'm pretty sure most water is treated with chlorine, or so I thought?
I thought campden tablets were used for wine and stuff like that. Never heard of it being used in beer, but I'm not that familiar with it. When do you use it, and how much do you use for a 5 gallon batch, for example?

The only version of it I can find in my brewshop is this:

http://www.bryggselv.no/products/potassiumsulfite-vinoferm-campden-100g

Here's a link explaining the use of campden to remove chlorinehttp://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water
One tablet treats about 20 gallons of water. I crush the tablets and weigh out the amount I need with a digital scale capable of weighing sub gram amounts. Cheers.

 

[cyanmonkey]

Are you doing anything to your water or checking your ph?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428767412.778794.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428767425.366554.jpg

 

[joshesmusica]

I recommend that all mineral and acid additions be added to the mashing water first, since that allows you to assure that they are fully dissolved and distributed. But yes, you would just be adding a dose of baking soda to the mashing water to avoid an excessive pH drop. Of course, you do have to figure out how much is the correct amount. A tool like Bru'n Water provides guidance.

You said my water was basically RO water, so when using the Bru'n Water spreadsheet, do you have a way to type in everything to equal RO water? I can't use the info my water report has on it, because it's not complete. But it is also in Norway. I would gladly add some baking soda to my water, if only I knew how much to add.

 

[mabrungard]

In Bru'n Water, all you have to do is select RO water as your dilution water and set the dilution to 100%. In the supporter's version, you also have to ability to do the same trick for the sparing water, but that feature isn't in the free version.

Be aware that RO water quality does vary from machine to machine, but should generally be similar.

 

[latProd]

Thanks for all the good advice, it'll be exciting to see how my next batch turns out using the information I got here.

 

[joshesmusica]

In Bru'n Water, all you have to do is select RO water as your dilution water and set the dilution to 100%. In the supporter's version, you also have to ability to do the same trick for the sparing water, but that feature isn't in the free version.

Be aware that RO water quality does vary from machine to machine, but should generally be similar.

yes thanks from norway!

 

[latProd]

A tiny update on this thread, for anyone who is interested: I did some experiments, one of them being adding a flat teaspoon of baking soda, and miraculously enough that did it. I can't taste any apparent off flavors in my last Black Ipa.
So I guess that is pretty good evidence that the water needed a little ph bump to avoid the aciditiy. Now it's just a smooth, bitter and mineraly aftertaste, just how I like it!
Thanks to everyone contributing in this thread!

 

[cyanmonkey]

Cheers!