Sticky mouthfeel?

[Djangotet]

Hello!

I’m a new brewer and I’ve managed to make my first beer that I’m proud of! Flavor is pretty decent, it’s a blonde ale. I’ve had issues in the past with an oily mouthfeel which I was able to avoid this time using a d-rest.

The basis for my question is that I am having another mouthfeel issue that I’ve had difficulty searching about. Basically, there is still some sweetness in the beer as expected but when I take a sip, it like my mouth itself dries out for a second. Weird example but if you’ve ever rubbed your finger against a boat under water and your finger did that slow drag thing that makes a deep noise. That’s what it feels like in my mouth when I take a sip. Any idea why im having this experience? Or is this still considered the oily mouthfeel and I fixed something else lol? Thank you very much!

 

[TheMadKing]

Hello!

I’m a new brewer and I’ve managed to make my first beer that I’m proud of! Flavor is pretty decent, it’s a blonde ale. I’ve had issues in the past with an oily mouthfeel which I was able to avoid this time using a d-rest.

The basis for my question is that I am having another mouthfeel issue that I’ve had difficulty searching about. Basically, there is still some sweetness in the beer as expected but when I take a sip, it like my mouth itself dries out for a second. Weird example but if you’ve ever rubbed your finger against a boat under water and your finger did that slow drag thing that makes a deep noise. That’s what it feels like in my mouth when I take a sip. Any idea why im having this experience? Or is this still considered the oily mouthfeel and I fixed something else lol? Thank you very much!

That sounds like astringency

It can come from hops, or grain husks at too high of a pH and temperature during sparging.

Can you describe your process?

 

[Djangotet]

That sounds like astringency

It can come from hops, or grain husks at too high of a pH and temperature during sparging.

Can you describe your process?

That’s probably true, I use BIAB. This time I used 2.5% acid malt. I have some reflectix wrapped on my kettle. I got my water about 5 degrees over mash and put my grain in. Left it at 152 for an hour, no extra heat was added. I used brewers friend to calculate everything, PH on BF was 5.3 and I didn’t dry hop. I went 60, 15, 1. BTW astringency is exactly how I would describe this, excellent word choice! I do squeeze the hell out of the grain bag but I’ve heard that shouldn’t cause astringency.

 

[Djangotet]

 

[Djangotet]

@TheMadKing oh and I don’t sparge. I mash into the full amount of water, adding the salts to the water as the water comes to temp. Then the bag of grain is removed and squeezed. Then I proceed to boil. If none of this is wrong sounding, I’m almost wondering if the brew shop added too much acid malt? The guy that was helping me messed something else up too. I usually go to a different shop. Maybe I should add acid myself to avoid that?

 

[TheMadKing]

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I assume you're doing 2.5 gallon batches?

I could see that hop schedule resulting in some slight astringency. You might have better luck using a high alpha acid hop for your 60 minute addition, like Magnum. Lower vegetable matter will result in less polyphenols which are the source of astringency.

I don't see anything about your mash that would make me think you're pulling anything from the grain husks

 

[Djangotet]

I assume you're doing 2.5 gallon batches?

I could see that hop schedule resulting in some slight astringency. You might have better luck using a high alpha acid hop for your 60 minute addition, like Magnum. Lower vegetable matter will result in less polyphenols which are the source of astringency.

I don't see anything about your mash that would make me think you're pulling anything from the grain husks

Great suggestion! That’s probably what is causing this. Thankfully, in my current fermenting batch I used Columbus hops. I am switching to Magnum for everything as well but I saw some examples of Tettnanger being used this way. I think I might try adding phosphorus acid myself since I can’t mill my own grain. That acid malt needs to be accurate. The closest shop to me has some guys that are brand new to homebrewing, I don’t wanna assume badly but this beer is almost burning my stomach.

 

[TheMadKing]

@TheMadKing oh and I don’t sparge. I mash into the full amount of water, adding the salts to the water as the water comes to temp. Then the bag of grain is removed and squeezed. Then I proceed to boil. If none of this is wrong sounding, I’m almost wondering if the brew shop added too much acid malt? The guy that was helping me messed something else up too. I usually go to a different shop. Maybe I should add acid myself to avoid that?

Too much acid malt would make a distinctive clean lacto sour taste and wouldn't be astringent like sucking on a tea bag so I doubt that's the issue.

 

[Djangotet]

Too much acid malt would make a distinctive clean lacto sour taste and wouldn't be astringent like sucking on a tea bag so I doubt that's the issue.

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate that!

 

[TheMadKing]

Great suggestion! That’s probably what is causing this. Thankfully, in my current fermenting batch I used Columbus hops. I am switching to Magnum for everything as well but I saw some examples of Tettnanger being used this way. I think I might try adding phosphorus acid myself since I can’t mill my own grain. That acid malt needs to be accurate. The closest shop to me has some guys that are brand new to homebrewing, I don’t wanna assume badly but this beer is almost burning my stomach.

Whoa.. burning your stomach?! I've NEVER had a beer cause that. I have heard of some cleaning solutions causing that. Is there any chance you missed rinsing some pbw or blc out of something?

Do you have a way to check the pH of the beer?

 

[Djangotet]

Whoa.. burning your stomach?! I've NEVER had a beer cause that. I have heard of some cleaning solutions causing that. Is there any chance you missed rinsing some pbw or blc out of something?

Do you have a way to check the pH of the beer?

It’s not like painful burning, more like if you drank some really astringent tea and it had that kind of acidic feeling. I don’t think it’s dangerous but no I don’t have ph strips or anything. I definitely rinsed out my pbw. Probably gonna pour this one out. Flavor itself was decent but oh well.

 

[TheMadKing]

It’s not like painful burning, more like if you drank some really astringent tea and it had that kind of acidic feeling. I don’t think it’s dangerous but no I don’t have ph strips or anything. I definitely rinsed out my pbw.

Hmm apparently my stomach reacts differently to strong tea lol.. ok just making sure there wasn't something unsafe going on

 

[Djangotet]

Hmm apparently my stomach reacts differently to strong tea lol.. ok just making sure there wasn't something unsafe going on

Maybe I’m just weak but when I suck on a teabag it makes me feel sick. Maybe I’m sensitive to that. I can’t stand that flavor/ experience and now that you mentioned it, I am seeing it more and more.

 

[Djangotet]

Hmm apparently my stomach reacts differently to strong tea lol.. ok just making sure there wasn't something unsafe going on

Also, I’m new to brewing so I may just be having a bad reaction to brewers yeast. I know it’s something your body gets used to.

 

[Djangotet]

Hmm apparently my stomach reacts differently to strong tea lol.. ok just making sure there wasn't something unsafe going on

I think I figured it out. My regulator on my keg was broken so I think I added too much co2. Carbonic acid can be formed this way. I think my co2 problem caused this!

 

[TheMadKing]

I think I figured it out. My regulator on my keg was broken so I think I added too much co2. Carbonic acid can be formed this way. I think my co2 problem caused this!

Carbonic acid doesn't usually come across like that either. It does sound like you're extremely sensitive to certain flavors though.

Carbonic acid is usually a slightly metallic tang to my pallet, and it will fade with time.

 

[Rish]

Probably gonna pour this one out.

If you can set it aside for a few weeks (or more), it might improve. Time can often correct a problem with your beer. You can always dump it later if it doesn't get better.

 

[JRHDBrew]

Are you free pitching your hops, using a spider or bags? Hop burn is often described as sucking on a black tea bag, astringent. Time can dull it.

 

[Djangotet]

Are you free pitching your hops, using a spider or bags? Hop burn is often described as sucking on a black tea bag, astringent. Time can dull it.

So this was the first time I tried free hopping. Also, I had a catastrophic situation where I left my racking cane at the brew store. I had no choice so I poured the entire kettle into my fermentor. Maybe the combination of a low alpha hop and all that hop material in the fermentor caused this?

Now that I’ve got my racking cane, for my most recent batch I hopped loosely in the kettle and I actually put my racking cane inside of a hop spider. Shouldn’t be an issue in the future. Also moving on to using Columbus or magnum for bitterness.

 

[JRHDBrew]

So this was the first time I tried free hopping. Also, I had a catastrophic situation where I left my racking cane at the brew store. I had no choice so I poured the entire kettle into my fermentor. Maybe the combination of a low alpha hop and all that hop material in the fermentor caused this?

Now that I’ve got my racking cane, for my most recent batch I hopped loosely in the kettle and I actually put my racking cane inside of a hop spider. Shouldn’t be an issue in the future. Also moving on to using Columbus or magnum for bitterness.

Definitely possible that pouring from the boiling kettle introduced a bunch of hop particles into the fermenter and some of those beasts can stick around. Another way to help combat it is to cold crash before packaging. It can help in getting more of it to fall out of suspension as well as aid in generally clarity and such.