Too Many Firsts...

[curlyfat]

I brewed using a pump for the first time last weekend, essentially having a manual, direct-fired RIMS.

It was also my first time using R/O water instead of my very hard tap water.

It was also my first time using fresh orange peel (a wit beer).

I snuck a sample while adding some more orange peel to the fermenter yesterday, and it has a very astringent bitterness. I thought maybe too much pith from the orange peel, but looking through other threads pictures, I don't think that's the case, there was almost no white on mine.

Here's the recipe:

5lbs Pale Malt (Weyerman)
5lbs Wheat Malt
.5oz Cascade (full boil)
.5oz Cascade (15m)
2oz fresh orange zest (5m)
.5oz cracked coriander (5m)

Step mash 112, 148, 158, 170.

WYeast 3068, harvested from recent hefeweizen.

Thoughts on where this strange bitterness is from? I've brewed a lot and never ran into this before.

 

[Got Trub?]

I'd give it a few weeks before worrying about it. I routinely sample my beer throughout the whole process and it is amazing what flavours disappear or mellow over time.

GT

 

[whatsleftofyou]

+1 to what GT said

Not sure if this is relevant to the issue, but did you *only* use R/O water with no mineral content? Might be an issue in the future...

 

[curlyfat]

Unfortunately, I brewed it for a friends wedding on the 17th. I usually turn my heffe-weizen around in 14 days, and this is just a modification of that recipe. I always sample throughout batches as well, and this is new.
I'm wondering now if maybe some of my mash got too hot and I extracted some bitterness from the grain husks...maybe there wasn't enough recirculation going on. On the other hand, it just occurred to me, why don't decoction mashes cause bitterness?
whatsleftofyou: I did use only R/O water. I used a local place that doesn't get as many minerals out as Culligan does, but it's still quite soft. I figured it would be great for a lighter beer. I guess I need to take the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" sort of attitude.

 

[EricCSU]

My wit tasted horrible until the day it was carbonated. Don't lose hope yet.

Eric

 

[ksbrain]

The purpose of RO water is that you add the minerals that you want for your water profile. Hard to say what will become of this batch. You might want to brew a second batch with your old methods just as an insurance policy for the big event.