well water brew sit for 6 months (confused)

[tommyguner03]

ok so i brewed a IPA back in December with my well water. at the time i didnt realize water chemistry was that important. and basically all tasted horrible due to the water. i decided to save one bottle for a test. i let the bottle sit at 66f until two weeks ago when i figured it is time to see if anything changes. well i cracked the bottle open today and wow it is actually really good. besides the lack of bitterness due to sitting.
can anyone explain why this is?

 

[ajdelange]

It didn't taste horrible because of the water. It tasted horrible because it wasn't allowed to age.

 

[divrguy]

ok so i brewed a IPA back in December with my well water. at the time i didnt realize water chemistry was that important. and basically all tasted horrible due to the water. i decided to save one bottle for a test. i let the bottle sit at 66f until two weeks ago when i figured it is time to see if anything changes. well i cracked the bottle open today and wow it is actually really good. besides the lack of bitterness due to sitting.

can anyone explain why this is?

It didn't taste horrible because of the water. It tasted horrible because it wasn't allowed to age.

Something else doesn't make sense. If it really was an IPA, then it would not taste better/great after 6 months assuming all things equal. Does your well water taste horrible directly from the tap? How far off is your water?


Usually an IPA has a lot of hops late in the boil with some dry hopping. If you let them sit 6 months, most of that aroma will have disappeared. An IPA would have peaked long ago and would be sliding down to just an okay beer. It really would get slightly more bland after that period not better..IMO

So, what sort of taste initially led you to believe it was horrible?


Cheers!

 

[Hello]

It didn't taste horrible because of the water. It tasted horrible because it wasn't allowed to age.

Really? I'd never let an IPA age unless it was something like DFH 120.

I think the OP says it lost its hop character but the horrible taste he had 6 months ago is gone. So I echo the question regarding what horrible taste did the OP experience 6 months ago.

 

[j1n]

Maybe the OP doesn't like IPAs and liked it much more after the hop flavor and aroma mellowed out.

 

[ajdelange]

I'd say that if it tasted horrible initially and then tasted really good after aging then aging improved it and as water doesn't age that it wasn't the water that was responsible for its initial horrible taste but rather something else. QED. And it doesn't much matter whether the OP thought he was brewing an IPA or a Barley Wine or anything else. All brews, including IPAs, improve to some extent and up to some point over time. Remember that a long sea voyage was included in the life of the traditional IPA.

Of course it would be helpful if he told us something about this water...

 

[tommyguner03]

i never had my well water tested from ward labs. from the well taste is slime hard and not easy to drink. i know that the horrible taste is from the well water. this was not my first beer that i had made from my well water. stupid rookie mistake. the taste from beer 6 months ago, pretty much like my well water with very little bitterness and smell was bad. i do enjoy a good IPA. i am just confused on why the horrible taste went away? could age really help with bad water? and sorry for no water report. i'm sure thats what you guys are looking for to help out.

 

[divrguy]

Ahhh... If the water tastes that bad from the tap....

Don't forget, the process of fermentation scrubs out a lot of the bad funk in water. After all, beer geeks hundreds/thousands of years ago made beer because their water sucked..lol

I didn't mess with my water for years. But, my water from the tap tasted great. Once I started with water chemistry my beers got even better.

Add water chemistry to your list now! And brew on!


Cheers!

 

[ajdelange]

i never had my well water tested from ward labs. from the well taste is slime hard and not easy to drink.

I assume you mean 'lime hard'. Assuming that it in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Some beers depend on a high mineral content as part of their characteristic flavor profiles.

i know that the horrible taste is from the well water. this was not my first beer that i had made from my well water. stupid rookie mistake. the taste from beer 6 months ago, pretty much like my well water with very little bitterness and smell was bad.

If the bad flavor went away over time then it is unlikely that it derives from the water because the answer to your question

..could age really help with bad water?

is "no". Water certainly has an influence on the beer made with it and very hard, very alkaline water can make bad beer but it doesn't get better over time because the hardness or alkalinity or chloride or sulfate or sodium content change with aging. The changes to the water, if any, take place in the HLT, mash tun and kettle where, for example, calcium (hardness) and alkalinity and phosphate coalesce to form insoluble salts which precipitate.

and sorry for no water report. i'm sure thats what you guys are looking for to help out.

We certainly can't offer anything more than these very general observations without a water report.

Now lets suppose that you really meant 'slime' i.e. that the water was loaded with unpleasant smelling organics/inorganics. Some of these might survive into the beer and some of them might evanesce with time. So is it slimey? Does it taste earthy? Does it smell of rotton eggs?

 

[rlmiller10]

I am guessing your water has various organics, probably leaching from the surface. It is these organics that are causing the favor of the water rather than minerals. From a health perspective you should get your water tested. It could be a shallow well or has runoff flowing directly into the well. Such water will often taste fishy, muddy or moldy. I am guessing, just like the organic compounds that are supposed to be in beer mellow over time, the organic compounds in your water also mellowed and muted.

At a minimum I would suggest running your water through a carbon filter. That will remove most of the organic tastes and odors.