Harsh bitterness

Battleaxe · Mar 15, 2016

I brewed a festival golden stag kit after crimbo and it's been in the bottle now for 6/7 weeks.

The carbing is perfect and there are no off flavours but the last few bottles have had a harsh bitterness it's almost sharp and it lasts on tongue and doesn't drink smoothly.

I've read a lot and I think it could be my water but I'm not sure apparently the sodium and sulphites are the main offender but I'm not sure if mine are high or not...

http://www.ywonline.co.uk/web/WQZ.nsf/0/5ADCB6E2D4733DF2802574FD0039049F/$file/Selby%202004%20WSZ.pdf

This is the average I don't have a propper personal report but I'm hoping someone could have a look and possibly shed some light on my problems.

mabrungard · Mar 16, 2016

That report does not include all the secondary water quality parameters that we brewers are interested in, so you can't make much assessment of the water. The most important missing info is the water's alkalinity.

Given that the calcium content was appropriately high for brewing, the alkalinity is probably also somewhat high. If you haven't been acidifying your brewing water, that would almost certainly lead to harshness in pale beers. Inquire with the water company if they have the other parameters that you'll need for brewing, or send off a sample for testing.

Covrich · Mar 16, 2016

Since you're making a kit and your earlier bottles are fine. I wouldn't be looking at water profile just yet, as long as your water is drinkable and appears to you flavourless it should be fine for kits..

What worries me is you say over time this flavour has come in.. is that right?

Battleaxe · Mar 16, 2016

Covrich said:
Since you're making a kit and your earlier bottles are fine. I wouldn't be looking at water profile just yet, as long as your water is drinkable and appears to you flavourless it should be fine for kits..

What worries me is you say over time this flavour has come in.. is that right?

I brew small batch AG I got the kit for crimbo... So my worry is that my paler ales that I have been brewing will all have an accentuated bitterness rather than a hop forward profile, hence my concern with water.

Yes it's always been quite bitter but it is a pale summer ale that's been dry hopped and does taste quite clean so there's no surprises there it's the finish that isn't very rounded the bitterness is almost overpowering and lingers on the tongue.

My CaCO3 is 275ppm so my water is apparently classed as very hard.

Covrich · Mar 16, 2016

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/water.php#results

Use the calculator here, you can put your mean results in from your water report to give you a guide of what water changes you need to do..

No expert on this as I have only just done this myself but have found imrpvoements

Battleaxe · Mar 16, 2016

I've been using this already, my next order from HBC will include some CRS and gypsum.

I really just wanted any thoughts on the bitterness, Ive also been looking for homebrew clubs in my area for other opinions!

MyQul · Mar 16, 2016

If it was a kit your water wouldnt really have anything to do with it

Did you dry hop it heavily? You can get a bit of astringency/bitterness from hop haze/debris.

Have you stirred the yeast sediment up when pouring into the glass? If you get a lot of yeast in suspension you can get something called yeast bite which is astringent/bitter tasting.

That the only two ways I can think of that might cause a lot of bitterness in a kit

mabrungard · Mar 25, 2016

MyQul said:
If it was a kit your water wouldnt really have anything to do with it

I very much disagree with this.

The sentiment: "If the water tastes fine, you can brew with it", is true to a degree. However the primary thing any brewer needs to contend with AND correct, is excessive alkalinity. EVEN kit brewers!

While the mashing is already done with kits, if you add water with high alkalinity, the resulting reconstituted wort will have a higher than desirable pH and that leads directly to harshness from the hopping.

Check your water alkalinity and neutralize all or most of the alkalinity with an acid addition, even when brewing kit beers. You will be much happier with the result.

Bigcol49 · Mar 25, 2016

Battleaxe said:
I brewed a festival golden stag kit after crimbo and it's been in the bottle now for 6/7 weeks.

The carbing is perfect and there are no off flavours but the last few bottles have had a harsh bitterness it's almost sharp and it lasts on tongue and doesn't drink smoothly.

I've read a lot and I think it could be my water but I'm not sure apparently the sodium and sulphites are the main offender but I'm not sure if mine are high or not...

Hi!
What made you choose your water as the cause of the harsh bitterness?
I'm new to kit brewing and totally uninterested in water composition etc (which I think is of more concern to US brewers).
I'm ready to be educated, but if the water was the problem, why didn't the early bottles have the same problem?
Perhaps that's what the mature beer is meant to taste like. As MyQul suggests, how clear was the beer - did you disturb the sediment?

MyQul · Mar 26, 2016

mabrungard said:
I very much disagree with this.

The sentiment: "If the water tastes fine, you can brew with it", is true to a degree. However the primary thing any brewer needs to contend with AND correct, is excessive alkalinity. EVEN kit brewers!

While the mashing is already done with kits, if you add water with high alkalinity, the resulting reconstituted wort will have a higher than desirable pH and that leads directly to harshness from the hopping.

Check your water alkalinity and neutralize all or most of the alkalinity with an acid addition, even when brewing kit beers. You will be much happier with the result.

Very interesting. Especially as I make a concentrated wort and dilute it in the FV. I normally make the concentrate with bottled water and also dilute with bottled water but thought that it didn't really matter if the dilution water was (low alkalinity) bottled water or my (highish alkalinty - 188ppm last time I measured it) tap water. I will definately be taking what you have said into account from now on with regard to my dilution water

Harsh bitterness

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