Beer Delicious then Astringent

[J]

Brewed an all-grain 4% bitter.

Brewing and fermentation went as planned.

(All digitally timed and and temperature checked)
(Water was filtered)

Beer was racked to 3x pressure barrels and primed.

Delicious with awesome aroma from barrel 1 at 9days conditioning (this 5 gallons of beer was consumed within 3 days as it was so good).

Lack of aroma and astringent aftertaste from barrels 2&3 at 12days conditioning.

I'm told astringency normally occurs due to mash ph or temperature issues, but wouldn't the beer have been astringent in the first barrel at 9days if this was the case?

All I can think is that barrels 2&3 had an infection, but all barrels were thoroughly washed and then sanitised with no-rinse starsan. I am very careful with sanitising. I also run sanitiser through the barrel taps.

The last batch I did prior to this one was also astringent (all three barrels that time) after 14days conditioning (I didn't try that batch at 9 days). The last batch was left to condition for a further 14days as I thought that it may be just 'green', and if anything it perhaps became more astringent.

Any ideas?

It would be difficult to be more careful with my sanitising routine as the only way to achieve this would be to remove the taps, and this would quickly result in damage to all of my barrels, as the taps have to be tightened big-time if I want to stop them leaking.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Dads_Ale]

Hi James_UK

I was hoping someone else would reply to this, but hey ho here goes:

If it were me I would look at the following:

Try cleaning the PBs with a different steriliser (I use VWP)

Do a mixed batch and try bottling some.

The above may enable you to see where the 'infection' is coming from.

Have you considered wild yeast? Just thought of this cos some of the Belgian beers use wild yeast and they are quite astringent

Just a few ideas.

Cheers
Badger
The Compton Brewery

 

[J]

Hi James_UK

I was hoping someone else would reply to this, but hey ho here goes:

If it were me I would look at the following:

Try cleaning the PBs with a different steriliser (I use VWP)

Do a mixed batch and try bottling some.

The above may enable you to see where the 'infection' is coming from.

Have you considered wild yeast? Just thought of this cos some of the Belgian beers use wild yeast and they are quite astringent

Just a few ideas.

Cheers
Badger
The Compton Brewery

Thanks mate,

I think it was some sort of infection in the primary. I disassembled all equipment, washed it and did a double soak in two different sanitisers and the problem seems to have gone.

Your suggestion of wild yeast sounds probable as it matched the symptoms. Beer wasn't ruined just has a slight astringent element to the aftertaste.

I appreciate the info.

Thanks