Cry for help

[Justin Woodwars]

Fellow brewers,
I'm a bit new to the All Grain experience. I made 23 litres of Exmoor Gold as per the Wheeler recipe. As far as I was concerned everything went well with the mash, boil etc. I put the brew into a pressure keg three weeks ago. I've just tried it for the first time and it tastes so bitter it's like liquid baking powder. What the hell went wrong?
Its the right colour and clear as a bell. The OG and the FG were pretty much bang on (as per the book). My sterilizing regime is pretty comprehensive as well but I know things can still go bad.
Any advice/ probable causes welcome.
Sorry for being so Newbie about this.

 

[Sandimas]

Hmm wish I could help - just made it for the 4th time and it's as good as ever, one of my favourite brews.

Can you describe the taste a bit more - is it a TCP-like taste?

 

[The Baron]

hi
how much hops did you use as in the book it gives values for 19 ltr 23ltr and 25ltr although I would not think it would make so much difference if you accidentally mixed them up. Could also be a high alpha crop on the year of hops you used against when the recipe was written

 

[terrym]

Isn't Wheelers book based on whole hop weights? If you used hop pellets you should have reduced the weight slightly to allow for better utilisation. And if your hops had higher %AA than Wheelers that would also make a difference.
Whatever it is it's done now so the only thing you can really do is to leave it and hope it conditions out.

 

[Justin Woodwars]

Hmm wish I could help - just made it for the 4th time and it's as good as ever, one of my favourite brews.

Can you describe the taste a bit more - is it a TCP-like taste?

Yes. It does have a medicinal sort of twang.

 

[Justin Woodwars]

Isn't Wheelers book based on whole hop weights? If you used hop pellets you should have reduced the weight slightly to allow for better utilisation. And if your hops had higher %AA than Wheelers that would also make a difference.
Whatever it is it's done now so the only thing you can really do is to leave it and hope it conditions out.

Thanks for the help. I was using whole hops straight from the vacuum pack. But it's so bitter I'd be surprised if that's the issue.

 

[Slid]

Thanks for the help. I was using whole hops straight from the vacuum pack. But it's so bitter I'd be surprised if that's the issue.

Hi Justin - can you first tell us the Alpha % on the packet of bittering hops? I assume you used Challenger to bitter. Challengers I have bought have been variable in Alpha content.

The medicinal twang may be from chlorine in the brewing water, which can lead to chlorophenols in the initial ferment, but unless you added tap water after the boil, I would have expected chlorine and chloro-compounds to have been driven off by the boil?

Chlorophenols, despite being fairly benign as far as I am aware, taste and smell very unpleasant to us humans and are detectable in relatively tiny quantities.

 

[The Baron]

Hi
the off taste could it be astringency i.e like a tannin strong teabag taste that makes you pucker? as I got this on my first couple of all grains using a full volume mash and came to the conclusion that it was either a high PH in the mash which can be caused by using full volume or also by over sparging. To cure this I dropped my mash volume down and included 3 bottles of cheap supermarket water to dilute any off tastes (strong chlorine) in my tap water and have never had a problem since

 

[The Baron]

just to add did you treat your tap water with campden tablets as this helps to drive off any chlorine - do it the night before brewing

 

[Slid]

Good advice from The Baron, here. Adding a small amount of sodium metabisulphate (campden tablets) to brewing water overnight will do the trick and any residual sulphate compounds will definitely be driven off by boiling.

 

[Grizzly299]

I've never really found chlorophenols to be particularly bitter. But treating your water for chlorine is 5 star advice none the less.

Your bitterness could well be due to tanninn extraction in the mash. This usually occurs more noticeably if your mash PH rises much above 6. Sparging at high temps and PH can also do the same thing.

This can be quite a problem in pale brews if your brewing water is hard or has high alkalinity. The symptom you describe pretty much matches the unpleasant harsh bittering it can cause as opposed to a softer more rounded/pleasing bittering.

 

[Saisonator]

You don’t need all night for the campden to work, just needs stirring into the water before you start heating.

 

[Justin Woodwars]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll certainly be treating the water from now on. I live in a hard water area and I'm guessing that that may be the problem.
Although i think I know the answer to this........
Is my brew ruined or is there a way of salvaging this situation?

 

[Grizzly299]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll certainly be treating the water from now on. I live in a hard water area and I'm guessing that that may be the problem.
Although i think I know the answer to this........
Is my brew ruined or is there a way of salvaging this situation?

You have a few options, time may soften the beer up a little, but that is more of a passive solution.

If you're feeling adventurous you could try adding calcium chloride. Take sample glasses of the beer and add calcium chloride mixed with a small amount of distilled water at increments of 50ppm. The chloride might take the bite out of the bitterness and round it off a little as well as emphasise malt character and sweetness. So a glass with 50, 100, 150, 200 ppm. Taste them and see which sample tastes best. Then dose the full volume to achieve the same ppm as the preferred sample. I'm not sure how well it will work for polyphenol bitterness, but it's worth a go.

Another option would be to add lactose to sweeten the beer up a little, which may help to mask the perceived bitterness.

 

[Fil]

i agree a hint of tcp or 'hospital ' is indicitive of a chlorine/chloromide taint. If your local water authority employs chloromides then they do not always dissipate with an overnight stand of your liquor and a campden tab treatment can be used. iirc 1 campden tab is sufficient t treat upto 50l of brewing liquor..

before launching into the rabbit hole that water treatment can become, try a basic brew simply dechlorinating the water with a campden tab or sodium-met.

Then if still not satisfied with the results the next basic step is to attempt t reduce the temporary hardness in the liquor with an initial 15 minute simmer/boil, this should depsit some of the hardness from the water as a chalky precipitate and or a chalky film to the surface, either of which yu can draw off from over or under

just my take..

 

[djheaton321]

Do you use any bleach based cleaners? This could be a cause of the tcp like taste if they've not been fully rinsed off after you've used them. On the subject of Chlorine in the water, I occasionally smell in our water where we live, almost like a dose has been added to clear the pipes. I have found that measuring out the water the night before allows any chlorine to dissipate by the next morning.

 

[chthon]

Also, try to find somebody who can help with tasting it. If it is really only astringency or hop bitterness, the upside is that this helps keeping the beer in good order, and a couple of months patience soften out the bitterness. My first beer was also like that, but after six months it was really tasty and all the harsh bitterness was gone. If this is the case, then you will certainly have a more or less drinkable beer at the start of the summer (just chill a little bit more, this also suppresses bitterness), and even a very nice beer in the course of the summer months.

 

[foxbat]

Any advice/ probable causes welcome.
Sorry for being so Newbie about this.

Have a read of this list. See if you can match up what you're tasting to one of those and then try to recall if you did anything in the list of possible causes.

 

[Justin Woodwars]

All good advice guys. Thanks so much. I'll put it in storage for a few months and see what happens.