Slight astringent taste annoyance

[Ceejay]

Just drinking a bottle of my first brew, an oatmeal stout. I noticed at the time of the brew that it was more bitter than I thought it should be, and now it's conditioned I'm definitely tasting a slight astringent note, mainly an aftertaste. It's not really bad -still a lovely pint but I can't help feeling it could be better.

Now, I've used a sparge temp of 85 degrees, running liquor straight from the boiler onto perforated foil on top of the grain. I stupidly havent recorded the temperature of the grain during the sparge, but is it likely this is too hot, and the cause of the astringent flavour?

I fear my latest brew, which is an IPA will have this slight astringent taste too, and it'll be more aparent due to the lack of sweetness to counteract it...

What temperature do most people sparge at?

 

[robsan77]

85 is too high. I go for around 70- 73 but definitely not above 74. I heard thats the threshold is around 76c for tannin extraction.

 

[Ceejay]

I shoud dhave said, 85 degrees was the liquor temp, not the temp in the mash tun...

I guess the 85 degrees quoted in the AG walkthrough is based on a mid point between 66 degree mash temp and 85 degrees - which is about 75 degrees. So, is it the overall temperature of the grainbed that's important, or the sparge liquor?

Since my last mash temp ended up at 64 degrees, it might not be too bad :hmm:

 

[evanvine]

What hops did you use?

 

[Ceejay]

The first brew, oatmeal stout was all EKG (50g). The second is 50/50 EKG and Willamette.

To be fair, the astringent taste is only very slight and the beer is still better than a lot of commercial beer I've had. It'd just be nice to get it perfect! :lol:

 

[evanvine]

The astringent (tannin) taste should mellow in 2-3 weeks, you should end up with nice brew. :thumb:

 

[Tony]

What was your fermentation temp Ceejay?

 

[Ceejay]

Cool, good to hear it'll subside and I was wondering whether it would mellow. I ferment at around 18-19 degrees. I ferment it right out in primary and drop to secondary for a week to clear before bottling.

 

[markp]

The temperature of the grain bed during the sparge is the important bit.
I suffered with a few bad brews myself by sparging too hot.

Have a look at this thread viewtopic.php?f=36&t=9890&hilit=+sparging+help

ATB

 

[Ceejay]

Thanks markp. It's not anywhere near as bad as TCP, just a slightly bitter aftertaste, but it looks like you're right. I'll make sure my mash temp doesn't fall and then heat my sparge liquor to 78 degrees next time :thumb: