Does anyone else get this kinda weird flavor from Briess Pale Ale malt? There’s something about my beers lately that I don’t like and I can’t put my finger on it.
I thought it was Northern Brewer hops (I’ve used them in a few recipes lately), then I eliminated those and still had the undesirable taste.
So, I thought it might be Victory malt because I’ve used that in the last cpl recipes, then I eliminated that and still had the undesirable taste.
So, I thought it might be my brewhaus liquor build so I simplified that and still had the undesirable taste.
Now, I am looking at the Briess Pale Ale malt I’ve been using lately. Haven’t used it in a long time until the last few beers.
I am going to replace the Pale Ale malt with Pale malt in my next recipe to see if that’s it or not.
Northern Brewer hops can give a slightly minty flavor, does that come to mind. I’ve detected that flavor in Perle Hops, which are a daughter of Northern Brewer.
That’s the real problem. I can’t put my finger on it. I’ve gone through the list of usual suspects and nothing really applies. This kinda bland weird thing going on.
I know Briess makes some great products, I generally have no problem with and mostly use their specialty malts. But, their base malts in general seem very bland to me personally. I have used their Pale Ale malt but I do not recall anything off about it in particular other than lack of character and flavor.
I use Briess pale ale malt on a regular basis, mostly as the base for my west coast IPAs. Haven’t noticed anything off about it recently. But bland is definitely the operative word for this malt, IMO.
Briess uses water from their local municipality and its been softened and it has a high sodium content. I’m not sure that their malting would impart significant sodium to the finished malt, but its possible. I can’t imagine that it would be objectionable…maybe slightly sweeter.
I think I may have found the issue. The recipe I used for this beer(Brown Ale) may not have had enough sodium and/or chloride in the boil. I added some NaCl to the glass and it turns the so-so beer into a pretty good pint.
Like Martin says, let your pallet determine final mineral additions. I think the generic profile got me in the ballpark but I needed a bit more to take me into my personal zone.
I live 7.3 miles from Manitowoc Public Utilities. I know the engineers who work there. I have toured MPU as well as the Briess malting plant a few blocks north of it. They use state of the art microfiltration and RO. Manitowoc is well known around here for having the cleanest dang water anywhere. High sodium, it is not. There is historical data at the bottom of the linked page, and I can look up current data on the Wisconsin DNR website if anyone is interested.
i remember claims a long time ago that briess used 6row for several kilned and crystal malts and that was a complaint people had. but it seemed like they realized this and were explicitly stating “2row crystal malt” and things.
I like Briess - I especially like some of their specialty malts. Like I said, their Pale Ale malt has a cookie like character. I don’t personally love it.
Of the two vittles vaults I use for bulk base malt one is always full of Briess brewers malt. It is what I use most consistently and I’ve never had an issue with any strange flavors.
Is it possible you are overthinking the water? Our water is actually pretty good here. I’ll brew with it with only minor adjustments for most styles. Like I said somewhere else for pale beers I might dilute it 50/50 with RO or distilled and add some calcium chloride or sulphate and a bit of lactic.