Overtreated water?

Hi all,

I recently brewed an amber ale that has an odd aftertaste and mouthfeel to it. It isn’t bad, exactly, just odd. I have pored over lists of off-flavors and can find nothing that comes close to describing what I am tasting. I did treat RO water (my water sucks), and am wondering if I overdid it. What would a beer taste like if I over-treated the water (just general impressions are fine here…I know that without knowing all of the additions I used it would be impossible to nail down exactly what I over-used)?

Thanks.

Salty is one possibility.

Which minerals did you add?  How much in how many gallons?

Salty, astringent, harsh.

In a light über I get a chalky and muddy flavor if the bicarbonate is too high, it is the opposite of crisp. Don’t use chalk with RO unless you have to.

YES! I can’t describe what I’m tasting, but muddy and “opposite of crisp” hit it as well as anything I’ve ever been able to come up with. It tastes like beer, but…not. I did use chalk in the water treatment. I’ve since (in just the past few weeks) read other sources that recommend against it as well in RO water. Thanks!

If you need a little alkalinity, baking soda works if you make sure to keep the NA level low. Pickling lime is really good for raising alkalinity, a little goes a long way, and not much flavor impact.

If you go way high on the chalk you get what Gordon Strong calls an Alka Seltzer beer.

If you overdid the salt additions the beer would taste salty and/or minerally.

How did you treat the water? What is the recipe?

I’m guessing that you didn’t add alkalinity for mashing an amber grist. So I’m guessing that you may have added gypsum and/or calcium chloride in your water treatment. The combination of high sulfate and high chloride is the recipe for ‘minerally’ taste.

I’m hoping that this was not the case. If the addition was one or the other, high sulfate would lead to an overly drying finish and high chloride could create anything from a salty to an alka seltzer perception.