The other day I tasted a black IPA brewed by a Belgian homebrewer in August of last year. The beer was overcarbonated, little hop aroma with a nice bitter ending, and, that’s my point, a slightly sourish, maybe metallic taste in the middle. What could be the cause of this sour & metallic taste? Could it be an infection? If not, what else?
it could be contamination (sour), bad water (metallic), bad mash chemistry (roast astringency can often have a sour/metallic character in my experience). Little hop aroma implys some oxidation or at least an over the hill IPA (assuming AIPA as model instead of EIPA)
Metallic is probably from hops, water, or the combination of the two. I get it from certain commercial brews that are bittered with Nugget, but not when I use Nugget myself.
Overcarbonation may also be contributing. Dissolved carbonic acid does increase the perception of acidity a bit, and sometimes comes across as metallic (at least to my palate).
I checked the recipe and I notice that my colleague homebrewer may have used that pH stabilizer stuff. Could that have anything to do with it?
yeah it sure could have. does it seem overly minerally? Like really aggressive mineral water?
Could it also simply be a matter of age and poor storage? An IPA that would be better fresh stored under less than desirable conditions might just contribute to some weird flavors in addition to the other items mentioned, just a thought…
+1
No.
Bittered with columbus/chinook. The sour/metal is not really in your face. It’s quite subtle, some people don’t even notice it. I don’t think it’s the water. So it may be a side effect of overcarbonation. Or it may have to do with just being very old (from August last year, I didn’t even recognize it as a black IPA). Or it may have been caused by hops and water. Or it may be an infection. Or…