Possibly, but seems unlikely. I’m carbonating at 10 PSI at about 38F. So what’s that, around 2.4 volumes?
If your problems only occur with dark beer then it is unlikely to be an infection or mess somewhere in your kegging system. It should be showing up in all of your beers. Seems more likely to be a ph issue.
I sure hope so. I’ve got some things to work on. Seems like it all used to be so much simpler. The more you learn, the harder it gets, it seems.
I agree it sounds like more of a pH issue. Even if the off flavor isn’t all out acrid, if pH was a bit too low there could be an unpleasant astringent flavor. It was frustration with the dark beers especially that made me jump in to learning water chemistry.
i hot steep 3oz of black malt in my mash water to get my PH to settle in around 5.45-5.5. the rest of my chocolate malt and roasted barley for my oatmeal stout get hot steep for 20-30 minutes at 145-150F in sparge water before i batch sparge. here’s my water profile i typically target:
Calcium (Ca) = 105.0
Magnesium (Mg) = 17.0
Sodium (Na) = 23.0
Sulfate (SO4) = 66.0
Chloride (Cl) = 30.0
BiCarbonate (HCO3) = 153.0
I think you need more roast barley, 10%. Then use hard water, I use tap water for stout. I don’t think you want a soft water for this style.
Thanks for all your input, guys. I appreciate it.
Anyone think haze in a carboy could cause off flavors? I think my answer is no, but I don’t know 100%. I’ve tried soaking them in starsan solution, soaking one now with 5 gallons of water and 2 cups of white vinegar. 18 hours later and I’m still seeing the cloud line. It’s weird.
I suppose it could harbor bacteria against cleaning sanitizing efforts but it seems unlikely that it would only cause a problem with dark beers.
It obviously depends on the source of the haze (is it bacteria growing on the carboy?), but in general I’d say no.
The carboys always get a soak with homemade PBW mix of 70/30 oxiclean free and TSP/90 for 24 hours, then rinsed well. My guess is it’s some kind of deposit building up maybe? But soaking it in a mild acid solution isn’t getting rid of it. I mean, I don’t taste anything really off in my other beers, but whose to say it’s not something subtle and the dark beers roast character is more affected by it? I don’t know, I’d doubt the haze is causing any issues, just curious.