I have brewed 3 extract batches so far. Irish Red has been bottled for almost a month, Caribou Slobber has been bottled for 2 weeks. Both kits from Northern Brewers.
They both have a tangy aftertaste. Its worse toward the end of a glass. Almost makes them hard to drink.
Water is from private well and is high in Iron bacteria. We do have a Kinetico Water system with 5 micron filter, Calcite tank and softener that is empty of salt. I am not sure if it is the water or just the fact that they are extract kits.
Wondering if there is anything that I might need to try to get rid of it. Both were boiled in used stainless pot, Irish Red was fermented in a Plastic Big Mouth Bubbler and Caribou Slobber was fermented in a glass carboy. Both of them had this same taste before bottling.
If your well water is high in iron bacteria, by association it is high in iron. A 5 micron filter isn’t going to take the iron out of it. Iron is bad for beer. I brewed a brown ale once with a friend’s well water that was high in iron, and it had what I suppose you could call a tangy aftertaste. I thought it taste more like blood.
I would ditch that water, and buy some bottled water from a store for brewing. Especially an extract beer.
1. Are your beers fairly clear, or hazy? If they’re hazy because the yeast hasn’t dropped completely , you could definitely get a tangy/tart, sometimes bitter flavor from the yeast. If so, it’ll get better when the beer clears.
2. Do you control pH? A mash pH that’s too low (5.0 and under) could give the beer a slight tart character.
3/ Infection is a possibility and would likely get worse with time
Edit - All this assumes that the Fe content isn’t the culprit which is definitely possible.
The beer is clear. Not hazy.
I never checked ph as I didnt know I should on an extract brew.
I never noticed an infection but I only know what to look for with the ones that grow on the top of the beer in the carboy.
With extract you should be using either distilled or RO water. Most supermarkets have RO dispensing machines and get around $.35 per gallon. The extract manufacturer added the necessary minerals during production, so the water profile is already set.
-You don’t need to check pH for an extract-only beer.
-You should buy RO/distilled water because of the iron in your water.
-If you exclude oxygen then an infection won’t form a pellicle on top of the beer. I suspect you have an infection that becomes more noticeable as the beer warms up.
Yes I sanitized everything with Star-San. Sanitized water in the airlocks and sanitized everything when taking samples. Every sample tasted the same pretty much.
I don’t know much about iron in water, but certain yeast strains can also give a tangy taste. Nottingham does it for sure, as far as my tastes go. Not everyone gets that flavor though.
Just curious, how much water do you steep specialty grains in? It’s better to steep in a gallon or two, even if you’re doing a full 5 or 6 gallon boil.
