Im brewing up a pilsner and im not too optimistic, about to sparge and just tasted the wort and its astringent, i get that crappy sensation, im kinda surprised considering i am using distilled water with salts added along with acid malt my mash ph was 5.3, could it simply be from milling to fine? i gave it a nice crush but kept alot of husks intact, mashed low, could it be the minerals im tasting? eitherway im gonna soldier on and see what happens
Maybe, maybe not…it’s the finished beer that matters. You’ve got the right idea.
I’ve had this happen many times and it has all worked out once it’s in the glass.
The only time I’ve experience mouth-drying astringency is when I over-sparge. Over-sparging pulls something awful from the grist when the grains have no more sugar to give. It could be too much husk material is ending up in the final wort due to the fine crush, tho it might drop out during the boil & chill & the beer could end up fine. My astringency always showed up in the final beer.
Given this was 3 months ago, any updates on how it turned out?!
Low wort gravity increases the osmotic stress that pulls tannins and silicates out of the grist. Too low gravity in final runnings is the primary cause of tannin issues in beer from my experience. I don’t feel that pH or temperature are nearly as important as this low gravity effect.
Martin, I really appreciate this post! I may still differ with you in practical terms based on my experience – my last runnings measure 2.0-2.1°P with no resulting astringency (checked again this weekend,) but pH holds steady within acceptable range – but you’ve presented something new. This idea about osmotic pressure is the first time I’ve seen a plausible hypothesis on how low runoff density in itself could lead to silicate and tannin extraction. I’d like to see this further examined.
+1
I too would like to see more on this.