Tether: END OF - BIAB

[acarey]

Hi All,

I've been brewing beer after beer of astringent rubbish. Multiple recipes all have the same problem. My setup and steps I have taken are/is as follows:

BIRKO 40L exposed element urn. No chill. Water ph is 7

Step 1: stopped squeezing bag re: tannins
step 2: stopped changing temp (mashing out etc) to remove potential grain hotspots
step 3: stopped sparging
step 4: dialled back hops re: no chill
Step 5: used 5.2 mash ph stabiliser http://www.midwestsupplies.com/5-2-mash-stabilizer.html

all my beers still come out astringent/ super bitter. I'm sick of it. can anyone give me anthything else to try to try and fix this? Please ask for more info as I know I haven't given enough. Help me help myself!!!

Getting to the point where I want to throw it all in.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Mate - have you had other brewers taste your brews???
Cheers
BBB

 

[bradsbrew]

Can you provide a recipe of one of the beers?

 

[dent]

Step 1: stopped squeezing bag re: tannins - this is a myth
step 2: stopped changing temp (mashing out etc) to remove potential grain hotspots - don't see how this would make any difference
step 3: stopped sparging - possibly, probably not
step 4: dialled back hops re: no chill - ok
Step 5: used 5.2 mash ph stabiliser - this stuff isn't very good - it puts a bunch of sodium in your beer and has a limited range of effectiveness.

Perhaps you have hard, minerally water. This could give an impression that would be associated with astringency - a sort of sandpaper-tongue-frictiony effect.

Water pH is irrelevant (within reason). Check your mash pH. I would avoid putting any further minerals in your water at this point, perhaps try adding some phosphoric or similar to your sparge water.

Or you might have some non-mash related problem altogether. Some other brewer's tastings can help.

 

[Adr_0]

are you getting husks from your bag into your boil? I read one of your other posts and although over-sparging could cause it, I don't think it is in this case.

EDIT: or scorching your grains on the bottom of the birko?

 

[acarey]

Mate - have you had other brewers taste your brews???
Cheers
BBB

..no. I keep meaning to take a sample to mark at MHB but haven't yet. Anyone in the newcastle area wanna come and help me out?

 

[thedragon]

Along with the recipe, let us know whether you no-chill.

[edit] Cancel that... You've described it in step 4.

 

[Adr_0]

Hi All,

I've been brewing beer after beer of astringent rubbish. Multiple recipes all have the same problem. My setup and steps I have taken are/is as follows:

BIRKO 40L exposed element urn. No chill. Water ph is 7

Getting to the point where I want to throw it all in.

acarey no-chills... can't see how this is relevant to astringency.

exposed element urn has its drawbacks though...

 

[acarey]

The one before last was

90% aus pale malt
10% torrified wheat

single step 65c, rinse with 65c water 2l to make hop pre boil volume

90 min boil
8g nelson @ 60
15g nelseon @ 20
20g nelson @ 10
30g nelson @ 1
30g nelson dry hop after vigorous fermentation

wyeast 1050


but it seams to be recipe independent.

edit: temperature stuff

How should I be cleaning my bag? the next step is to get a totally new one

 

[acarey]

I just heat to strike temp and put the grain in. End of.

Would the boil be responsible? I've thought that it could be more vigourous....

edit: spelling

 

[acarey]

re pitching an aerating, I pour from a hight into the fermenter and pitch the swelled yeast pack. that is all.

 

[Adr_0]

Not sure... Are there ANY times during your brew that you could be boiling the grain husks? See anything floating around, or on the bottom once you transfer? Any holes in the bag? Burn marks?

 

[bradsbrew]

The one before last was

90% aus pale malt
10% torrified wheat

single step 65c, rinse with 65c water 2l to make hop pre boil volume

90 min boil
8g nelson @ 60
15g nelseon @ 20
20g nelson @ 10
30g nelson @ 1
30g nelson dry hop after vigorous fermentation

wyeast 1050


but it seams to be recipe independent.

edit: temperature stuff

How should I be cleaning my bag? the next step is to get a totally new one

What was your process for that recipe.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

This would be a really good step - they might pinpoint exactly what 'taste' it is. This will help remedy the problem.........

..no. I keep meaning to take a sample to mark at MHB but haven't yet. Anyone in the newcastle area wanna come and help me out?

 

[TSMill]

Technically not astringency, but any chance your water is high in chlorine/chloramine? Also I'd confirm mash pH is in the right ballpark, agree proper pH is not a fix-all.

 

[acarey]

Not sure... Are there ANY times during your brew that you could be boiling the grain husks? See anything floating around, or on the bottom once you transfer? Any holes in the bag? Burn marks?

not really, I never apply heat anymore with grain in the urn. No scorch marks on the bag etc

 

[Camo6]

acarey no-chills... can't see how this is relevant to astringency.

exposed element urn has its drawbacks though...

Acarey also mentions 'super bitter' so astringency may not be his problem, it might just be he's extracting more IBU's than planned through NC.

I agree with BBB in that you should have another brewer taste your brews to evaluate. I used to mash out to 78C and squeeze bujeesus out of the bag when BIABing. I used an IC and have never NC FWIW.

I'm no beer judge but from what I know, astringency is like sucking on a tea bag and has a dry mouthfeel like banana peel. Is this what you're getting?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Tannins normaly come out at around 88*c.

Hard water, as in bore water, will make a beer taste bitter, but not in a hop bitternes kind of way. More of a mineral bitterness.

Whithout more info on your recipies, water etc its hard to give an answer

 

[acarey]

What was your process for that recipe.

heat to strike temp (can't remember exactly, whatever brew mate told me). Add grain, stir, cover and insulate, 60 min mash.
remove bag and drain into a bucket. add run off to urn. boil 90 minutes. Brew brite @ 15. Cover and wait 30 minutes, whirlpool and wait 30 minutes, transfer to no chill cube.

 

[Bribie G]

Mark will sort you out, He's Mr Mash and Mr Chemistry.