Beer is carbonated but flat texture

englemann · November 14, 2011, 4:37am

Looking for a bit of help and or advice because I’m not finding an exact answer with search engines.

A friend and I have made two beers now, both from kits. Coopers IPA first and then a BrewCraft Belgian Wit Bier. Both turned out drinkable, but I’ve noticed both seem to have a flat texture when drinking. Both have enough carbonation, in fact the Wit has too much and does a bit of foaming when opening a bottle. So I’m guessing it’s not a carbonation thing.

I have found some suggestions it might be our water, “hard water”. Both times we’ve used Seattle tap water filtered thru a Brita. Plan next time is to go with bottled water, but figure I would give the forum a try and see if any of you varsity home brewers would have suggests or answers.

Thanks,
-s

…and wasn’t sure what topic to post this under.

tom_sawyer · November 14, 2011, 7:16pm

My thought was water too. Having a hard water results in a high pH that affects beer flavor in the way you describe. Use RO water next time and add a teaspoon of calcium chloride, you’ll get more clear flavors.

tealblue · November 14, 2011, 8:23pm

I live in Wa and the water here is pretty soft. I am not sure if you are getting it from a well or not. I have well water its pretty soft. Some people will add brew enhancers to the no boil kits to improve the flavor a bit.

englemann · November 15, 2011, 1:54am

Thanks for the input and suggestions.

I know the water is from a city reservoir and not a well.
We’ll give the purified water and calcium chloride a try next time.

-s

beaverbrewer · November 15, 2011, 2:37am

I think a lot of things can contribute. My brewing is still evolving and I’m constantly improving, also seldom rebrewing the same batches, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to determine what is responsible for the switch from dull beer to great beer, but among the things that I’ve adjusted:

avoid overly long protein rest (sounds like you’re doing extract so not an issue, besides, this had more of an effect on head retention than on the flavour, mouthfeel, but still).
hit your gravity (thin and low ABV makes a big - negative - difference).
water as mentioned
hopping rate and timing. It’s amazing how the hops can fill out and punch up a batch.

Still, there are some off flavours/textures for which I still can’t find decent descriptors. Wish I had a local brewing club so I could hand someone a glass and have them list off the faults… and the solutions.