The sharpness is hard to explain almost like having an aspirin in your mouth too long before you swallow it. I would not call it hop flavor. It is present in the finish after you swallow. Stays on the back of the tongue. Best I can describe it.
That’s astringency. Squeeze a little lemon juice in it
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So if I go with astringency. Grain mill is around .035", BIAB so no sparge, I squeeze bag as many do which was a myth about tannin extraction. It’s pH related right. Too high = tannin extraction. What am I missing? Infection?
Again get a pH meter. You may have mentioned above but what’s your mash temperature? Do you strain out the hot break before adding the wort to the fermenter. I don’t know if it matters but I bring the wort to a boil then let it boil untill that hot break settles the start your timer. No violent boils. Tell me more about your mash process. Get some gallon jugs and do some expierimtal batches.
Did the lemon juice make it taste better ? Maybe add some acid malt to your recipe.
I was so over it I dumped it and cleaned everything up. I know I need a meter. Heated up adjusted water to strike water temp based on grain temp in beersmith. Add grains stir well. Checked temp 152 right. Cover maybe stir 2 more times over hour to minimize heat loss. Lost about 4 degrees each time. Over the hour that’s 1 every 15 mins. If most conversion happens fairly quick that what 2 over 30 mins. Then after 60 raised bag fired up burner stirred under bag. Then raise bag fully out to drain. Squeezed bag.
Add
-temp doesnt come close to 170 before grains are fully pulled up and out
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Your process is good. It’s water/pH related. I don’t use alot of water additions so I’m not a good source on that part. Out of curiosity do you get that taste in your dark beer?
I’ve yet to brew a dark beer with my current setup. I would assume all the dark grains would push pH low right? So if it was pH the light grains increase pH which is why I thought salts and a small lactic addition would fix that. Again like mentioned I went with calculator and not an actual reading. So I guess it’s get a pH meter and dust my self off and try again. Likely won’t be until the new year.
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Apologies if I missed it, but what was your FG? Unfortunately you dumped it, but it would’ve been interesting to compare pre-kegging FG to now after you’re experiencing this bite.
Edit to say: Diastaticus comes to mind.
WIth diastaticus(was he a character in Spartacus?)…which I’ve never experienced…my understanding is very high overcarbonation? I don’t think he’s seing that…
My take…
It’s still your water…I don’t trust home test kits…amounts are too fine and too hard to control.
Personally i like to limit the amount of water I buy and isolate things like water sourse so that they become controlled variables in a situation like this…You have many unkonwns from my perspective.
Decide on a STABLE CONSISTENT water source and stick with it! Send a sample to Ward Labs for analysis. Then use brunwater and limit your additions to what’s only necessary. Why are you using epsom salts? to add sulfates? That’s what your gypsum is for… If you’re lowering pH and alkalinity just use gypsum and lactic acid. If you need to raise calcium…which is rare…use calcium chloride. Those three additions should probably accomplish all you need and also limit variables for future issues.
Never tasted carbonic bite and I agree it’s probably not your issue.
Excess starsan in keg? bah…no issue there…
You certainly cleaned the Fasizzle outta the keg…I seldom clean my kegs between beers unless I’ve had an infection…rinse out hop/trub debris, put in a quart or so of star san swish dump and fill with beer. Clean my lines every time…Greg Muller method…with beer…every year or two with PBW then starsan…we’re not pushing enough beer to need anything more IMHO.
I’m convinced it’s your water/additions are failing you…it’s NOT YOU…your methodology looks good…keep at it man!
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Funny you should ask I did check it after it was in the keg for a little while FG was 1.011 then I tested a sample after degassing and it was the same temperature adjusted. My thinking was if it was a bug the FG would drop.
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Added epsom to increase Mg for yeast health, gypsum to increase chloride and sulfate to help hop foward, and calcium chloride to increase calcium to improve flocc, which also added more chloride. All with the ranges of pale ale water profile. Based from Palmer how to brew and water book.
To add I think I’ve heard Palmer say you don’t have to be super precise that 30 or so was sufficient. So all my base water testing measurments are very low to begin with. Additions were somewhat small I thought.
I don’t know I’m just explaining my thinking. Not dismissing anyones opinion in any means. Thanks for all the input
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no chance of it being chlorophenols?
gypsum will not increase chloride
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Of course you pop on here and I didnt have my facts straight. Calcium 
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Gotcha. Have you ever looked at brunwater? Even if you don’t start using it right away the “water knowledge” tab is great reading on the subject. Much more timely and relevant that Palmer.
Where did you sulfates end up? I was pushing mine to around 300 for a while to try and get a bigger pop our of my hops. It worked but also seemed to dry the beer and make it a bit more harsh so I dropped it to around 200 and like my results better. Now trying to keep it between 200-250 to get more aroma from the hops with out the harshness.
193 sulfate 94 chloride 2:1
I’d say you’ve got the troubleshooting down!
I think he’s using spring water.
Yes Gerber Pure think its labeled as distilled or Ro with minerals added for taste. For mixing baby formula. We had some on hand and it was pretty low in minerals.
Star san is mixed with distilled.
Only thing is I use tap for cleaning and rinsing equipment. But I let it air dry prior to sanitizing.
