For a while now, I have been chasing down an off flavor in my lighter beers - it is sort of a salty/mineral flavor. I BIAB with distilled water and have been building a water profile (first from suggestions from the water chemistry primer on this forum, and now I am using Bru'n water). I also keg my beers.
I sort of got sick of chasing down the problem, so I recently decided to brew a couple of darker beers to enjoy this Holiday - a Milk Stout and a Red Ale. I couldn't detect the salty/mineral taste in the Stout (never have been able to in my Stouts), but I could detect it in the Red at first. About 5 glasses into the Red, the minerally taste seems to have subsided some (wondering if it is something in the sediment?). But, the real problem is that I have I guess what is known as the "band-aid burps" with this Red. After noticing this, I tried my Stout and it also has it - but it is much less noticeable.
My research into this gives several causes, but the front runner seems to be chlorephenols. My tap water is treated with the MIOX process, and it smells of chlorine significantly after leaving it sit for an evening. That is why I am using distilled water. I was planning on starting to treat my water with Campden, but I wanted to get the salty/mineral taste thing fixed before attempting to change something else. Anyway, I brew with distilled water, but I do clean, rinse, and sanitize with my tap water. I guess that I never thought the residual left from sanitizing could be a problem.
I have also read that the bandaid problem could be from fermenting too high (I have a temp. controlled fermenter and fermented both of these at 64F, so I am thinking that isn't it).
Another cause I have read is a possible infection of some type. I guess this could be. I fermented the stout in a glass carboy, and the red in a plastic bucket. My sanitization procedures are solid, I think. I don't see any signs of growth, no visible scratches in my equipment. I recently disassembled my entire keg system and thoroughly cleaned it (PBW) and sanitized it (Starsan). But, again - it was all done with the tap water.
I am really hoping that this is just the tap water issue. I am getting so sick of my stretch of bad brews here. The worst is that I currently have an IPA in the fermenter - one where I was really hoping to finally be rid of this "salty/mineral" issue. But, I still used the tap water for cleaning/sanitization. It is going to suck if this issue shows up in that beer. I am planning on bottling half of this batch to see if there is an issue with the kegging system.
The thing that makes me doubt the cleaning water being the culprit is that I have made plenty of beers in the past using this technique that didn't suffer from this problem. Maybe they are upping the effective chloramine levels or something. Maybe I need to just replace all of my keg lines and such.
Both the Stout and the Red also have zero head retention. The Red is not very clear, either. Frustrating.
Really getting tired of this. Ah well, this too shall pass.
I sort of got sick of chasing down the problem, so I recently decided to brew a couple of darker beers to enjoy this Holiday - a Milk Stout and a Red Ale. I couldn't detect the salty/mineral taste in the Stout (never have been able to in my Stouts), but I could detect it in the Red at first. About 5 glasses into the Red, the minerally taste seems to have subsided some (wondering if it is something in the sediment?). But, the real problem is that I have I guess what is known as the "band-aid burps" with this Red. After noticing this, I tried my Stout and it also has it - but it is much less noticeable.
My research into this gives several causes, but the front runner seems to be chlorephenols. My tap water is treated with the MIOX process, and it smells of chlorine significantly after leaving it sit for an evening. That is why I am using distilled water. I was planning on starting to treat my water with Campden, but I wanted to get the salty/mineral taste thing fixed before attempting to change something else. Anyway, I brew with distilled water, but I do clean, rinse, and sanitize with my tap water. I guess that I never thought the residual left from sanitizing could be a problem.
I have also read that the bandaid problem could be from fermenting too high (I have a temp. controlled fermenter and fermented both of these at 64F, so I am thinking that isn't it).
Another cause I have read is a possible infection of some type. I guess this could be. I fermented the stout in a glass carboy, and the red in a plastic bucket. My sanitization procedures are solid, I think. I don't see any signs of growth, no visible scratches in my equipment. I recently disassembled my entire keg system and thoroughly cleaned it (PBW) and sanitized it (Starsan). But, again - it was all done with the tap water.
I am really hoping that this is just the tap water issue. I am getting so sick of my stretch of bad brews here. The worst is that I currently have an IPA in the fermenter - one where I was really hoping to finally be rid of this "salty/mineral" issue. But, I still used the tap water for cleaning/sanitization. It is going to suck if this issue shows up in that beer. I am planning on bottling half of this batch to see if there is an issue with the kegging system.
The thing that makes me doubt the cleaning water being the culprit is that I have made plenty of beers in the past using this technique that didn't suffer from this problem. Maybe they are upping the effective chloramine levels or something. Maybe I need to just replace all of my keg lines and such.
Both the Stout and the Red also have zero head retention. The Red is not very clear, either. Frustrating.
Really getting tired of this. Ah well, this too shall pass.