[bigern26]

I have brewed 3 extract batches so far. Irish Red has been bottled for almost a month, Caribou Slobber has been bottled for 2 weeks. Both kits from Northern Brewers.
They both have a tangy aftertaste. Its worse toward the end of a glass. Almost makes them hard to drink.

Water is from private well and is high in Iron bacteria. We do have a Kinetico Water system with 5 micron filter, Calcite tank and softener that is empty of salt. I am not sure if it is the water or just the fact that they are extract kits.

Wondering if there is anything that I might need to try to get rid of it. Both were boiled in used stainless pot, Irish Red was fermented in a Plastic Big Mouth Bubbler and Caribou Slobber was fermented in a glass carboy. Both of them had this same taste before bottling.

[chumley]

If your well water is high in iron bacteria, by association it is high in iron.  A 5 micron filter isn't going to take the iron out of it.  Iron is bad for beer.  I brewed a brown ale once with a friend's well water that was high in iron, and it had what I suppose you could call a tangy aftertaste.  I thought it taste more like blood.

I would ditch that water, and buy some bottled water from a store for brewing.  Especially an extract beer.

[HoosierBrew]

1.  Are your beers fairly clear, or hazy? If they're hazy because the yeast hasn't dropped completely , you could definitely get a tangy/tart, sometimes bitter flavor from the yeast. If so, it'll get better when the beer clears.

2.  Do you control pH?  A mash pH that's too low (5.0 and under) could give the beer a slight tart character.

3/  Infection is a possibility and would likely get worse with time


Edit - All this assumes that the Fe content isn't the culprit which is definitely possible.

[reverseapachemaster]

Water is the likely culprit and the easiest to test. Definitely try brewing a batch with bottled drinking water.

[bigern26]

The beer is clear. Not hazy.
I never checked ph as I didnt know I should on an extract brew.
I never noticed an infection but I only know what to look for with the ones that grow on the top of the beer in the carboy.

[Bob357]

With extract you should be using either distilled or RO water. Most supermarkets have RO dispensing machines and get around $.35 per gallon.  The extract manufacturer added the necessary minerals during production, so the water profile is already set.

[chumley]

Note that water with a high iron content can taste perfectly fine, but once you brew with it all sorts of off-tastes can pop up in the resultant beer.

[kramerog]

The beer is clear. Not hazy.
I never checked ph as I didnt know I should on an extract brew.
I never noticed an infection but I only know what to look for with the ones that grow on the top of the beer in the carboy.

-You don't need to check pH for an extract-only beer.
-You should buy RO/distilled water because of the iron in your water.
-If you exclude oxygen then an infection won't form a pellicle on top of the beer.  I suspect you have an infection that becomes more noticeable as the beer warms up.

Are you using a rinse-free sanitizer?

[bigern26]

Yes I sanitized everything with Star-San. Sanitized water in the airlocks and sanitized everything when taking samples. Every sample tasted the same pretty much.

[Joe Sr.]

I don't know much about iron in water, but certain yeast strains can also give a tangy taste.  Nottingham does it for sure, as far as my tastes go.  Not everyone gets that flavor though.

[cgranger]

Just curious, how much water do you steep specialty grains in?  It's better to steep in a gallon or two, even if you're doing a full 5 or 6 gallon boil. 


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[Frankenbrew]

Just curious, how much water do you steep specialty grains in?  It's better to steep in a gallon or two, even if you're doing a full 5 or 6 gallon boil. 


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I've done it both ways and never noticed a difference.

[cgranger]

Just curious, how much water do you steep specialty grains in?  It's better to steep in a gallon or two, even if you're doing a full 5 or 6 gallon boil. 


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I've done it both ways and never noticed a difference.

There is some risk of pH problems if you use too much (or too little) water for steeping.
https://beerandbrewing.com/26HcNVJrqQC40GsyaCe88m/article/the-right-way-to-steep-specialty-grains


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[dmtaylor]

Sounds like the "extract twang", due either to old extract, not great water, or in this case maybe also the bacteria of which you speak.

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