[jayjay244]

My friend and I have made our first two 5 gallon batches of beer. One was a russian imperial stout and a chinook ale. We loved everything about each beer except that they both had a dry aftertaste. It was more pronounced in the chinook but it was still quite obvious in the stout. Anyone know why this may be happening?

[tygo]

It could be astringency which is more a drying sensation then a taste.   The roasted grains in the stout could give you some of this but since it's in both it might be something in your process. 

If these were all grain maybe your crush was too fine or you could have sparged with alkaline water over 170F.

[dbeechum]

If on the other hand these are extract batches of beer, I'd be looking in the direction of your water. Can you tell us anything about your water? Source? Did you filter it?

[jayjay244]

They were both extract batches. We did not use filtered water. It's city water from the tap and we have a water softener in the basement.

[Jimmy K]

Water softeners are generally bad for brewing. They replace minerals that are better for brewing (like calcium) with sodium which is not so good in high amounts. Is there a faucet that does not run through it? Or buy some bottled water for brewing.

[bluesman]

Also...could you give us a breakdown of your recipe and process. This will help us better target your issue.

[tomsawyer]

My first thought was sulfate in your water.

[richardt]

Dry = not sweet.  Is this what you mean?
Aftertaste = the remaining taste that lingers after you're done swallowing the sip of beer.  Is this what you mean?

My guess is that you're trying to tell us that there's a harsh quality to the flavor that lingers in the finish and aftertaste. 

When I started with extract and partial mash brewing, my beers brewed with tap water often suffered from a sourish, tart, or harsh, astringent taste that lingered in the finish and aftertaste.  My water profile was the problem (too alkaline, too much bicarbonate and sulfates).  If you use your tap water, be sure to eliminate the chlorine and chloramines by using campden tablets and filter the water with an activated charcoal filter (very slow flow rates).  Better yet, just use reverse osmosis water and brew salt additions.  Also, don't excessively sparge the steeping grain bag.  Soak it once, rinse it once (if at all).  You may be picking up tannins from over-sparged grains.  And don't use bleach to sanitize--the chlorophenols really can ruin your beer.

[theoman]

And make sure you don't boil the steeping grains.

[majorvices]

The taste you are describing is almost certainly your water, though there may be other issues with your process that add to it.