I thought this should be shared.
Been fighting an off flavor for the past year. My competition feedback on many brews cited the following: harsh, medical, phenolic, hop burn, etc. Not overwhelming, but just enough to keep me out of top honors. It was more noticeable in mild beers.
I worked on mash and sparge temps, PH, grain crush, sanitation and grain and hop freshness. Same, same.
I was at the LHBS talking about getting visible stuff in my HLT water. It looked like alge. The LHBS owner said maybe that was causing my off flavor.
I started researching off flavors from alge. Sure enough, there it was, astringent or phenolic.
My water is from a well with no treatment. I attach a food safe hose from an outside yard hydrant to plumbing inside my shop that runs up stairs to a utility sink. The water line feeding a water filter ahead of my HLT was black and slimy inside. The filter was a bit slimy inside also. I took everything apart, cleaned, replaced, etc. All hoses are now removed and allowed to drain and dry out. I even open the water filter, drain and rinse and soak the filter cartridge in starsan before standing to dry.
All is good now. What an ordeal. Cheers and happy brewing.
Been fighting an off flavor for the past year. My competition feedback on many brews cited the following: harsh, medical, phenolic, hop burn, etc. Not overwhelming, but just enough to keep me out of top honors. It was more noticeable in mild beers.
I worked on mash and sparge temps, PH, grain crush, sanitation and grain and hop freshness. Same, same.
I was at the LHBS talking about getting visible stuff in my HLT water. It looked like alge. The LHBS owner said maybe that was causing my off flavor.
I started researching off flavors from alge. Sure enough, there it was, astringent or phenolic.
My water is from a well with no treatment. I attach a food safe hose from an outside yard hydrant to plumbing inside my shop that runs up stairs to a utility sink. The water line feeding a water filter ahead of my HLT was black and slimy inside. The filter was a bit slimy inside also. I took everything apart, cleaned, replaced, etc. All hoses are now removed and allowed to drain and dry out. I even open the water filter, drain and rinse and soak the filter cartridge in starsan before standing to dry.
All is good now. What an ordeal. Cheers and happy brewing.
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