Why does my Indian Brown taste metallic?

What was your mash temp? Too high and it brings out harsh flavors.

 

Sounds right. Even with a short, 60 minute boil instead of the standard 90 minute it should be alright.

 

Hate to disagree, but mash temp should have nothing to do with a metallic flavor. Some hops, unbalanced water and metals leaching into the boil kettle might cause the metallic taste, but a lot of beer is mashed at the upper end (158-160*F). Mashing out higher than 170*F can leech tannins from husks, but even that is improbable.

A recipe and procedures from OP would certainly help, though.

 

With my alkaline water I could always get astringency if I let the temp go to high fly sparging. RO water has fixed that.

Unless the water has a lot of minerals, or the brewing equipement has a problem, it could be old grain which can give a metalic taste.

 

OP - Astringency is a sand papery sensation in your mouth, not a taste. When I drink tea I get astingency.

I can also recommend letting the beer mature, you might be getting yeast flavors that will go away when the beer is finished.

 

From Palmer :

Metallic
Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort but can also be caused by the hydrolysis of lipids in poorly stored malts. Iron and aluminum can cause metallic flavors leaching into the wort
during the boil. The small amount could be considered to be nutritional if it weren't for the bad taste. Nicks and cracks ceramic coated steel pots are a common cause as are high iron levels in well water. Stainless steel pots will not contribute any metallic flavors. Aluminum pots usually won't cause metallic flavors unless the brewing water is alkaline with a pH level greater than 9. Shiny new aluminum pots will sometimes turn black when boiling water due to chlorine and carbonates in the water.
The protective (grayish) oxides of aluminum can be enhanced by heating the clean pot in a dry oven at 250°F for about 6 hours.


Hope this could help.

 

As other people are poking around with questions, recipe, temperatures and processes could help some people narrow it down...

 

Metallic is either water quality or yeast infection. Some yeast varieties and/or bacteria can do this. I know Metolious (sp?) has this off flavor and it is a horrid beer. Do you add campden tabs to nuke the chlorine in the mash and sparge water?

Also, and this may be a stretch, but what hops did you use? I can't stand noble hops, they have a dirty metal taste to me, especially goldings. Hope this helps.

 

I am not sure what you call noble hops, but Goldings is not a noble hop by the usual definintion. British hops are often earthy (.some say taste like dirt).

Noble hops are Saaz, Tettnanger, Spalt, Hallertau Mittelfrueh from Europe. That is the usual definition.