I'm about a 18 months in brewing all grain and after about 15 brews I feel like I am making some pretty good reliable beers. I have been making mostly clone recipes as I enjoy being able to compare with the store bought, and for the most part I come in in the ballpark across the board. That said, whenever I do a side by side mine seem to be lacking a bit of the sharpness of their commercial counterparts. Our water here in Austin is crazy soft PH circa 9.6, and I read an old thread on another forum where someone had said the local breweries used .32 mL of 75% Phosphoric acid per gallon (equivalent 2.4 mL of 10% per gallon) to correct. (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/austin-texas-tap-water-profile.80016/). It seemed like a good place to start so I tried it today but like the guy in the thread it killed my efficiency. I should have ended up around 1045 and came in at 1034.....(Founders All Day IPA clone) so I don't see myself doing that again. What are some other contributing factors or things I could try? I just filter through my fridge, and don't add campden, could it be the chlorine giving me issue? I think I am good on: Carbonation - I keg, so I can dial that up and down Fermentation Temp - I have a fridge converted to fermentation chamber (mid 60's to start then ramp) Mash Temps - usually hit my temp and my tun holds well. Yeast - Wyeast 1056 always starts up in a reasonable time and seems healthy. Thoughts?
Typically when I think of a beer not tasting "sharp" I think of a beer that is oxidized. Age tends to "mute" the flavor of beer over time. If your beer tastes good at first but "mutes" over time I would guess oxidized. If it starts out that way, likely something else in your brewing process.
You didn’t say what you are brewing, but get the pH right. Too high in the finished beer and it tastes “muddy”, to low it becomes sharp. Watch the oxidation on the cold side in ales. That is where you can lose a lot of hop aroma first, then malt character. O2 on the hot side also should be look at and controlled, but the cold side process has to be under control or it is for naught.
Do more research on water. The PH of the water isn’t as important as the amount of alkalinity. There are certain PH parameters you need to meet for mash, Sparge, Boil, Fermentation. Just adding acid without knowing exactly what PH you’re hitting is worthless. You’re also gonna want to add certain minerals depending on the style, alcohol level, your preference, etc. Oxygen is a crusher too, but poor water/PH treatment is a bigger factor in subpar homebrew that is provided your fermentation is clean and there is no sanitation issues. Edit—- Just looked up the water report for Austin.. water there is pretty good with alkalinity that’s not too high and no mineral that’s too out of spec. You will need some acid to get your PH in check and a decent amount of CA depending on what style you’re brewing. Get Bru’n water, some lactic acid, and a good PH meter and your beer will probably get a lot better.
@kiwipablo, do you shop at Austin Homebrew? https://www.austinhomebrew.com/ I would recommend you visit them and discuss your issue with them. If the problem here is the brewing water they should be familiar with the local water and have recommendations to rectify things here. Cheers!
@JackHorzempa I do shop at Austin Homebrew and they are awesome... I was just brewing before they opened. I’ll definately ask them though. Everyone else - thanks for all the info!
