Brewing with HERMs and Tannins

Is it a bitterness that isn't hops or tannin's with the weird mouth feel?

 

How do you return the wort from the HERMS to the mash tun?

 

So...there's no bitterness beyond what you'd expect from your bittering hops, and there's no issue with mouthfeel. What is it that has you concerned? Tannins cause astringency, i.e. a drying, mouth puckering sensation. Is that what you're getting?

 

and you have a HERMS?

 

What type of malts are you using? Also, in my experience, tannins only come from (1) extremely high mash temps, or (2, and probably more likely) husks finding their way into the boil.

I’m sure someone here is more-than-willing to correct me if I’m wrong

 

Close watch of temps and ph during the mash should rule out any tannin issue, my guess it's an issue with hops, try brewing a different style, or just lower the use of hops. Like VikeMan said, mouthfeel will be dry/mouth puckering and with too much hop matter it will be more of a green/vegetable taste.

 

Low ph and high temps are the most likely culprits of tannins. Nothing worse imho.

 

If the sparge is too fast, wouldn't that imply even less opportunity to extract tannins during the sparge? My understanding is that tannins come from grains due to prolonged contact at higher than mash pH (combined with high temps). Sparging is often cited as the culprit because during fly sparging, you are continuously diluting the buffering capacity of the grains, allowing pH to rise. Some ways to avoid this are (1) brew no sparge, self explanatory (2) batch sparge (a step dilution process, rather than a continuous one, so you never reach a point where you exhaust the buffer), or (3) adjust the pH of your sparge water based on water chemistry analysis and an assist from one of several brewing water chemistry spreadsheets so even if you exhausted the buffering capacity of the grain, your pH is still low enough to not extract tannins

But hops have tannins too, and you might notice it if there is hop particulate in a beer, early on. Sounds like this is part of the shop owners diagnosis.

 

Too fine of a crushing grains could lead to tannins extraction, so far you can lauter your wort without getting a mash stuck your crushing would not be the culprit though.

 

And so the actual symptom being experienced in this beer is?
OP? @BeermeBlazzer31? Anyone? Bueller?

 

@BeermeBlazzer31 - Adding CaCL to wort? We should probably review your entire process, starting with water, then mashing.

 

Pretty sure this is a popular practice by quite a few brewers/breweries. Definitely nothing wrong with it.

Excess tannins are usually caused by oversparging and/or increase in PH throughout the sparring process. What is your water like? Do you acidify your Sparge water?