Lost malt flavour followed by slight astringent taste

[Ryan.RSM]

Hi everyone, I'm some what new to brewing I've recently done an irish red ale from a noble grape. It was a steep flowed by a boil. Any how after bottling the beer tasted amazing lots of malt flavour flowed by a nice hop bitterness to balance it out. The beer was stable for about four weeks an then, bam lost malt profile and astringent taste. I'm stumped any help would be appreciated.

[GuingesRock]

Was the beer in glass bottles, PET bottles or a keg?

[adams81]

With a four week timeline I wonder if you have some sort of infection in there. There are some bacteria that eat ethanol and turn it into vinegar. They would probably digest any residual sugars and leave the beer very dry.

This is just a guess. More info on the taste and process would be helpful!

[Ryan.RSM]

I used glass bottles. My tap h20 is town water so I'm wondering if I rinse out my bottles with packaged water before filling it might remove any cl left from sanitizing

[Ryan.RSM]

I use cl and star San to clean and sanitize. So I was wondering if I mix my star San with bottled h20 I won't have any chemicals from the town water left in the bottles when I fill them

[Ryan.RSM]

The taste starts out clean an crisp but then finishes astringent.
This is how my brew day went

Steeped crushed grain in 2.5 gallon of h20 @ 155f for 30 min
Rinsed grain with .5 gallon of h20 @170f
Total boil volume was 4 gallons
35 min boil as per instructions
Then ice bath which cooled wert in about 30 min
Pitched Nottingham ale yeast @ 20c and fermented for one week at 17-18 c
Racked to secondary for 2 more weeks then bottled

[chalmers]

Process looks fine.

What town are you in? Most towns that I've seen the water report for will be just fine for StarSan (used that day or week). The bulk solution under the foam should be clear, not cloudy.

Was the carbonation level on the earlier (good) beers versus these latest ones similar (ie, these later ones aren't all gushers)?

[Ryan.RSM]

Carb level was fine on both no over carb on the later ones. My best guess at this would be oxidation.....
Sadly I live in truro which is almost a craft beer wasteland.

I'm about to bottle another red ale today this is how my cleaning regiment is going to go
Fill bottling bucket with cl
Rinse it with tap h2o which has cl in it because were on town water.
Then fill with star san solution. Finally rinse bucket with sterile water from store an proceed as normal


I will repeat the same process with my bottles. By rinsing with sterile h20 I'm hoping to remove any cl left in the bottle from sanitizing so that there will be minimal chemical compounds that can bind with the beer

[jeffsmith]

Oxidation would be my guess as well if your carb level hasn't changed.

[Ryan.RSM]

Ya I didn't realize oxidation could take place so quickly. Which is to bad,It was a solid red ale. Thanks for the quick replies guys.

[jeffsmith]

It usually relates to how the beer is handled after fermentation. Any splashing when you were racking from primary? Or from secondary?

Next time try skipping the secondary and just leave it in primary until you're ready to bottle. Would limit the potential for oxidation and contamination.

[Ryan.RSM]

Ya I there may have been some splashing. I've always used a secondary but I may give your suggestion a try. Does your beer clear ok by just using the primary

[jtmwhyte]

I've never done a secondary and all of my beers turn out clear if they are supposed to