Beer Forum

I have brewed 11 batches now. I have tasted 6 and out of these the OG has been around 1.062 and the SRM under 10. All of these have been tart. I thought it might have been pitching rates so i uped to the proper rate with the same result. I thought fermentation temp. I now have a controled fridge. I got less esters but just as tart. My Birmingham water report says that on average the ph is 8. My question is could an acidic beer ph lead to this problem. Is there a way i can predict beer ph, I know i can test it. Keep in mind i am using extract so im not talking about mash ph. I remember palmer talking about beer ph for a minute on an episode but i can't remember which one. Any knowledge would be appreciated.

If all your beers are tart it might be more of a sanitation issue.

Mills

As far as I know, tartness is mainly a function of pH, however, being that you are an extract brewer, it's highly unlikely that the beer pH on it's own is too low. I would agree with Mills that it's probably a sanitation issue. Bacterial infections will generally drive the pH down and create a tartness. How are you sanitizing right now?

The right rate of starsan nonfoam. Just a bit more info my fg is usually 1.012 to 1.014. I also thought it be carbonation but swirling.the gas out didn't help

Oh yea i use cal ale

Teachme, it is not necessary to post a topic three times. Please don't do that anymore.

It wasn't on purpose. Im sorry it just happened

Sounds like you have the same problem I had. Try reducing the pitching rate significantly. Asuming that it's not an infection, that will give your beer more body and esters and reduce that nasty harsh tartness or sharpness as I like to call it. If the beer tastes okay other than the tartness, it is very unlikely to be an infection IMO. If you have been making starters, try just a single smack pack or vial (up to OG of 1.060) which is what Wyeast recommends. For dry yeast, use less than a full packet. I have found that the mrmalty pitching rate calculator is way too high (at least for my system). 30% to 50% of the recommended pitching rate seems to produce the best beers for me. Try it and let us know if that fixes the problem. It did for me after about 30 batches of trying everything else I could think of. Hope this helps.