Phenolics

[Nosybear]

Hello, all,

I recently had some beers judged and they came up with phenolics in the ales. Not much - you really had to be concentrating to detect them - but there. Lagers brewed using the same process did not show phenolics at all. The one difference in process between the ales and the lagers was fermentation temperature. So I'm working two hypotheses:
- Reducing the sparge temperature from 170+ to 167 will control the slight astringency (polyphenols)
- Reducing the fermentation temperature will reduce the other phenols in the beer
Thoughts?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[LarryBrewer]

Fermentation temperature would be my first guess. What was the fermentation temp, and what kind of yeast? Was it fresh yeast? What was the OG, and how much did you pitch?

 

[BrewHop]

I would go more for the fermentation temp on why it had a phenolic taste. The grains really can contribute an astringency/bitterness if you sparge too high. You should monitor your fermentation temp and try to keep it on the lower end of the recommended ferm temp if you want to avoid phenolics.