Why does my beer have a separate water aftertaste?

I'm new to the world of homebrewing, having completed 2 batches. Both batches have been 'recipe in a box' kind of beers from Brewer's Best. The first was an Imperial Nut Brown Ale, and the second was an Irish Stout. In both cases, the beer was bottled for the carbonation process.

The first beer was still flat after 3 weeks, and after agitating them and waiting an additional 2 weeks the carbonation was fine. The second was great (carbonation-wise) after 3 weeks.

The first beer came out to about 1.5% below the expected ABV (came out to ~5%, when expecting a ~6.5% ABV), and the second one came to a disappointing 3%, when it was supposed to be 4.5 - 5%.

The first one tasted pretty good, but still had a small water aftertaste almost separate if that makes any sense (consumed anywhere from 5 weeks to 4 months after bottling). The second beer was horrible. By the time the beers were consumed (~5 weeks after bottling), they were over-carbonated and it felt like half your drink was an Irish Stout and the other half was tonic (a friend involved in the brewing process swears that he tastes the StarSan, but I didn't).

So the question is, why does my beer have a separate water aftertaste?

If you need additional information, please comment.

Topic brown-ale aftertaste water stout homebrew

Category Mac

1
answered at

A watery aftertaste can come from several sources:

  • Simply too little malt or bittering hops in the beer, for example, you used kit that contains a lot of sugar rather than malt, the back end of the beer can taste watery, simply because there is nothing to provide any aftertaste.
  • Insufficient salts - water salts affect the taste of the beer including the aftertaste. Water salts are to the beer like seasoning is to food and are needed for some styles to taste right. (E.g. Burton water for English Milds.) John Palmer gives an in-depth discussion of brewing Water and salts here.
  • A high pH - beer should be around 3.8-4.5 pH, depending upon style. The lower pH makes the beer feel bright and vibrant - a higher pH will make the beer taste dull.
  • low hop bitterness - as well as reducing the pH (see above), hop bittering acids linger well into the aftertaste. With low-hopped beers the aftertaste comes from the malt, but if that's also missing then the aftertaste will just be watery.

For stouts, using some roasted barley or Carafa will help add some dryness to the aftertaste.

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