I'm glad I added salt to my beer #tag chemistry
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Meh, being a geek is starting to become chic.
Hell, it even said it in the bible, "The geeks shall inherit the Earth".
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the bible
Published, I presume, by the same publishers of The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
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What are your sanitation procedures? I suspect there might be something other than the usual yeast working on the stuff you brew.
Well, this is the first time I've added fruit. I was told a wash and blanch would be good enough - I'm not convinced. I wanted to add SO2, but I was assured by a trusted homebrew person that it wasn't necessary.
I actually think the problem is a lack of non-fermentible sugar. There's no lactose - which I really think might really be the key ingredient in a tart berry beer like a raspberry ale - in this batch.
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[lots of really good ideas/thoughts]
Already on top of all of those things. Also, I spend a lot of time lurking at homebrewtalk.
I'm between deciding this is an infection (bad sterilization of berries that were added to secondary) and a tannin issue - leaning towards tannins, given that salt helps. My understanding is that you can tell bacterial and fungal infections from gas off problems; the beer is holding it's CO2 well, so I'm more leaning towards lack of inert sugars (i.e. tannin issue). Still not sure though given the oddness of the taste. Raspberries just may be too tart to do without lactose.
Also I would describe the flavor as a "harsh dryness"; I'm not sue if I'd describe the harshness as sour or bitter. However - given the salt's effect - I would hedge that it was bitter over sour.
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If you're washing all of your equipment and either using boiling water or bleach for sterilization, that should be enough.
By the way, another source of non-fermentible sugar, though probably not appropriate for berry beers, is crystal malt (inb4 crystal meth joke), especially if you're brewing from scratch instead of using malt extract.
