So I guess at some point I'm going to have to learn that 4.5 gallons of awesome beer is better than 5 gallons of "meh" beer.
I had a Wild Brown that had been conditioning since November. For some reason (probably my mash/sparge) I got a large tannin astringency in the beer. This had mostly settled out by three weeks ago when I added some oak chips. I tried the uncarbed beer two weeks ago and it was awesome. No astringency, big roasty/funky hit, little tart, and nice oak notes. I transferred this to my keg a week ago. Being greedy, I tried to suck up all the beer I could get my cane on. This was probably a mistake, as now the tannic/astringency is back.
I'm not sure, but I can only wonder "what if" I had left that last half gallon untouched at the bottom of the carboy.



