First batch ... tastes like wine :(

WhyTee · 09-13-2007, 06:23 PM

Hey all,
First post! So I started my first batch with a pre-hopped can and corn sugar. Just this last weekend I cracked open the fermenter and racked to my bottling bucket, primed and bottled. I grabbed up a sample and tasted it and it tasted very much like wine but it finishes with what I was expecting to be the upfront beer flavor. My two assumptions at this point are that I either got an infection or that the corn sugar gave it this flavor? Could someone shed some light on this for me? Should I have wasted my time bottling? Thanks!

**Yooper** · 09-13-2007, 06:45 PM

I think the corn sugar is the biggest culprit, but prehopped liquid extract would also be part of it. I recommend doing a kit that you have to boil and add hops to and use NO corn sugar in it (except for priming when you bottle). It'll be 100% better.

Still, don't throw out the batch you've already done. After a few weeks in the bottles, it may get quite a bit better.

Art Vandelay · 09-13-2007, 07:00 PM

I'm in the same boat... did a couple of batches a few years ago, and recently picked up a can of pre-hopped malt to get back into it. I guess I forgot everything I learned back then, so I did the corn sugar thing too (just followed the directions in the kit).

Check out this section of How to Brew by John Palmer - it explains common off-flavors, and you might find that what you've got fits into one of the categories (the batch I just bottled had the apple-y/cider-y acetaldehyde taste to it, presumably due to all the corn sugar):

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

Reading through all of How to Brew on that site isn't a bad idea... I'm gonna go over it again before I try another batch. I should buy a copy of the book eventually.

WhyTee · 09-13-2007, 07:02 PM

Thank you much for your response. I am planning on leaving in the bottle for 3 weeks and maybe try one now and again with hopes the flavor settles out. I did buy another kit a couple weeks ago, but after much reading, so I have one that only has corn sugar for priming. Will be cooking the grain and adding hop pellets. I'm excited

FlyGuy · 09-13-2007, 11:12 PM

A lot of what you are picking up is simply beer that needs to age some more. If you store those bottles at room temperature for 3-5 weeks, you should notice a considerable improvement in flavour. There might still be some things going on with the recipe, so I won't suggest it is going to be fantastic with some aging, but give it some time and see. Hope it works out!