Just trying some of my first extract with steeping grains. It's an Irish red ale from midwest supplies. Everything seemed to go well with the fermentation, secondary and bottling. At first it tastes quite good, nice subtle hop flavor, but then there is an explosing of grainy flavor. Its hard to tell what this should taste like as I haven't had any other homebrews. Good head retention after pouring and they carbed up nice. They've been in the bottle about 3 1/2 weeks so far so maybe that after taste will mellow with time. Probably going to try a kolsch next or something lighter in than the irish red just for comparison sake. Any thoughts on the strong aftertaste?
Remember that your homebrew is a unique product. As such, you'll acquire the taste. My English Ale seemed to me (at first) to be too strong and malty and hoppy. Thing is, after a few, I grew to look forward to the next. Now I find myself eager to reproduce the recipe soon.
Don't brew homebrew expecting it to taste "familiar"...
Next up on my brew list is an Irish Red ale and from the looks of the recipe these things are heavy malty and light hoppy. The SG target is supposed to be 70. Grainy a little bit too but not too much. How long did you steep your grains and what were they? Also steeping too hot (>180 degrees) for too long can extract a lot of grainy taste. On the other hand, Irish ales taste good with a little grainy flavor in my opinion.
My Irish Red from Midwest got soooo much better with age. Your right, it was a bit grainy and had a bite to it, but it mellowed out after about 3 months in the bottle and turned out to be one of my favorites. Guess which is why it will be on the menu of future brews real soon.....I finished it up last weekend. Try to let it age, in the meantime, brew another batch.
I was thinking something similar about a Red I bottled 3 weeks or so ago (from Homebrewers Outpost in AZ). I describe the taste as reminding me of the aroma of the steeping grains. Pretty sure I kept the temp right while steeping but I assume this flavor will mellow with time. First sip was surprising but I started liking it better as I got to the bottom of the glass.
First taste of extract with steeping grains
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