First timer problems

So I just popped the top to my first home brew--used the Brewer's Best Belgian Golden Ale kit. The color is phenomenal but the taste is ok--there is a sharp bitterness at the end. Could anyone tell me where I may have gone wrong?

The kit instructions said to ferment for about 4-6 days, but more importantly the airlock must have stopped bubbling for 48+ hours--mine ended up taking 8 days for the airlock to stop bubbling. I've since learned that you should always go off the pH for fermentation. Could my choice to go off the airlock have contributed to the bitterness?

Also, how do people feel about kits? I thought it'd be a good way to learn the basics of homebrewing, but I've since heard they're not always the best. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

tgrva said:

So I just popped the top to my first home brew--used the Brewer's Best Belgian Golden Ale kit. The color is phenomenal but the taste is ok--there is a sharp bitterness at the end. Could anyone tell me where I may have gone wrong?

The kit instructions said to ferment for about 4-6 days, but more importantly the airlock must have stopped bubbling for 48+ hours--mine ended up taking 8 days for the airlock to stop bubbling. I've since learned that you should always go off the pH for fermentation. Could my choice to go off the airlock have contributed to the bitterness?

Also, how do people feel about kits? I thought it'd be a good way to learn the basics of homebrewing, but I've since heard they're not always the best. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

Click to expand...

There are a lot of things that can make the difference between OK and great. Fermentation temperature is probably the most important. At what temp did you ferment? Also if you bottled after 8 days there could be some off flavors that would have been cleaned up had you let the beer sit for about 3 weeks.

Not sure what you mean by going off pH for fermentation. You might mean SG for specific gravity. Yes, fermentation is done when you get three SG reading that are the same. But even after that I would let it sit for about 3 weeks total to clean up off flavors. Also, water chemistry can cause harsh bitterness, but that is something to worry about down the road a ways.

The best advice I can give is to read and commit to memory John Palmer's, "How to Brew". You can read an version of it online at howtobrew.com

Agree with this^

There are many variables at play here that could have contributed to your perceived problems.

In addition to what was mentioned above, I offer:
How long after you bottled did you wait before drinking one?

Also there is absolutely nothing wrong with kits. Most of us got our start with kits.
I still make some of my beers with kits, both extract and AG.

The only caveat is that the age of and quality of the ingredients in the kit can play a big role.

The worst thing about the kits is their instruction sheet. There is misinformation and missing information in the instructions. I have multiple fermenters and some make the airlock bubble every time, some never bubble the airlock, and at least one has a mind of its own about whether to bubble or not. If I were using the airlock activity as an indicator, I would bottle at the peak of fermentation on some because I had no airlock activity for 48 hours.

If you let your beer ferment at 72 degrees F. or warmer it will be done fermenting quicker than if you kept it cooler but the flavors will not be as good. With more time in the fermenter some of these off flavors will be cleaned up by the yeast but some are permanent. The kit instructions never seem to mention this.

I fermented at room temperature and waited a month to try one after bottling.

I got "How to Brew"--I will have to start reading it more.

It seems like the best idea is to ferment in mid-upper 60s for temp and to let it ferment much more than a week to get better flavors

tgrva said:

I fermented at room temperature and waited a month to try one after bottling.

I got "How to Brew"--I will have to start reading it more.

It seems like the best idea is to ferment in mid-upper 60s for temp and to let it ferment much more than a week to get better flavors

Click to expand...

Mid to upper 60s is good for ales. For me, I used to achieve this by having a couple 2 liter bottles with water, frozen in my freezer. I'd then just pull one out, set it touching my fermenter, then wrap a big towel around it all. I keep the house at about 70 all year , so this worked really well for me.

How long to leave the beer in primary is debatable. I've found as I brewed more, got my fermentation down. I can be drinking a good beer in 2 weeks grain to glass. This is for lighter styles though. Anything else I prefer to just let sit for three weeks before I do anything with it. I look at it kind of like ribs. I love ribs and BBQ often. They are always great right off the smoker, but give them a night in the fridge, let the flavors gel and mellow a bit and they are so much better. Seems most beers with much color at all benefit from this idea as well. Give the flavors time to come together and mellow a bit and it's just better than putting the rush on the beer.

My beers usually hit peak flavor around 6-8 weeks after brew day. Although I do keg, so that timin is going to be a little different from bottled.

Sorry for any misspellings, I'm posting from my phone in a moving car.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

tgrva said:

I fermented at room temperature and waited a month to try one after bottling.

I got "How to Brew"--I will have to start reading it more.

It seems like the best idea is to ferment in mid-upper 60s for temp and to let it ferment much more than a week to get better flavors

Click to expand...

The temperature you choose should be near the bottom end of the yeast's preferred temperature. Not all of them like the mid-upper 60's. Nottingham does well at 58 but my saison yeast would have not even started at that temperature as it prefers temperatures in the 70's. When you choose a yeast to use, go onto the manufacturer's website and see what the temperature range is.