Mr. Beer batch...

My first bottled beer from my Mr. Beer batch has been sitting in a nice dark closet now for right at two weeks. Im going to crack the top on one tonight to see what its like. Tasted some as it came out of the LBK and it was OK. Wanna see what the carbonation and conditioning is like now. May record it and youtube it.

GeorgiaTiger said:

My first bottled beer from my Mr. Beer batch has been sitting in a nice dark closet now for right at two weeks. Im going to crack the top on one tonight to see what its like. Tasted some as it came out of the LBK and it was OK. Wanna see what the carbonation and conditioning is like now. May record it and youtube it.

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Chill it first in the fridge.

Rick

Oh, yeah...its been in there for a few hours already.

Um...blecch!

This beer was carbonated, had a small head with lots of carbonated bubbles coming up from the bottom but the head went away pretty fast. Tasted like bananas. Carbonated bananas. I didnt even finish it. Am I going to have to dump this batch and pray that my oatmeal stout turned out fine? The Samuel Smith I made was a partial mash just using the LBK to ferment in. GOD I hope that batch and my Hefe dont turn out terrible!

I did a video of it. Will upload it and slap it on youtube in a few. DAMMIT! :smack:

Probably fermented to hot. Live and learn, the next batch will be better, shoot this one may improve with more conditioning.

Good luck.

Rick

Patience! Don't start pouring out beer yet. RDWHAHB. Or maybe a craft beer if yours aren't ready yet.

Carbonation will likely vary from bottle to bottle if you added the sugar in the bottle.

What temps did you ferment at? That may give away the reasoning for the banana-y flavor.

Im not gonna dump the batch just yet. Fermentation was around 67-69 and I didnt watch it real close. It was Mr Beer kit and it really didnt say to watch those temps. I didnt find that part out until it was time to bottle it. This is bumming me out a bit because I have two other batches (non mr beer kits) fermenting right now. The Hefe, I was told to ferment at "room temp" (67-68). The Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is on the sunporch with a temp of around 62-65. Sigh...

GeorgiaTiger said:

Im not gonna dump the batch just yet. Fermentation was around 67-69 and I didnt watch it real close. It was Mr Beer kit and it really didnt say to watch those temps. I didnt find that part out until it was time to bottle it. This is bumming me out a bit because I have two other batches (non mr beer kits) fermenting right now. The Hefe, I was told to ferment at "room temp" (67-68). The Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is on the sunporch with a temp of around 62-65. Sigh...

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Something to keep in mind is that "fermentation" temperature is NOT ambient temperature. I've seen fermentations get warm, and the temperature inside the fermenter be 10 degrees higher than the ambient temperature!

A stick-on thermometer is great, as you an see at a glance the beer temperature, and not the ambient temperature.

"Room temperature" is almost always too warm.

A too warm fermentation temperature produces more esters (and fusels). Esters= fruity taste (bananas and bubblegum).

Yooper said:

A too warm fermentation temperature produces more esters (and fusels). Esters= fruity taste (bananas and bubblegum).

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Which is why the instructions from the Hefe I just brewed said to pitch the yeast between 65-80 degrees and "ferment in a warm, dark, out of the way place". The stick on on my bucket is at 70 right now, but was at 72 during the hardest part of the fermentation. 66 in the house right now.

hefe's being rich with banana and bubblegum as well as cloves.

Also, remember those mr beer bottles are larger than 12 ounce beer bottles....consequently they take longer to carb and condition that a standard 12 ounce average gravity beer....they may not begin to even taste decent for another month. Remember we don't tell new brewers that the minimum time it takes for an average gravity 12 ounce bottle of beer is 3 weeks, just to deprive them of their first batch of beer. THERE ARE REASONS...and you're tasting them....

Give it a few more weeks AND THEN SEE.....

Advice taken, Revvy!

I second the hefe banana-y type flavors you may get. Give it some more time. Let it sit. Brew another batch and try something different. That banana flavor will not completely fall out of the beer the longer it sits. It should, though, mellow out a bit. Good luck, and have another home brew.

[ame]http://youtu.be/3kZq2SuTUek[/ame]

All is not lost,,,,,,,,,,,,as long as you learn the lessons your brew is giving you.

A little patience can go a long way and reward you with good, great or maybe even excellent beer.

Try leaving your next couple of brews for three weeks in primary, rack and bottle then leave for, at least, another three weeks. I'd imagine the oatmeal stout will start to really come into its own after about 6 weeks in the bottle though.

Im actually planning to leave that stout in the fermenter for at LEAST 28 days and at LEAST 28 days in bottles. May do the same with the hefe even though the instructions say 10-14 in fermenter and another 10-14 in conditioning. It cant hurt.