Ugh, first two batches are NOT good.

Just tasted the our first two beers, both AG, both awful!! We figured they wouldn't be anything great, since they both got like 38% efficiency from the mash, and waaaaay low OG's, but ugh, these aren't even going to be drinkable.

Well, a do-over of one is bottle conditioning now, hopefully that will turn out ok, and there's one more to bottle next week... And then I'll be brewing 3 more batches, hopefully improving on my skillz.

Keep on plugin dont give up! AG is a difficult if your just starting out.

Describe "awful".

We've been trying to describe it.... I don't think they're infected, just really badly made. The Dunkelweiss turned out .05% ABV, so it's basically just a gross malt soda. It's super malty with a vaguely metallic taste, and apparently a flavor much like this: huitlacoche (mexican truffle 210g can)

The other one, meant to be Papazian's Holiday Cheer, came out 2.95%, and looks and smells reasonably okay, but doesn't taste pleasant, and leaves my tongue feeling stripped.

It would be tough to jump straight into AG so don't be too discouraged, this is why most (including myself) start with extract. Stick with it and maybe try an extract to get your basic techniques down. Good Luck!

Might also have some light extract handy so if your efficiency is really low, you can add some to bring up your OG to salvage the brew.

you might consider spelling out your process and having some of the more experienced members give you some pointers. definitely don't give up, they'll get better.

+1 to the idea of having some extract handy to boost the OG.

Well, I'm hoping that the next two batches will already have overcome a lot of the mistakes... one's in bottles already, one will be bottled next week. We found out what we were doing wrong with the mash (bad crush, no stirring, etc), so the OG's of the next two were good. If they don't turn out okay, though, I'd love to get some input on my process.

.05%abv? did u crush your grains by yourself? maybe go to the lhbs and have him/her show you how to do it.

We crushed those at the LHBS, but it was a wheat beer, and we used the barley crusher... I realize now that the other mill in there must be for the smaller malts like wheat and stuff. Also it wasn't stirred as well during mashing, and the temps started out around 168 for the first 15 minutes or so... so yeah, some pretty big mistakes. I really hope these next two come out okay, cause otherwise that's a heck of a lot of money to be pouring down the drain.