Cracked first ever brew tonight.

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cwb124

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I opened my first ever brew tonight as I was racking my second batch (Brewer's Best Oktoberfest) to the secondary.

I made the Brewer's Best Red Ale kit.

My steps were primary for one week, secondary for two weeks, and now it's a week in the bottles and I cracked my first one to taste along the way. Frankly it's not good at all. Completely flat, watery, and overall almost tasteless. I know someone people have complained about bitterness soon after bottling and waiting for it to mellow, but what if it's already way too mellow? Will it develop taste over time? Also, I thought the carbonation would have taken place already, was very surprised it was flat. But I believe my bottles are sitting in a closet that gets down to the mid 60s easily. Is that a problem? Someone please make me feel better about my first batch.
 
Did you use any priming sugar when you bottled?

Mid 60's should be fine for carbonating.

If you did use priming sugar then leave for another week and try again.

As for the taste, it may improve once it's carbonated.

/Phil.
 
The fact that it's still flat after a week is not surprising. But no taste? My brews taste like beer (flat, of course) when they come out of the secondary on bottling day. Try again in a week. If it's still flat, is there a warmer place you could put them? Mine go in the warmest room in the house for 2 weeks to carbonate them. Then they go back down in the cellar for more conditioning.
 
mmditter said:
On second thought, no taste? Maybe you should apply for a job with AB or Coors. You've learned how to make their beer with no formal training! You're a natural!! :mug:


Haha, in a thread the other day about my first beer I said it tasted like natural light. :p Maybe cwb an I can start a commercial brewery together.
 
BrooZer said:
Haha, in a thread the other day about my first beer I said it tasted like natural light. :p Maybe cwb an I can start a commercial brewery together.
I am down for that. Might as well utilitze my skills.

I did think of one thing though, my mother gave me the LD Carlson brewer's kit for Xmas along with the Red Ale kit. Knowing my mother, she bought it in August and it sat around since January until I brewed it so the ingredients were old. Plus, who knows how long it sat on the shelf at the hardware store/brew store that she got it from. I need to call her and ask her when she bought it, maybe the age of the kit is accounting for the lack of taste.

But hey, at least it looks like good beer.
 
There would be no real harm in a little dry hopping, I suppose. why not make a gravity-fed dry hopper out of a small plastic jar and a few feet of tubing? It could be a fun party trick for people who want a hoppier brew.
 
Seveneer said:
Did you use any priming sugar when you bottled?

Mid 60's should be fine for carbonating.

If you did use priming sugar then leave for another week and try again.

As for the taste, it may improve once it's carbonated.

/Phil.
Yeah 5oz of priming sugar came with the kit. I'm a little concerned it wasn't stirred properly. I did the boil, and added it to about a gallon of wort in the bottling bucket, and then continued to siphon from secondary bottling bucket. Another thing I didn't do was let the boiled sugar solution cool down. I essentially took steaming hot sugar solution and dumped it into the bottling bucket. I wonder if that caused any problem.
 
GREAT NEWS!!! Out of pure curiosity, I cracked another beer from a different six pack to test temperature and see if it was as bad as the first one, and there's CARBONATION AND TASTE!!! It's warm, but by God is it's good, it tastes like beer, and good beer. I'm amazed that two bottles could be so different. The only thing I can come up with is I either didn't stir the sugar enough into the wort, or my first bottle was the crap from the bottom of the bottling bucket.

Either way, I'm happy this batch isn't a loss, and at least some of it tastes awesome, and it's only been a week! Now the patience comes in, because it's good enough to drink now.

Luckiy, I have some Rogue Mocha Porter, Rogue Red Ale, Sam Adams, and Sierra Nevada PA to keep my thirst quenched until my brew ages to perfection.

Big monkey off my back, good stuff.
 
I'm halfway through drinking my first batch that was the same brewers best kit. I tried one with little conditioning in the bottle and I had the same experience. Blah! Tasted like weak American lite beer and somewhat flat. But when it all conditioned for 3 weeks....Oh what a difference it makes! I love it. I can't believe the final product came from the crap I first sampled.
 
Glad it worked out for you. The BB Red Ale was our first kit as well, and while not a BAD beer, it wasn't great either. We had a distinct lack of great taste as well. Not enough hops, or it didn't ferment long enough to dry out, as it was very 'syrupy' in feel.
 
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