Why do all my beers taste like crap?

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petie

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My first beer was a witbier and it tasted great. My last two were an imperial blonde and a fat tire clone wit pecans. The last two are extremely bitter and taste like bad cough medicine. What's up.
 
Hard to judge without knowing more details. These are more advanced recipes to a slight extent: adding nuts in one and high ABV with the other. Im not sure about extreme bitterness (but I wouldn't describe cough medicine as bitter). If you under attenuated the Imperial (always a risk) it would be too sweet. It could also burn a bit when young.

Were these extract beers?
 
Medicinal flavor sounds like possibly a phenolic problem. This could be a sanitation issue there. You might be confusing bitterness with astringency. You notice bitterness more in the back of your throat and astringency up front on the sides of your tongue. Are you an all-grain brewer or extract/partial?
 
"Medicinal" flavors generally come a few places- one is water. Water with chlorine or chloramine will produce "chlorophenols", which are described as band-aid tasting/smelling. Another possibility is high fermentation temperatures (over 72 degrees) and/or stressed yeast.

Contamination can also cause these flavors.

I guess the first thing to consider is the water. Tap water with chlorine would be my first guess. Second guess would be a too-high fermentation temperature.
 
I do partial extracts and use RO water. Both beers are really dry with no aftertaste. I wash everything with oxyclean then soak in star San. They taste the same at three weeks as they do right out of the bottling bucket. Both were fermented between 67* and 70* room temperature. All I know is I wasted a lot of time and effort on 4 cases of beer that are almost in drinkable.
 
I doubt whether this is the root of your problem, but definitely don't use pure RO water as your brewing liquor. Especially if you're actually mashing. Personally, I like mixing spring water with distilled water; the former is generally too-mineral rich, and the latter dilutes it down to a more workable level. You can play around with the dilution rate depending on the style of beer you want to brew.
 
I do partial extracts and use RO water. Both beers are really dry with no aftertaste. I wash everything with oxyclean then soak in star San. They taste the same at three weeks as they do right out of the bottling bucket. Both were fermented between 67* and 70* room temperature. All I know is I wasted a lot of time and effort on 4 cases of beer that are almost in drinkable.

70 degrees room temp can often reach 80 during fermentation. A wit beer will be less affected by that than the other two you listed. Definitely work on controlling your fermentation temp. Swamp cooler.
 
The water is the only thing I changed I used distilled water in the witbier and RO in the other two.
 
The water is the only thing I changed I used distilled water in the witbier and RO in the other two.

RO water is fine- I even went out and bought my own RO system just for brewing!

One thing I'm wondering about. With your RO water, is it from the "water machine" at a grocery store? Sometimes those RO machines aren't maintained, and the membrane needs to be replaced, meaning the RO water is no longer RO water. That's something to check into.

High fermentation temperatures are a more likely issue, though. In the summer, it's hard to ferment under 65 degrees, even in a 55 degree basement. If the room was 70, fermentation temperature probably went to 80 degrees or more, and that could be a big reason for this off-flavor.
 
my question is relatively unrelated, but what the heck is wrong with your tap water?

i have an inline charcoal filter to scrub any rogue chlorine, but otherwise most tap water makes awesome beer.

did you burn the extracts on the bottom of the keg? Or squeeze the steeping bag and that released too many tannins? (although some people call the tannin thing a myth)
 
70 degrees room temp can often reach 80 during fermentation. A wit beer will be less affected by that than the other two you listed. Definitely work on controlling your fermentation temp. Swamp cooler.

This for sure

Cool temps have made a huge difference in my quality. I know it's a pain, but it is definitely a big part of the process that many people overlook or skip.
When I first started(many years ago) I had the same issue with off flavors from time to time. They have become almost non existent since I dedicated an old fridge with a temp controller to being a ferment chamber. The cheap way is a swamp cooler, which is just a tub you sit the fermenter in and fill 1/2 way with water. Take some frozen 1/2 gallon milk or ice tea jugs and put a couple in the tub, and change em out a couple times a day.
 
my question is relatively unrelated, but what the heck is wrong with your tap water?

i have an inline charcoal filter to scrub any rogue chlorine, but otherwise most tap water makes awesome beer.

did you burn the extracts on the bottom of the keg? Or squeeze the steeping bag and that released too many tannins? (although some people call the tannin thing a myth)

I have done both of those and the beer still came out great. Maybe it was just bad kits?
 
sloose said:
my question is relatively unrelated, but what the heck is wrong with your tap water?

i have an inline charcoal filter to scrub any rogue chlorine, but otherwise most tap water makes awesome beer.

did you burn the extracts on the bottom of the keg? Or squeeze the steeping bag and that released too many tannins? (although some people call the tannin thing a myth)



I'm on the verge of using tap water. I don't like the taste of our water so I figured I wouldn't want it in my beer.

There was no evidence of burnt extract and I never squeeze my grain. I lay my stir paddle across my pot and hang the grain off of it for till it stops draining.
 
I'm on the verge of using tap water. I don't like the taste of our water so I figured I wouldn't want it in my beer.

There was no evidence of burnt extract and I never squeeze my grain. I lay my stir paddle across my pot and hang the grain off of it for till it stops draining.

Maybe those bottles need time to mellow. Set them aside and brew some more perhaps, ferment in a swamp cooler (i use an old tshirt and fill a rubbermaid tub up halfway, it brings my 74F ambient down to 68F consistant temp, with no fan or ice), and try again. Also try using yeast starters to make sure you arent underpitching, and are you aerating your wort?
 
I just stir the day lights out of it before I pitch my yeast. I know where I can get a fridge. It was leaking water from the ice maker so they took it out and told me I could have it. I believe I'll be goin and gettin it this weekend.
 
I just stir the day lights out of it before I pitch my yeast. I know where I can get a fridge. It was leaking water from the ice maker so they took it out and told me I could have it. I believe I'll be goin and gettin it this weekend.

Perfect! You'll need a temp controller because the one in most fridge's won't let it get warm enough ( 60 ish ) for fermenting. Amazon usually has the Johnson controllers for $60 or $70.
 
whitehause said:
Perfect! You'll need a temp controller because the one in most fridge's won't let it get warm enough ( 60 ish ) for fermenting. Amazon usually has the Johnson controllers for $60 or $70.

PexSupply.com--digital Johnson controller for $56
 
Not to diminish the above comments about water and fermenting temps, but I would suggest that you consider brewing more straightforward, to-style, medium strength ales before doing more big (like your imperial) or specialty (like the pecan beer) beers. In other words, limit your variables as you refine your brewing process. Nothing wrong with a nice amber, pale, brown, or porter and it would help you get your process locked in.
 
I got all the ingredients for the presidents honey ale. I was gonna do that next. Do you think I'd be safe.
 
I'd be willing to ship a couple of each of these beers to somebody if that would help pinpoint the problem.
 
I have been unable to brew a "quick" beer... every homebrew I have made (double-digit batches) must sit for at least 6 weeks before they are any good- most of them need 3 months in the bottle in the fridge- then they are really good! I read recipies that that say to drink them as soon as they are carbonated. I haven't found the secret to that yet- I don't mind the wait- I just wish I knew how others pull that off...
 
I have been unable to brew a "quick" beer... every homebrew I have made (double-digit batches) must sit for at least 6 weeks before they are any good- most of them need 3 months in the bottle in the fridge- then they are really good! I read recipies that that say to drink them as soon as they are carbonated. I haven't found the secret to that yet- I don't mind the wait- I just wish I knew how others pull that off...

Do you ferment cool? It makes a huge difference. I bottle my Two Hearted at 3 weeks and it's great as soon as it's carbed. If you let it get a little warm there are nasty byproducts that the yeast have to try to clean up.
 
Do you ferment cool? It makes a huge difference. I bottle my Two Hearted at 3 weeks and it's great as soon as it's carbed. If you let it get a little warm there are nasty byproducts that the yeast have to try to clean up.

A well made beer should never take weeks and weeks and weeks. As pabloj said, if it's taking a long long time, then there is a problem.

First, yeast health is the foremost thing to consider. Pitching the proper amount of yeast at the proper temperature and fermenting at the proper temperature is key.

Many people who say they have beer that isn't good will pitch one package of liquid yeast at 80 degrees, and ferment in the mid 70s, and then wonder why the beer tastes bad!

Taking care of the yeast, and fermenting at the proper temperature fixes about 85% of the problems associated with off-flavors.
 
I have been unable to brew a "quick" beer... every homebrew I have made (double-digit batches) must sit for at least 6 weeks before they are any good- most of them need 3 months in the bottle in the fridge- then they are really good! I read recipies that that say to drink them as soon as they are carbonated. I haven't found the secret to that yet- I don't mind the wait- I just wish I knew how others pull that off...

I'm currently drinking a bitter that was brewed two weeks ago. It is only decent, but not because it needs time to mellow, but because I used old hops and grains. I have drank many beers two or three weeks after brewday, even with bottle conditionning. What's the secret ?

1) Simple, proven, foolproof recipes with a low starting gravity (with low carbonation levels).

2) A good pitch of healthy yeast followed by fermentation at a controlled and optimal temperature. 68F is my limit for most English ales, with 64F being my usual target.

Some styles simply don't make for a quick beer though.
 
I'm gettin my free fridge and I'm not brewin anything til I get. Which controller do you recommend,the Johnson or the control products.
 
The Johnson control unit rocks. Get the digital version not the analog. I have the analog and will replace it with the digital when it croaks.
 
A well made beer should never take weeks and weeks and weeks. As pabloj said, if it's taking a long long time, then there is a problem.

My experience has been that, once carbed (and I usually wait 3 weeks or very nearly so before considering testing), the beer is good. Sometimes it gets better with time, either in the closet at room temp or in the fridge, but I've not had any beers that were bad after carbing.

I don't push it, though. The fastest I've gone was with my first beer, and that was 3 weeks fermenting and 3 weeks in the closet to carb, and that was just a 1.035 OG bitter---nothing ambitious. That one was hard to wait for, but since then I haven't run out of stock, so it's a lot easier to let 'em sit. (Though I'm very excited to try the ESB that's been in bottle for a week......)

I strongly agree with the advice that's been given and echoed a few times above: keep it simple. It's great to be adventurous, but I think it's best to start with a simple recipe and add complexity one step at a time. More likely to go well, and a lot easier to debug if it doesn't.
 
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