I am new to all this and have completed 2 batches using kits (true brew 1. amber and 2. oktoberfest)
Batch 1: This turned out to look and smell like a decent beer, and while drinking and holding in my mouth, it was pretty decent. However after swallowing, it had a bitter after taste that was quite strong. After about 8 months now in the bottle, the bitterness has come down, but it still present. I assumed that i had a hop problem, did some research and found that i maybe was supposed to strain the wort as it went into the fermentor (i saw this in a couple videos i watched where the hops were strained out). The instructions i read and book didnt mention this though. Other items of possible note: ran the water through the brita filter before boiling and the rest of the make up water, fermented in the basement (mid 60's), bottled after 1 week, brewed in early november, final gravity about 1-2 points higher than recipe said. So my question: was i supposed to strain and if not, are there any guesses as to the bitterness.
Batch 2: On this one, i followed the directions through to the end of the boil, where i strained the hops out at the end before going into the fermentor. For this batch, the differences from the above batch are that i put it in the closet upstairs to ferment (where it was likely in the high 60's low 70's) and was in the dark, brewed in may. I let it go for about 11 days (regular bubbling stopped after several days, but there were small amounts still coming out for a few days afterwards). Final gravity was again about 1-2 points higher than the recipe said. I started with boiled water this time around instead of running through the filter. I let it sit in the bottles and have tried 1 after 1 month and 2 months of sitting. The problem with this batch is while it looks and smells like beer, it sure doesnt taste like it. There is absolutely no head formation no matter how hard i try, it tastes almost like really fizzy juice (however there are very few small bubbles coming out of the beer). I stirred part of the last one vigorosly to get rid of some of the gas and it tasted decent for about 2-3 minutes, then tasted really flat and had no character. So, does anyone have any guesses as to what might be wrong with my second batch?
I am assured this should be easy, and I would like to understand what I should do for my next batch to get it right. I have read some of the introductory brewing information on extract brewing and seen a couple of videos (basic brewing radio), but feel like i am missing something.
Batch 1: This turned out to look and smell like a decent beer, and while drinking and holding in my mouth, it was pretty decent. However after swallowing, it had a bitter after taste that was quite strong. After about 8 months now in the bottle, the bitterness has come down, but it still present. I assumed that i had a hop problem, did some research and found that i maybe was supposed to strain the wort as it went into the fermentor (i saw this in a couple videos i watched where the hops were strained out). The instructions i read and book didnt mention this though. Other items of possible note: ran the water through the brita filter before boiling and the rest of the make up water, fermented in the basement (mid 60's), bottled after 1 week, brewed in early november, final gravity about 1-2 points higher than recipe said. So my question: was i supposed to strain and if not, are there any guesses as to the bitterness.
Batch 2: On this one, i followed the directions through to the end of the boil, where i strained the hops out at the end before going into the fermentor. For this batch, the differences from the above batch are that i put it in the closet upstairs to ferment (where it was likely in the high 60's low 70's) and was in the dark, brewed in may. I let it go for about 11 days (regular bubbling stopped after several days, but there were small amounts still coming out for a few days afterwards). Final gravity was again about 1-2 points higher than the recipe said. I started with boiled water this time around instead of running through the filter. I let it sit in the bottles and have tried 1 after 1 month and 2 months of sitting. The problem with this batch is while it looks and smells like beer, it sure doesnt taste like it. There is absolutely no head formation no matter how hard i try, it tastes almost like really fizzy juice (however there are very few small bubbles coming out of the beer). I stirred part of the last one vigorosly to get rid of some of the gas and it tasted decent for about 2-3 minutes, then tasted really flat and had no character. So, does anyone have any guesses as to what might be wrong with my second batch?
I am assured this should be easy, and I would like to understand what I should do for my next batch to get it right. I have read some of the introductory brewing information on extract brewing and seen a couple of videos (basic brewing radio), but feel like i am missing something.