First brew- how to use if

Hi

I did my first brew using a kit and "brewing sugar". It's not great, in fact it's pretty crap.

I'm loathe to dump it, but its taking up bottle space. ,I've tried mixing a bottle with other batches but its just undermining an otherwise great beer.

Any ideas? Or should it go?

How old is it? Sometimes the crappy ones turn out really good if you leave them to age long enough.

I agree, age may help it. What type of beer is it, what is the crappy flavor if you can describe it, how long from brew to bottle and how long in the bottle?

We need more info. What was the recipe? What was the ferment temp? How long in primary before you bottled? How much of this sugar did you use? Batch prime, or bottle primed? How long has it been in the bottles? Help us help you!

It's a "lager" but it was a 5g batch with 1.5l light hopped LME and 1k brewing sugar. OG was about 1035


It actually looks great, and its well carbonated but I added more hops so it tastes thin and a little out of balance due to the extra hops. It's not so much a specific crappy flavour but it lacks body and has a 'tang' from what I imagine is the sugar

It's been bottled for about 10 weeks.

If it's not that great and you have good beer waiting for bottles, by all means dump it. I've had a few batches that i didn't like and I just gave them away. My friends didn't seem to mind it and it freed up some bottles. If they hadn't wanted it, I would of dumped it.

My first lager didn't taste too good, but after aging it for 9 months, it was quite pleasant. (Lager is the German word for storage.)

-a.

I suppose I can stick the bottles outside till spring. Won't do any harm

Won't do any harm.

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Uh, yeah...depending on where in the world you are, it definetly can. Even though it's been bottled, you still need to treat it right temperature-wise. Unless you have some sort of temperature-controlled shed or outbuilding to put them in, I wouldn't just set the outside and expect to have decent beer the next time you go to sample one.

Especially if it gets exposed to the sun.

-a.

BattleGoat said:

Uh, yeah...depending on where in the world you are, it definetly can. Even though it's been bottled, you still need to treat it right temperature-wise. Unless you have some sort of temperature-controlled shed or outbuilding to put them in, I wouldn't just set the outside and expect to have decent beer the next time you go to sample one.

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So what are we talking here?

I have an outbuilding, it's cold this time of year but its not what you'd call controlled.

What was your fermentation temp range? High fermentation temps are the most common source of off flavors and would be most obvious in a light beer. Also, you probably know that using additional LME or DME instead of adding sugar will produce better beer.

@poppalarge: You really have to give us more information. You can't just "set it and forget it" with beer - it is a perishable product.

Exactly how "cold" is it this time of year where you are? Also, a little info about the recipe you brewed would go a long way. You say it was a "lager" - what temp did you ferment at? What yeast? All of these things are important.

BattleGoat said:

@poppalarge: You really have to give us more information. You can't just "set it and forget it" with beer - it is a perishable product.

Exactly how "cold" is it this time of year where you are? Also, a little info about the recipe you brewed would go a long way. You say it was a "lager" - what temp did you ferment at? What yeast? All of these things are important.

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It was my first beer from a kit. I've no idea what I was doing

Temp outside is between 6C and 12C right now

It's been bottled for 10 weeks