MissLeah26
Member
Hi all, I have a question about my first batch of beer (which explains why I'm posting to the beginner brewer forum... duh, Leah).
Anyway, I got a starter kit with the two buckets for fermenting and bottling for Christmas, and a Continental Light ingredient kit. I got it all started on Feb. 28, doing all the initial steps before putting it into the fermenting bucket according to the instructions in the kit. We bottled it (after cleaning out our recycled bottles with C-Brite [I think that's what it's called] and rinsing them well with water) on March 17, in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I was patient and anxious to drink it, which I finally got to do this past Tuesday, April 7.
I stuck a couple of beers in the fridge for a few hours before cracking them open and pouring them into pint glasses. It looked just fine, held a decent head, and smelled all right to me. Then, I took a sip and almost gagged. The beer tastes sour, like something went wrong with the hops in the kit or something. The only other thing I could think of was that it might have stayed in the fermenting bucket too long before bottling... does that have anything to do with it?
I'm trying to figure out what could have gone wrong with this batch before starting another one (I'm hoping to get a hefeweizen kit tomorrow) so I can learn from any mistakes I made. Any ideas?
Thanks for your help!
Anyway, I got a starter kit with the two buckets for fermenting and bottling for Christmas, and a Continental Light ingredient kit. I got it all started on Feb. 28, doing all the initial steps before putting it into the fermenting bucket according to the instructions in the kit. We bottled it (after cleaning out our recycled bottles with C-Brite [I think that's what it's called] and rinsing them well with water) on March 17, in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I was patient and anxious to drink it, which I finally got to do this past Tuesday, April 7.
I stuck a couple of beers in the fridge for a few hours before cracking them open and pouring them into pint glasses. It looked just fine, held a decent head, and smelled all right to me. Then, I took a sip and almost gagged. The beer tastes sour, like something went wrong with the hops in the kit or something. The only other thing I could think of was that it might have stayed in the fermenting bucket too long before bottling... does that have anything to do with it?
I'm trying to figure out what could have gone wrong with this batch before starting another one (I'm hoping to get a hefeweizen kit tomorrow) so I can learn from any mistakes I made. Any ideas?
Thanks for your help!